AFRICAN FRONTS

Evening Star, Issue 24004, 1 October 1941, Page 7

AFRICAN FRONTS

BUST STORM AT TOBRUK ITALIAN PRISONERS IN ABYSSINIA (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 30. A Cairo headquarters communique states: “At Tobruk a heavy dust storm yesterday hampered our general activity outside our perimeter defences. In the frontier zone our patrols continue their aggressive activity.” _ A communique issued at Nairobi headquarters states: “Colonel Mario Gouclla. the Italian commander of Wolchofit, his staff, and 3,000 prisoners are already in the hands of our regular troops. Patriot forces under British officers in the Lake Tana area recently fought several successful minor actions against the enemy. In the north they established themselves between the Wolchefit garrison and Gondar, and this contributed mainly to the fall of the stronghold. Further • south they constantly harrassed the enemy and recently attacked a convoy moving from Gondar. inflicting heavy casualties and capturing much material.” Reports from Abyssinia show that the terms of the surrender of the Wolchefit garrison were signed on September 21. A considerable amount of equipment was destroyed before the surrender.

REVISION CAMPAIGN THE NEUTRALITY ACT BROADCAST BY SENATOR WASHINGTON, Sept. 29. Launching the Administration’s campaign for revision of' the Neutrality Act, Senator Connally, in a broadcast; urged removal of the ban on the arming of merchantmen and enabling them to voyage in combat zones. “ The establishment of combat zones from which our ships are barred has failed,” he said. “ Hitler recognises no zones and sinks our ships wherever they may bo. He defies us and murders our citizens. For lend and lease to be effective it required cargoes to be delivered.” President Roosevelt has summoned Mr Cordell Hull to a special conference at White House to-morrow to draw up final plans for revision of the Neutrality Act. The Presidential conference with Congressional leaders has been postponed until Wednesday. GERMAN TRANSPORTS OVER FORTY SUNK IN CRETE BATTLE WASHINGTON, September 30. The commander of the cruiser Dido, Captain M'Oall, in an interview authorised by the British Embassy, said they had sunk over 40 German transports the size of tugs to land troops in Crete. It was a horrible but necessary job. All the Germans were drowned. * LENIENT PUNISHMENT NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS' ESCAPADE LONDON, September 29. ' The magistrate in Arundel, Sussex, took a lenient view of the escapade of three New Zealand privates because he was of the opinion that “ they have come so far from home, and, having been in England for some time, they got a little fed up because they could not do what they had come for—fight the enemy.” According to the police, Privates Richard Steele, Ncile Raymond M'Carthy, and Raymond Charles Henson “ got mad drunk,” assaulted the police, and damaged a public house. They were bound over for a year. The police stated that Steele was found fighting a civilian in an hotel, and when a constable tried to separate the pair M'Carthy and Henson joined in and attacked the constable. The accused soldiers denied a charge of drunkenness, and declared that they had become involved in a fight because a woman was being assaulted. AIR FORCE RECRUITS AUSTRALIA'S TOTAL (Rec. 8 a.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 30. Applications to join the Air Force since the outbreak of war totalled 205,000, of which 80,000 came from New South Wales. This announcement was made to-day by the chairman of the Air Force recruiting drive (Sir Donald Cameronl, who paid a tribute to the response from all parts of Australia and said recruits, at their own expense, bad come from the Pacific islands.