ITALIAN PLAN

Grey River Argus, 11 February 1941, Page 5

ITALIAN PLAN

For Main Stand IN TRIPOLI REGION. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received February 10, 9.50 p.m.) ROME, February 10. Signor Ansaldo in an article in “11 Telegraffo,” predicts that Marshal Graziani will withdraw' his entire army to Tripolitania. He adds: “The Italians will there build strong coastal defence works. The evacuation of Benghazi has been a painful blow. The sending of reinforcements there from Tripoli would be easier said than done. The best thing is to hold all of our availaoie forces in Tripolitania, and to send others there from Italy.”

LONDON PRESS APPRECIATION RUGBY, February 8. From all parts of the world waere the news of the capture of Benghazi is permitted to circulate, the brilliance of the achievement of General Wavell’s troops is enthusiastically acclaimed, and the energy of the forward drive and the amazing feat of the maintenance of mechanical vehicles in an advance of about 900 miles from Alexandria and 600 miles from Mersa' Matruh have won almost worldwide admiration. In the British Press the significance of the victory at Benghazi, which completes the conquest of Cyrenaica, is carefully assessed. “The Times” says: “There will be no further resistance, nor is any Italian counter-offensive to be feared. Ihe forces available in Tripoli are scarcely adequate in numbers for the purpose and it can be said with confidence that their spirit is unlikely to make up for their lack of strength. The Italian defeat has been as overwhelming as almost any in the history of warfare. A more interesting question is whether, to what extent, and how, Germany intends to increase her aid to Italy, which she has already rendered without any effect so far upon General Wavell’s campaign by the establishment of an air base in Sicily. “These German aircraft are represented as a factor which cannot be neglected, but' they can and will be combated. There seems to be little doubt now that the negotiations in progress between Hitler and , Vichy are concerned with Germany’s desire to extend her intervention in the Mediterranean. Whatever may be the upshot of this new pressure upon France, and however far her rulers may feel themselves forced to compromise in the face of threats to tighten the almost intolerable screw, we are already in a far better situation to meet any new attack to wrest from us command of the Mediterranean. We succeeded in maintaining that command when the odds looked to be very heavily weighted against us. Not only is our present position better, but also the exploits of all our fighting services in co-operation are there to form the basis of our hope that we shall continue to maintain it.”

The “Daily Telegraph’’ says: “General Wavell’s Libyan campaign exhibits Napoleon’s principle of multiplying mass by velocity in the most effective operation. From Benghazi, our Air Force has new possibilities of bombing Tripoli, and destroying naval and military reinforcements. The possession of all the other ports and airfields of Cyrenaica makes it far easier to defeat the Nazi attempt to deny our shipping the use of the Sicilian Channel.”