GENERAL CABLES

Grey River Argus, 19 July 1941, Page 6

GENERAL CABLES

LONDON. July 18. [ Now that the- campaign against The Italians in East Africa' has vir- ■ tually been brought to a successful : close, it is possible to reveal details iof the number of troops engaged > and of the total number of prisoners captured. ; When Italy entered the war it was computed that she had 325,000 men —125,000 white and 200 000 African troops—in her East African colonies. At the same time the British forces on all fronts in East Africa totalled fewer than 25,000, of which 500 only were white. These, of course, were later reinforced. Of the Italian forces, nearly 100,060 of the 125,000 Italians are prisoners. S'ix thousand | are still at large and the rest are dead. Of the 200,000 native troops some 60,000 are prisoners and the rest have deserted. Many are now , lighting with the Abyssinian patriI ots. j In equipment, the British captured {nearly 800 guns, thousahds, of mai chine-guns, 150 tanks, and thousands (of motor-vehicles.