ITALIANS TRAPPED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 143, 19 May 1941, Page 7

ITALIANS TRAPPED

IN NORTHERN ABYSSINIA. DESIRE TO SURRENDER. LONDON, May 18. -Lite Duke of Aosta Inis sent an emissary to the British to inquire the terms of surrender of the whole of Ihe Ilalian forces in the Amba Alagi area, which is situated in the mountains 150 miles north of Dessyc. The Italians are surrounded by British troops, Indians having advanced trom tin: north and South Africans closing in from the south. It is unofficially estimated that there are fifteen to twenty thousand Italians in the Amba Alagi area in addition to local troops, but it is uot known yvhetlier the Duke of Aosta is among them.

Acceptance of surrender by the Italians at Amba Alagi would not necessarily mean tjiat the Abyssinian campaign yvould completely come to an end. Hie Duke is apparently convinced that further resistance in the Amba Alagi region is useless, but in the Gondar area, in the north, and the lakes district, south of Addis Ababa, he may. have orders to engage the British in areas far from the Libyan border. A correspondent describes tile events leading up to the Italian move. He says the Italians had taken refuge in tunnels and caves in the cliffs, giving them protection from the troops advancing from the north, blit they were blasted from their dug-outs and shot doyvn by machine-guns. The first move in the surrender negotiations came early on Friday morning, yvhen it yvas announced that the cease fire order yvould be made at 6.30 p.m. and that if the negotiations with the British yvere not satisfactory operations would resume at 9.15 p.m.

If the Duke of Aosta’s forces surrender well over 200.000 Italians will* have been captured in the Aliddlc East.