Enemy Forces Halt East of Sollum

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 102, 1 May 1941, Page 7

Enemy Forces Halt East of Sollum

BRI —-A HARASS ADVANCE INTO EGYPT LONDON, April 29. The enemy (forces which penetrated the Egyptian frontier at the week-end are now five miles east •l Solium, where they have halted. It is not yet known whether the halt Is due to the harassing move* ments of the British forces, to sandstorms, or to supply difficulties. The enemy has three columns operating—one on the coastal road and two on the escarpment above. All three eolumns have come to a standstill. A sudden sandstorm sprang up in the Western Desert last night in the path of the enemy advance, and visibility | was reduced in some* places to 50 yards. The enemy troops are now spread out ki a long, straggling line from Tripoli to Solium, with minor groups at Bardia and Tobruk. The Germans particularly are feeling the vicissitudes of desert warfare. The situation in Libya generally is viewed by military circles in Cairo with calm optimism. The Italians, since the fall of Dessye, are bolting in all directions in Abyssinia, with opposition from patriots cropping up in all kinds of unexpected places. About half the garrison of Dessye escaped. To-day’s communique from British General Headquarters at Cairo says* “There is no change of importance at Tobruk to report. In the Solium area, since crossing the frontiw, the enemy detachments have remained stationary and are being harassed by our patrols.

“During the operations culminating in the capture of Dessye, the Italian stronghold in Abyssinia, our troops took prisoner 2000 Italians and 400 colonial troops, with a number of guns and lorries and quantities of war material. The damage to roads leading to and from Dessye is being rapidly repaired.

“While the operations of our troops are developing successfully in other areas of Abyssinia, patriot activities are rapidly extending all over the country."

An R.A.F. Middle East communique says that the R.A.F. yesterday attacked a number of Junkers-52 troop-carriers embarking enemy troops on the landingground at Benina. One of the enemy aircraft was destroyed, and a number of others were severely damaged. Considerable casualties were inflicted among the troops. The R.A.F. and South African Air Force continue to give support to the successful ground operations in Abyssinia. S.A.A.F. fighters machine-gunned and damaged enemy transport concentrations between Batie and Tandeho, and R.A.F. bombers bombed and machine-gunned enemy positions and trenches in the Chilga area. With the capture of Kombolcia aerodrome, 15 miles east of Dessye—which had decided the Italians to evacuate Dessye itself—most of the network of aerodromes established by the Italians across Abyssinia are now in British hands, according to military observers. In the area between Dessye and Ambi Alaga, there is only one fully-equipped aerodrome, and it is not of the first class—at Alomata. Farther west, in ‘the Gondar-Lake Tana area, there are four so-called aerodromes, and these land-ing-grounds may also have been taken by Abyssinian natrin***