SILENT WORK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 22 February 1941, Page 6

SILENT WORK

♦ SEA POWER OPERATES STRUGGLE OFF COAST OF LIBYA : FLOW OF SHIPS CONTINUES | j[U.P.A.-By Electric Telegraph—Copyright| j j (Rec. 9.40 a.m.) London, Feb. 21. i This morning’s reports from Africa j indicate that while the main fighting is; in Italian Somaliland, ships of the MediI terranean Fleet are continuing their! [silent but important work along the j Libyan coast According to a Reuter s correspondent, I the measures taken by the Fleet have; ! been responsible for counteracting the j efforts of German aircraft to disrupt j I British coastal traffic. A steady stream ; | of traffic is being kept moving and Ita- j lian lighters have proved most useful; to our forces in clearing the harbours! for our use. German aircraft have been j making repeated raids in an attempt to; interfere with this work. When Reuter's correspondent visited! Banghazi, the port was having its third ' attack in twelve hours On each night i British warships stayed there German' aircraft attacked. One was shot down ! into the sea by Australian fighter air-' craft. I In the Kufra Oasis district in southern Libya it is expected that the Free j French forces operating against the 1 Italians have continued their sharp ' action of a few days ago. The Italian i garris, l made a sortie from their po.si- ■ tions and sharp fighting ensued. After , a battle lasting three hours the Italians 1 retreated, leaving much war material, I behind. Prisoners were also taken by! the Free French forces. ! In Italian Somaliland British Imperial i j forcse have crossed the Juba River and have driven back an Italian counter- ; attack. The official communique says! that the operations are developing satis-1 factorily. WHOLE OF JUBALAND CAPTURED [ British troops have now captured the j whole of Jubaland, in Italian Somali-' land. A striking order of the day was j issued to the East African Imperial j i Forces on the eve of the present opera- j tions, which have now resulted in the: j wresting of Jubaland from the Italians.: In this order of the day. Lieutenant- j | General A. G. Cunningham, G.0.C., j said: "Hit them, hit them hard, and hit j j them again.” Lieutenant-General Cun-1 I ningham is a brother of Admiral Sir, Andrew Cunningham, who commands! the Mediterranean Fleet. Wishing good luck to the South Af- j rican and West African troops. General Cunningham told them that they had the chance of emulating the achieve-, ment of the Imperial troops in North 1 Africa. Proof that they have done so is given in to-day’s communique from Cairo, which says that the troops have successfully crossed the river Juba, j driving off enemy counter-attacks The operations in this area are de- i veloping well. It was along the Juba ! River that the enemy took up posts a few days ago. According to a Rome communique, the British troops attacked with great violence and crossed the! river, which runs south through Italian; | Somaliland into the Indian Ocean. All the territory on the western side i of the region, more than 10.000 square j miles, has been in British hands for ■ several days. A message from Khartoum describes' the capture of Abyssinian patrols of : a fortified market town. The Italian j garrison might have held off the Abyssinian patriots, but leaflets dropped byj the R.A.F. telling the Italians of their; losses in Africa and of the return of j Haile Selassie broke down their resist-' I ance. The Abyssinians are now fighting' their way down a road to an important! Italian aerodrome about 20 miles away. | The retreating Italians are being con-! I stantly attacked by low-flying fighters! ! while Abyssinian snipers are firing at j them, rolling boulders down on them j from the surrounding hills, and blocking ! the road with fallen trees. The bombing 1 of the Italians in this area is being car- ! ried out by planes of the South African Air Force, which has dropped leaflets* behind the Italian lines calling on more Abyssinians to join the patriot army and throw the invaders out of the country. R.A.F. SQUADRONS OVER ALBANIA nEAVY RAID ON BERAT SUCCESSFUL ACTIONS (British Official Wireless) (Rec. 11.30 a.m.) Rugby. Feb. 21. : Highly successful actions fought byj R.A.F. squadrons over Albania yester-! day were the feature of the Middle* East communique from R.A.F. head- ! quarters. This states: “The R.A.F.! was again very active in Albania yes-! j terday. A particularly heavy raid was ] made on Berat, where barracks were j badly damaged and a number of fires I started, followed by explosions. At j Tepelini enemy stores and troop conjeentrations were successfully attack-! [ed and much damage and confusion! • caused. British bombers were escortled b y fighters in these raids and in 1 i engagements with the enemy seven of i their fighters were shot down without: loss of an R.A.F. plane. Other enemy aircraft were severely damaged. I [ “In Italian East Africa continued i j support was given the British troops j ;oh various fronts at Massawa a num-; j ber of enemy aircraft were damaged \ on the ground and a large petrol clump set on fire. | “Enemy aircraft raided Benghazi yesterday. There were no casualties I ! and only very slight damage. One, | enemy aircraft was shot down in! j flames by A.A. fire, all the crew being \ killed. One British lighter aircraft is missing but the pilot is safe.” | [ The Cairo communique states that ' 107 medium Italian tanks were captur- ! ;ed or destroyed in a battle south of Benghazi recently. A check on other 1 • war material taken over this exten* j sive battle area is continuing. On the Eritrean front between 20th ! January and 20th February we cap-, J ■ lured 47 Italian officers including a ( j brigade commander, 698 other arnks ) and 5576 colonial troops. In addition ] j many prisoners were taken in the ! j areas of the Blue Nile. Uper Nile and : Gojjam. In Italian Somaliland our f i troops again successfully forced the river Juba north of the original cross- S | ing. Operations from both bridge- ] j head.; are developing satisfactorily. 1 I Additional details of the successful ! R A F. actions over Albania mentioned ab .ve are given in a communique from , British headquarters in Greece. The 1 i raid on Berat. it is stated, was car- 1 | rit ml by a large force of bombers t ; escorted by eight-gun Hurricanes ' i Enemy fighters which met the forma- J tip > were at once engaged by the Hur- 1 i ncanes and four were quickly shot 1 d° ” n The remainder dispersed Moan- 1 while the bombers pressed home the 1 ' attacks, causing great damage and con- 1 fusion in the town. h