Britain Loses an Outpost

Southland Times, Issue 24210, 21 August 1940, Page 4

Britain Loses an Outpost

THE BRITISH withdrawal from Somaliland will not surprise those who have watched the trend of one-sided operations in a country made difficult to defend by the removal of French support. According to a statement issued by the War Office, the hopelessness of the task was recognized from the beginning, and it is a tribute to the courage and discipline of the small British forces that the delaying actions were fought so tenaciously. The net results of the campaign will be that Britain loses a protectorate which has been under her flag for 60 years, while Italy extends her East African Empire and is able to claim a military success. British Somaliland is not a treasure house of raw materials: its strategic value exists only for occupying forces which also control the Gulf of Aden. There is no need, however, to pretend that the withdrawal is not a setback, even though it is a small one which was foreseen from the opening of the campaign. This is one case where the loss is heaviest in the intangible factors which are the elements of propaganda. Italy and Germany will now be able to add a new variation to the theme of British decadence. Their broadcasters and leader writers will point out that every people, small or large, which appealed to Britain for help has suffered the same unhappy fate. The Poles, the Norwegians, the Dutch, the Belgians, the French, and now the Somalis have in turn been swept into the Axis net. This story will be thrown at the Egyptians and the Greeks: rumours of it will cross the deserts of the Sudan, and penetrate the jungles of equatorial Africa. The Larger Strategy

Unfortunately there are elements of truth in it. Britain has had to withdraw too often from battlefields across the sea. But she has not abandoned her allies. The great conflict now taking place in the skies over England is a struggle for remote territories and small nations as well as for Britain herself. Germany and Italy are taking what they can; but their gains are insecure until they have forced the citadel. In the new strategy fashioned by Axis policy, Britain must leave her outposts and concentrate her forces upon the vital points of a

front which extends across the world. When the main attack has been thrown back, it will be no difficult matter to drive the invaders from scattered regions that have fallen under their control. British sea power is still unchallenged; the. Royal Air Force is daily moving closer to a mastery of the skies. Against this larger strategy the minor defeats can be given their true perspective. And the real position is understood by many who have most cause for bitterness. Hitler and Mussolini can say, if they like, that Britain continues to leave her friends to their fate. But today there are Poles, Dutchmen, Belgians and Frenchmen armed and ready to fight with the garrison of England. The merchant fleet of Norway is carrying British cargoes across the seas. And in Somaliland the native population will accept the word of men who have promised to come again, bringing deliverance. The greatness of England has never been shown more plainly than in the faith of those who, in spite of early defeats, continue to work and fight beside her sons in the battle for freedom.