FROM EGYPT AND ERITREA

Southland Times, Issue 24421, 29 April 1941, Page 6

FROM EGYPT AND ERITREA

ROVING AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT PRAISE FOR BRITISH STATEGY (P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 28. That the Imperial forces during the advance across Libya had had to rely in some cases on captured provisions for food supplies was touched for by Mr Maxwell N. Corpening, military correspondent of The Chicago Tribune, who is visiting New Zealand on ms return to the United States after his fourth trip around the world as a roving reporter in the last four years. Mr Corpening, who left for Wellington tonight, is studying the world military situation and will investigate conditions in New Zealand before leaving for San Francisco on the Honolulu Clipper on Friday. Fresh from Egypt and Eritrea, I’.ir Corpening, who until 1924 was a member of the United States regular army, praised the British strategy that had ruined Italy’s African empire. A clever ruse led to the fall of Sidi Barram, liesaid. A small number of men with motor trucks camouflaged as tanks and with light artillery chose a high piece of ground to the left of the town and drove round in large circles, giving the impression that a large, British force was approaching from that direction. While the decoy was operating a big body of men advanced from the south and took the town. SOUTH AFRICA UNITED Imperial forces 'in the north of Eritrea, with whom Mr Corpening was in the field until a few days before the fall of Keren, consisted of Indian, Soudanese and British troops, while those on the other Eritrean front were South Africans. While in South Africa he found that although political controversies were rife and that “politicians there were still fighting the Boer War,” the country was almost 100 per cent, behind the British war effort. With a white population of 2,000,000 South Africa had mobilized between 125,000 and 150,000 men. General Smuts, a Boer, with a following of his own people and the English, made South Africa a united country.

Leaving Vancouver in January of last year, Mr Corpening visited Tokyo before continuing to Peking. From Peking he travelled via Manchuria by train across Siberia to Moscow, a tedious journey which took a fortnight. Hoping to cover the Russo-Finnish war from behind the Russian lines, the correspondent arrived at Moscow after the peace terms had been accepted. While in Moscow Mr Corpening formed the opinion that Russia had a better army than the world believed not, as he was quoted by a Sydney newspaper as saying, “the finest army in the world and just as well equipped mechanically as the German Army.” Arriving in Berlin in March of last year, Mr Corpening left for Switzerland in May. He returned to Germany in July, but was expelled from the country for cabling a story containing details of a peace offer said to be made by Hitler through the King of Sweden to Britain that month. He was given the opportunity of retracting his story or getting out of Berlin in two hours. VISIT TO BRITAIN

He left Germany and travelled through Switzerland, Italy, Rome, Spain and Portugal to England, where he stayed while the battle of Britain was won in the skies. After the battle of Britain not even Hitler would make another invasion attempt, said Mr Corpening. The bombing of Britain now was purely destructive bombing and was not paving the way for another invasion attempt. Hitler’s army was the best in the world; in fact the best the world had ever seen, but it had not yet been properly opposed. From Britain Mr Corpening travelled via Portugal to Portugese West Africa and thence to Cape Town. He visited Johannesburg and Pretoria and flew from Durban to Cairo and on to Eritrea. He arrived at Auckland via Australia. From 1924 up to four years ago Mr Corpening was in an administrative position on his newspaper and now, he says, he is very tired of roving the world. Censorship was the hardest obstacle that foreign correspondents had to face today, said Mr Corpening. In Germany while he was there news was not directly censored, but if a correspondent sent his paper news of which the Germans did not approve, that correspondent would be asked to leave the country. News from Great Britain was directly censored. The restrictions in Egypt were the greatest in the world, and it was there also that Mr Corpening found himself in trouble .with officials. After his experiences in Germany and Egypt he is anxious to know what censorships and restrictions he will meet in New Zealand.