THREAT TO BRITISH IN MIDDLE EAST

Southland Times, Issue 24426, 5 May 1941, Page 5

THREAT TO BRITISH IN MIDDLE EAST

IMPERIAL TROOPS FACE PINCER DRIVE AXIS POWERS INSPIRE HOSTILITY IN IRAQ (United Press Association—Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 2. The war in the Middle East has flared up in a new and threatening theatre and the Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Archibald Wavell, and his Imperial troops face the supreme task of combating a pincer panzer drive against Suez from Syria and Iraq and from Libya. There is ample evidence that Axis inspiration is responsible for the Iraqi Administration’s hostility.

The German Ambassador in Ankara, Baron Franz von Papen and other German agents have been intriguing for months throughout the Middle East, and it is now expected that the Germans will make a determined push across the Aegean Sea to Syria, achieving the isolation of Turkey and putting a new strain on General Wavell’s forces while applying pressure in the Western Desert. The Iraqi Government is unquestionably working with the Axis.

Baron von Papen has left Berlin for Ankara and the Turks expect that he will make demands for the passage of troops and material across Turkey for the reinforcement of the German forces in the Aegean islands, which have provided an ideal instrument for bringing pressure to bear on the Turks.