BRILLIANT BRITISH OPERATION

Southland Times, Issue 24440, 21 May 1941, Page 5

BRILLIANT BRITISH OPERATION

The importance of the capture of the Duke of Aosta and all forces in the Amba Alagi area is emphasized by a “Staff officer,” who says:— “This is indeed a bitter pill for Italy to swallow. Although it is impossible for the Germans to send direct help to their partners in Abyssinia, the Italian radio made no secret of the desperate messages sent from Rome urging the Duke to hold out at all costs so as to pin down the British forces opposing him. But all his efforts failed, and now we shall be in a position to redistribute the forces fighting in Italian East Africa. The Duke’s task must have been a disheartening one. Since January 19, when we retook Kassala, the Italian troops in East Africa have been defeated and driven out on all sides, losing enormous quantities of men and material. CONQUEST OF VAST COUNTRY “The object of the campaign was the conquest of a vast country, mountainous and undeveloped, subject to extremes of heat and tropical rainfalls and defended by a large, well-equipped Italian army. There have been two distinct phases in the East African war. First there was our strategic withdrawal in the face of vastly superior numbers, which gave the Italians temporary possession of British Somaliland. Then came the second phase—a slow, steady pressure at many points of a long front, co-ordinated with lightning converging advances along the main roads into the heart of the enemy’s country.

“The Duke of Aosta was forced to evacuate Addis Ababa and split up the Abyssinian garrison into three parts. One was to go south-west to the Jimma Plateau, the second largest centre of Italian colonization. One was to go south-east to join the Neghelli forces and hold the difficult Arussi Hills, which the Abyssinians used as * centre of resistance in the 1935 campaign, while the third was to go north-east to Dessye towards the retreating survivors of the Eritrean army, who held the mountainous country at Amba Alagi, and possibly reinforce the beleagured garrison at Gondar. In Jimma, Gondar and Dessye stores and ammunition had been accumulated to enable those forces to continue their defence, but that plan was also wrecked by our relentless pursuit of all the retreating forces.

“The capture of Amba Alagi virtually means the end of the East African campaign and the surrender of the Duke of Aosta will be a severe blow to the morale of the remaining troops. While in other areas resistance may yet continue the fight tends to take on more and more the character of guerrilla warfare. The Italians boasted that their conquest of Abyssinia had been a marvel of speed. Yet it took them seven months to reach Addis Ababa, a distance of 425 miles, when they were opposed by ill-equipped native levies. As against that Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham’s column covered 1150 miles from the south to Addis Ababa in 50 days, opposed by Italy’s best forces, fully trained and equipped with modern weapons.