COST OF LOSING AN EMPIRE
LONDON, July 17.
Now that the campaign against the Italians in East Africa has virtually been brought to a successful close, it is possible to reveal details of the numbers of troops engaged and of the total prisoners captured. When Italy entered the war it was computed that she had 325,000 men (125,000 white and 200,000 African troops) in her East African colonies.. At the same time the British forces on all fronts in East Africa totalled fewer than 25,000, of which 5000 only were white; but these, of course, were later reinforced. Of th Italian forces, nearly 100,000 of the 125,000 Italians are now prisoners, 6000 are still at large, and the rest are dead. Of the 200,000 native troops, some 60,000 are prisoners, and the rest deserted. Many are now fighting with the Abyssinian Patriots. Ir equipment the Allied forces captured nearly 800 guns, thousands of machine-guns, 150 tanks and thousands of motorvehicles.
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Southland Times, Issue 24491, 19 July 1941, Page 7
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160COST OF LOSING AN EMPIRE Southland Times, Issue 24491, 19 July 1941, Page 7
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