AFRICAN DRIVE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21872, 27 January 1941, Page 5

AFRICAN DRIVE

Pincers Movement Developing

Emperor Welcomed In

Abyssinia

British Official Wireless

(Received January 26, 8.17 p.m.) RUGBY, January 25. Much significance is attached by military experts to the promising development of the pincers movement against Abyssinia which is proceeding while the victorious Army of the Nile is pushing on in Libya. The British drive in Eritrea from Kassala continues to menace the territory from the north while the Italian hold on Haile Selassie’s country is threatened from tho south by the advance across the frontier of British forces from Kenya.

Press dispatches from Khartoum, to where they had been carried by courier, describe the simple, austere ceremony which marked Haile Selassie's arrival in Abyssinia. The rapid spread of the revolt against the Italians which has been stimulated by the work of a British colonel and his staff who have been in Abyssinia since July will, it is believed, be greatly augmented by the presence of Halle Selassie.

Replying to an address of welcome, the Emperor warmly thanked the British officers who were already fighting for him inside Abyssinia and paid a special tribute to the sympathy shown for him by the British public during nearly five years exile. There was full recognition in his speech of the great task that lies before him, but he expressed a hope that it would be carried out successfully tvlth the aid of the Allied forces. The “Daily Telegraph” says: “There has always been the strongest ground for suspicion that Italian rule in Abyssinia has never extended beyond the main strong points and highways. At the first serious test suspicions are now abundantly confirmed. With our aid the unsubdued Abysslnlans have been restored to the status fo regular belligerents and Haile Selassie will not be without powerful resources. Not only is he being supplied with material and equipment which alone failed him in the 1935 campaign, but the Italians are being hard pressed all around and about his dominions. Their troops are without hope of new support from any quarter and their stomach for fight will have been gravely weakened by the news from Libya. This is not the moment to underrate the resistance which we may yet meet before the last of the Italians are cleared out of East Africa, but to that clearance we can confidently look forward within a matter of months. The Italian Empire in Africa is moving inexorably to its doom in this year, the fifth of its much boasted era.” Proclamation Issued Haile Selassie has issued a proclamation to his subjects calling on them to rise against their Italian overlords, and pardoning those whose formerly worked against the State. The story of Haile Selassie’s return to Abyssinia nan now be revealed. A group of British officers farewelled the Emperor when, accompanied by Ras Kassa and a British liaison officer and several members of his suite, left his own Sudan headquarters by air, escorted by fighters. Haile Selassie, who was In the uniform of a Field-Marshal of the Imperial Ethiopian Army, landed at a prepared spot, where a British staff major greeted him. Thence the party motored across the frontier to a place where a unit of the Ethiopian Army, headed by British officers, paraded. Haile Selassie ceremonially hoisted his standard, after which the party journeyed to the interior. Khartoum patriots in a two-day battle between Dessye and Debratador, killed 200 Italian white troops and captured others. The patriots’ losses were slight. The patriots a fortnight ago engaged native conscripts at Burye and killed 77 and wounded 80. Motorised forces have driven the Italians 80 miles inside Eritrea and continue to advance across the difficult country—foothills and great ranges which rise steeply—2o miles east of Agordat. Communiques mention operations east of Aicota, Which suggest that the British are behind the southern end of the Italian line. From the Eritrean mountains and from Gojjam, war drums nightly are sending out news of the Libyan advances, also the Italian withdrawals on all frontiers in East Africa. The swift fail of Cheru and Aicota after halfhearted resistance, had a moral effect greatly exceeding the value of the territory gained. The advance continues. A South African patrol from Kenya found a deserted medical station and seized a large quantity of medical stores and equipment. There were no South African casualties.