ODDS WERE GREAT

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22064, 10 September 1941, Page 5

ODDS WERE GREAT

Remarkable East African Campaign

(Rec. 7.16 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 8. Further light on the achievements of the Imperial Forces in the East African campaign is shed by LieutenantGeneral A. G. Cunningham, who is in command of them.

The outstanding feat was the lightning advance on Addis Ababa—l37o miles in 50 days. Five years ago the Italians took seven months to cover 420 miles with only Abyssinian tribesmen to oppose them.

Lieutenant-General Cunningham recalled the Italian claim that large British forces were tied up in Abyssinia. In March, he said, we offered to send South African units to the Mediterranean front. The British forces throughout the campaign were never large. In the battle of the Lakes British Brigades with 40 guns engaged 40,000 Italians with rifles and 200 guns. The riskiest moment was when 40,000 Italians were threatening the Addis Ababa-Jibuti railway, and this lifeline was defended by only two British battalions. Lieutenant-General Cunningham paid a tribute to the Duke of Aosta. “He had an intense desire to fight clean but in practice it was not always carried out.”