LIBYA AT WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21156, 4 July 1940, Page 10

LIBYA AT WAR

ITALY’S AFRICAN COLONY c I "ROMAN WALL” ON FRONTIER ■ | MANY LANDING FIELDS J I , With New Zealand troops now in ' an active theatre of war as Italy j masses her colonial forces to strike j at the British Empire, perhaps I j through Egypt, the importance of I i Libya looms large in the strategies , of the Allies. Already the Royal j | Air Force has struck swift and dead--3 j ly blows at Italy’s air power in this ' j vast North African colony. Italy has, over a long period of years, expended prodigious energy in j the development of Libya. Forts, flying fields, and petrol pumps almost inevitably strike the traveller as its predominant characteristics. It was in September, 1911, that Italy invaded Tripoli, then in Turkt ish possession, and drove out the 1 Turkish and Arab forces. Italian j authority was established in this . section the following year, but domiJ nation of the entire country was, ) however, far from complete for many

years. In 1922 the Italians were forced to come to terms with the Senussi of the interior and allow the Senussi Emir to rule Jarabub and Kufra. Then, in 1933, they overcame the Senussi and occupied Kufra themselves. Barren Territory Whether or not Italy has derived any great benefits from the possession of this rather barren tract of i territory is a moot point, but she seems determined to colonise it, and for many years has been putting into practice the most grandiose plans ol' mass settlement. Two years ago 1900 families, comprising about 20,000 people, sailed from Italy simultaneously in order to take up residence on the small holdings that had been prepared for them by the Black Shirt pioneers. When they arrived at their new homes they found them fully ready for occupation, and even the larders were well stocked. The initiator of the scheme was Marshal Italo Balbo, Libya’s energetic Governor, whose task in recent years has been the strengthening of the colony’s defences, particularly along the border facing Tunis. He has also supervised the building of the great strategic road that runs right along the coast from the Tunisian boundary to the Egyptian boundary.

Since 1938 the four provinces of Libya—Tripoli, Miserati, Berghasi and Derna—have been included in the national territory of Italy by decrees of the Fascist Grand Council. Mechanised Forces During the Abyssinian war Italy greatly increased the strength 0.l j her forces in Libya and assembled j over 30,000 men, mostly mechanised, * near the Egyptian frontier. Italy had j already, in 1932, constructed a barbed wire fence along 200 miles of the northern part of the Italo-Egyptian frontier. “During several cruises down Libya’s untempting seaboard,” wrote Major Leonard Hardley in an English publication, “I have been struck primarily by the heroic energy wifn which Italy occupies the arid hinterland. . . . The maritime zone is the only one which encourages any form of western colonisation. Beyond lie the sub-desert and the desert zones, leading by little-travelled caravan tracks over limitless miles of desolation, which are quite impracticable for western habitation. The Mediterranean zone contains some of the most fertile oases in North Africa—rich with date palms, orange and olive groves.” Of the frontier defences Major Hardley wrote: ‘‘A great battlement, like the Roman Wall, serpentined across the distant mountains, proi tected from theoretical savage incut-

sion from an empty desert by a forest of barbed wire. An occasional blockhouse interrupted this continual belt of wire. Libya watches a comparatively unpeopled desert with normally a corps of colonial troops numbering 500 officers, 700 non-com-missicned officers and 10.000 men. One could not help contrasting tne apparently casual military occupation of the Indian north-vest lrontiei with a mere skeleton of troops, a handful ot kassadars and a complete absence of Roman Wall.” Desert Barrier If Egypt were attacked from Libia the invaders would have to cross 50 u miles of desert. The desert is Egypt's strongest defence. Therefore the danger is from the air, and since war broke out last year extensive air raid shelters have been built n the cities and A.R.P. training has been carried out. In Alexandria ancient Roman aqueducts, many feet underground, are being used as shelters. Egypt, with her efficient army and heavy concentration of Allied troops, is ready for any thrust that may be made from Libya.