The Evening Star TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1940. DEFENCE OF EGYPT.

Evening Star, Issue 23695, 1 October 1940, Page 4

The Evening Star TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1940. DEFENCE OF EGYPT.

The fighting forces of the British Empire stand ready to meet and repel invasions in the two war zones in which they are principally engaged. Naturally the greater share of the world’s attention is devoted to the threat to Great Britain herself, but in the Middle East a situation is arising full of portent for both the Mother Country and the dominions. No ono will imagine for a moment that Graziani, leader of the Italian land forces in North Africa, has advanced into Egypt merely with the object of digging in at Sidi Barrani, or, for the matter of that, at any place west of Alexandria and the Suez Canal. The threatened invasion of Egypt is no new conception, as the Italians have been preparing for it since the days of sanctions in the autumn of 1935. In tho meantime Great Britain, too, has been alert. Acting on the assumption that the coastal route to Egypt offers the mpst obvious conditions favourable to a military campaign, the British and Egyptian Governments at about the same time made a start on the construction of defences at Mersa Matruh. Evidently there has never’ been any intention of holding the outposts at Solium and Sidi Barrani. The withdrawal of France as a united nation from tho conflict against Germany and Italy has to a certain extent simplified Graziani’s task, but our military authorities remain confident of the ability of the British and dominion troops, with tho aid of allied units which may become larger as time goes on, to stem the tide of Fascism. Even without the French fleet the Royal Navy is formidable enough to discourage tho Italian warships from launching an offensive. In collaboration with the Royal Air Force it is at tho present time busy “ plastering ” enemy concentrations along the North African coast—a military operation which will by no means hearten tho Italian forces waiting to obey the command to march still further into the land of the Pharaohs. On shore the British forces have been reinforced by Australians and a Free French Legion, and there is every prospect of Egypt’s entry into the war if the Italians attempt to advance beyond the present outposts. The 350 miles of desert that lie between the Anglo-Egyptian frontier and Alexandria may be divided into three parts: Firstly, the coastal belt some ten miles wide, which for the most part is hard clay or gravel, with infrequent saline wells; secondly, a stretch between twenty and thirty miles wide- which is not negotiable by motor vehicles for any considerable distance; and, thirdly, the desert proper, which is entirely waterless except for oases. The coastal route appears the only one capable of being traversed by a modern mechanised army, but it is safe to say that tho British Commandcr-in-Chief has ordered adequate reconnaissances of the whole area. Graziani s chances of springing a surprise on the defences in Egypt are, therefore, infinitesimal.