REVOLT SPREADING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 March 1941, Page 5

REVOLT SPREADING

ITALIANS IN ABYSSINIA FALLING BACK PATRIOT FORCES PUSHING ON. ENEMY RETREATING TO ADDIS ABABA. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, March 6. The military spokesman at the British Middle East General Headquarters at Cairo said the native revolt in tho Gojjami province of Abyssinia was spreading like wildfire, while the patriot force under British officers was pushing on relentlessly after the capture of Fort Burye. The various Italian garrisons in the Gojjam province aggregate 20,000 men, the bulk of whom, under patriot pressure, are withdrawing gradually from the western borders to Addis Ababa, abandoning one strong point after another. Burye is 160 miles north-west of Addis Ababa.’but Debra Markos, on which the Italians are falling back, is 40 miles nearer the capita] and connected with it by a road suitable for motor traffic in dry weather. BRITISH SUCCESSES PRISONERS TAKEN IN LIBYA TOTAL 133,000. ANOTHER 16.000 IN EAST AFRICA. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. March 5. In Italian Somaliland the Britisli Imperial forces continue to advance, and with the capture of Bulo Burti the whole of the railway running from Mogadishu is now in British hands. Some 200 further prisoners were taken at this place. Elsewhere in East Africa the position remains largely unchanged. Military commentators again point out that the fall of Keren should not be expected yet. The Italian garrison at this important place is strong, consisting of probably two or three divisions. comprising approximately 30.000 mon. of whom probably about onethird are Italians, the remainder being Africans. The Keren area has every strong, natural defences, and communications with Asmara are still open. Further, this is the Italians’ oldest colony, and almost the only place in their Empire where they can count on the loyalty of the natives. It is officially announced in Cairo that the total number of Italian prisoners taken in the Western Desert and Libya in the 62 days between December 9 and February 8 was 133,295. It is interesting to note that in the last war, in the 63 days from August 6 to October 8, 1918, the British Army took 130,476 Gerrpan prisoners. No accurate total of the' prisoners taken in Italian East Africa is available yet. but many men of the Italian colonial forces have deserted, and it is certain that the prisoners taken so far number nearly 16,000. At least 112 guns have been taken from the Italians in East Africa. No final count of captured guns in Cyrenaica has yet been made, but it 'is known to be well over a thousand. LIGHT CASUALTIES KILLED AND MISSING TOTAL JUST OVER 500. LOSSES IN ALL AFRICAN FRONTS. The British forces which destroyed or captured the entire Italian army of 150,000 in Eastern Libya, states the 8.8. C., suffered fatal casualties totalling just over 500. In the'period from November to February 11, in all operations in the Middle East, including East Africa, the losses were: 438 killed, 87 missing and 1,249 wounded. Thirty thousand of the 140.000 prisoners were now in India. CAPTURE OF KUFRA FREE FRENCH FORCE’S SUCCESS. ON ROAD TO VICTORY. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 5. The Free French news service announces that to mark the capture of Kufra in Libya General de Gaulle has sent the following message to the commander of Free French frrres which took the fort: “The hearts of all Frenchmen are with you and with your rioops I congratulate you in their names on the magnificent '•uccess at Kufra. You have just shown the enemy that he is not finished wi'h the French army. The glorious troops of Free Chad and their leader are on ihe ; cad to victory.” Kufra is a Libv n oasis. Ihe occupation of which Marshal Graziani once described as a “miracle of organisation which stupefied our English and French neighbours." and added: “Kufra is a step in tho groat symbolic march toward the realisation of the great destiny of Italy.” Villagio Duca Degli Abruzzi, an agricultural colony comprising, some 60,000 acres with an experimental farm, which was captured some days ago, will prove a valuable acquisition for the supply of food to the British Imperial forces operating in Italian Somaliland. It is situated on the banks of the Webi Shebeli, which has been dammed, and under the irrigation system the area under cultivation has been steadily expanded. Five years ago it had reached over 10.000 acres. Like all the soil bf the river system and coastal belt it is immensely productive when irrigated. Cane sugar is produced in quantity as well as bananas, fruit and vegetables. Another crop recently exploited along the coastal belt of Somaliland is ground nuts, used for the manufacture of vegetable oil and cattle cake which, apart from what she obtained from this colony, Italy has purchased from abroad.