HELPED BY VICHY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 May 1941, Page 5

HELPED BY VICHY

TRANSPORT OF GERMANS TO LIBYA USE OF FRENCH BASES. CROSSING MADE TO BIZERTA. <By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. May 13. The German troops and mechanised units were transported to Libya with the assistance of Vichy, says the Lisbon correspondent of the “News Chronicle.” The movement of troops began on February 6, and it was carried out gradually by ships and planes from numerous bases, including French as well as Italian ports. Thirty-five thousand troops were carried by air from, the Marignane aerodrome, near Marseilles. where they were assembled secretly. Heavy material, believed to be enough to equip five armoured divisions, was concentrated at Marseilles and Toulon (France), Genoa, Leghorn, Naples (Italy) and in Sicily and was transferred by ships to Libya. Ships from France and northern Italy at night crossed west to Bizerta to avoid British patrols which were watching the Sicilian Channel from the east side. By this means 124 ships reached Tripoli, using French territorial waters. IRISH LEADER OF ABYSSINIAN PATRIOTS OPERATING AGAINST ITALIANS. INTENSE GUERILLA WARFARE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 13. Riding a charger and wearing a blue

cloak fastened round his neck with a gold clasp embossed with the Lion of Judah, an Irishman. Captain Thomas Henfrey. is leading an army of Abyssinian patriots which is conducting intense guerilla warfare over the Abyssinian mountains and marshlands.

Captain Henfrey has seen service in the Khyber Pass and Saudi Arabia, and later was in Italian Somaliland after going on a mission in Africa. His irregulars are called “Henfrey’s scouts.” The only Europeans with him are his second in command and one n.c.o. His chief of staff is an Ethiopian who was trained for three years at Saint Cyr, the French military academy.