ITALIAN CAMPAIGN IN AFRICA

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21189, 12 August 1940, Page 6

ITALIAN CAMPAIGN IN AFRICA

Because the conditions are so vastly different from those on the European fronts it is difficult to gain a reliable picture of the campaign which is being waged by the Italians against the British in North Africa. So great are the difficulties involved that Mussolini must have entered upon the task with much trepidation. In the first place the frontiers concerned cover 3800 miles, the lines being between Egypt and Libya, Sudan and Abyssinia, Kenya and Abyssinia and Somaliland and Kenya. Add to those tremendous distances the problems of fighting over almost uninhabited and waterless desert and some idea may be gained of the problems faced by Italy. In this case the initiative might easily be a disadvantage rather than an advantage. Although the British are fewer in number they need not hesitate for a moment to allow the Italians to win a thousand square miles of valueless country to gain a strategical advantage. No matter where they advance the Italians will gain little from the country they occupy. But they will lose by extending their lines of communication, and they must expect to fall into occasional traps. There is reason to believe that in their struggle with desert conditions the British will prove more adaptable campaigners than their enemies. Thus in the attack on British Somaliland Italy stands to gain very little and might easily meet with miserable failure, especially as Mussolini’s forces cannot rely on regular reinforcements or supplies from Italy. Britain can still land reinforcements from the Gulf of Aden.

In Somaliland a war of movement in which territorial gain is of only minor importance may be expected. On the Libyan frontier with Egypt the position is rather different. Larger forces are involved, distances are not so great, though conditions are little less arduous, and the involvement of Egypt in the war is an ever-present possibility. Italian forces are reported to be massed on the frontier, but they are hesitating to attack. Egypt has declared that violation of Egyptian territory will mean war, and Italy does not want to risk involving another enemy in North Africa. Consequently the most is beiVig made for propaganda purposes of the advances into British Somaliland and the capture of two or three small towns and “thousands of camels.” Italy is risking disaster in order to make territorial gains which in the general scheme of the war cannot be considered of very great importance.