Sept. 19.
While the Italians have sought to make much of the capture of Sollum Mr. Winston Churchill, in his speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday, revealed that at the most it was an outpost affair, the two British platoons which had been holding the place having been withdrawn. What apparently is happening at the moment is that the British are not seriously resisting the Italian advance, but are resorting to harassing' tactics designed to make the enemy advance as expensive as possible. The lengthening of Italian lines of communication across the arid desert is in the erieumstances the wisest course to follow, and the British command in Egypt are expected to continue along this Jine until the Italians have reached the point where the British have decided to stand.
Meanwhile the Italians are reported to have pushed on from Sollum to Bugbug, and are consolidating their positions at the former place and construction camps at Brinuh some seven miles further south. 'The Italiane also claim to have occupied Sidi Barrani, and that has since been' confirmed.
The view of the British military is that the defence of Egypt against invasion will be made along a considerably shorter front than the Libyan-Egyptian border, enabling the economical use of the British forces which are said to be numerically inferior to the Talians, who are variously reported to have as many as half a million men in Libya, though the advancing columns are said to consist at present of ne more than a quarter of a million, The striking fore of that num~ ber will be considerably reduced as it! advances further and further into the Egyptian desert, for important lines of communication will have to be kept open for the sending up of supplies of which the most important is water. It is apparent, then, that the strategy adopted by the British command will involve the temporary abandonment of stretches of desert and unimportant places to the enemy, but this should not disturb the minds of those who intelligently study the situation. Recent arrivals of substantial reinforcements, rendered necessary following the defection of France, serve to strengthen the British position, and while the British forces are less in number than the Ialian the difference in fighting qualities of the {wo armies will to a large extent compensate for The situation in northern Africa ie not so simple as it would at first appear. It is true that Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are at Present out of the picture, but they may not be permanently so. A great deal depends upon the negotiations now proceeding between the Vichy Government and the Germans, It is reported that the German demands are such as to arouse the resistance of the French, and there is a distinct possibility of the Petain Government disappearing and a new French government being established in northern Africa, which may decide to renew the alliance with Great Britain and continue fighting. That would bring about a position exactly similar to that which prevailed prior to the French collapse, and with an enemy on their rear the Italians would again have to divide their forces as they originally did. It would not be wise to place much reliance upon such a state of affairs coming about, but it is a possibility which must always be borne in mind, In the absence of reports irom Upper Egypt it is assumed that the Italian forces which some weeks ago moved out of Abys-sinza and occupied a few points inside the Egyptian border have not yet commenced to make an advance further inland. Their im= mediate objective would appear to be Khar-tourn and ultimately Wadi Haifa, where it believed the Italian hope to make a junetion with the column reported to be seeking. to advance southeastwards from Libya, Because of the difficult country which has to be traversed it is not though that this movement, will be made by anything stronger than raiding parties, and though it may have a certain nuisance value it is of secondary im-Portance. The real efforts are clearly along the Mediterranean coast towards Alexandtia, and from the Ethiopian border to the Mle. Tt needs to be emphasized that the opposing armies have not yet been engaged in any major encounter. "That will not occur until the Italians are within striking distance of the British defence lines. When they are it is confidently to be expected that the invaders will meet with ¢ resistance which will inflict upon them serious reverses. So while the Italian invasion would seem to suggest, that the initiative rests with them, the fact is that the British command has the choice of when a real engagement shall take place and the enemy brought to that battle for which the British army waits in confidence,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.