First Breach Made in Italian Defences Without Single Casualties by Imperial Troops With the South African Forces, Ionte, Italian Somaliland, Feb. 28, When the South African forces captured Jumbo, at the mouth of the River Juba, they made the first breach in Italian defences in south Italian Somaliland without losing a single man.
The enemy suffered severely, losing in the first stage one whole battalion annihilated by machine-gun fire from armoured cars.
Several hundred prisoners were taken when the Jumbo garrison showed the white flag of surrender, and machine guns, field pieces, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition fell into the hands of the triumphant South Africans.
Fighting for Jumbo began when the South Africans captured Gobwen, and immediately raced across the river in the face of intense Italian opposition.
counter-attack was made, in which every Italian participating became a casualty.
Engineers erected a pontoon bridge while the engagement was in progress and armoured cars then crossed. A small force of Transvaal troops accompanied them, and attacked an enemy force 500 strong. The enemy wns quickly put to flight, abandoning equipment and a complete battery of guns.
Even before Jumbo was reached reconnaissance planes brought the news that white flags of surrender were already flying on the town's Fearing the effects of filibustering by opponents of the bill, officials of the Administration today spoke most uncertainly regarding the possibility of a vote on taking the "lease-and-Lend" bill to the Senate this week, When the debate continued today, the attendance was the poorest to senators obviously being wearied by prolonged discussion. Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.