The smashing of two Italian infantry attacks launched in the Aoos River region is reported by the Athens radio. Hundreds of Italian, key-basis of Asmara, and had been' dead and wounded were left strewn the only vital Italian position to make on the hillside and in the ravines any prolonged stand against the|before the Greek swift, hammer-like blows of the In have 3 prepared, waltng on the last stretch of the Eritrean plain, with an apparently insurmountable obstacle before them. A ridge of solid rock thousands of feet high confronted them—a ridge the sheer-faced precipices of which offered magnificent defensive positions and were crowned by a series of arrow-head peaks 1t was against this formidably fashioned buttress of rock that the Empire forces have struck one of their most resounding blows as military experts recognized the place as one of the most naturally impres gnable fortresses of the war.
Italy's. most formidable ordnance guarded every summit, machine-gun nests abounded and strong-points were cunningly arranged.
A military<spokesman in Cairo stated last night that one-third of the forces in Mussolini's East African Empire. consisting of some 60,000 to 70.000 troops. were estimated to be defending Keren. Their defeat might well lead to the general crumbling ofthe remainder of the forces at the disposal of the Duke of Aosta, Viceroy of Abyssinia.
The fall of Keren, the spokesman added. would. be a tremendous blow to Italian moral and prestige. It would be possible to defend equally formidable peaks every five miles (Continued on page 2, col. 3
Two enemy aircraft were shot down by Greek anti-aircraft guns—Rueter.
Armistice to Bury Dead a Mar. 28.
So serious were the casualties suffered by the Italians in the heavy attacks made on Greek positions since March 16 that on March 23 they asked the Greeks for an armistice to bury the dead.—Reüter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.