After referring to the early stages lof the British drive in Libya asa "most hazardous adventure," Mr. IChurchitt said that the brilliant, deeisive victory in Libya, with Its' tens thousands prisoners, had proved tthe quality and power of British weapons, It was evident, the Prime Minister continued, that all other Italian forces jin eastern Libya were in great danger, They could not easily retreat Jalong the coastal road without run-Ming the risk of being caught in the Jopen by British armoured. divisions and brigades ranging far out into the desert in tremendous swoops. They had exposed themselves to being al tacked piecemeal, "As you all know or ought to know," fate, Churchill declared, "it is wrltten': "Ask and it shall Be given, seck Jand ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened,' The' army of the Nile Jasked and it was given, They sought] Jand they found. They' knocked and it was opened to them, "Military Modet"
"It Is barely eight weeks since the Jcampaign, which should be studied as model of military efficiency, start Jed, and over 400 miles have been covered, The whole Italian army. in the east—an army which exceeded 150,000 men—has been captured or ldesiroyed, The entire province of ICyrenaica, nearly as big as England, hasbeen conquered, "Egypt and the Suez Canal are safe, and captured ports, bases and. airfields constitute strategic posts of, nigh consequence in the eastern Mr, Churchill proceeded to pay tribute to General Sir Archibald [Wavell and other military. leaders, jand said he had received a telegram {trom General Wavell saying that the success at Benghazi was due in part {to the role played by the air force Jand the navy, 'The Prime' Minister declared that} the British forees in the battle of [Libya could not have scored the successes they had without British pilots wresting control of the air from Jo far more numerous enemy, Nor Jwould the campaign itself have been [possible if the British Mediterranean Fleet had not chased the Italian navy into the shelter of their own ports, Mediterranean Secured This left in British hands all the Jresourees of sea power in the Med!- terranean, How far-reaching these resources are may be seen from what happened at dawn this morning, when the British Western Mediterranean [feet under Admiral Sir James Somerville entered the Gulf of Genoa and bombarded in a shattering—manner the naval base from which a Nazi expedition might leave to attack General Weygand in Algeria oF Tunisia.
"It Is right" said the Prime Mints. ter, "that the Italian people should made to feel the sorry plight into Jwhich they have been led by Mus~ solini. If the cannonade of British guns rolling along the coast and relverberating in the mountains has reached the ears of our French comrades in their grief and misery, it Jmay cheer them, "They are only part of the story' Jor the decline and fall of the Italian Empire that will not take a future JGibbon so long to write as the origin-jai work, Fifteen hundred _miles way to southward a strong British. ind Indian army, having driven the invader out of Sudan, is marching steadily forward through the Italian colony of Eritrea, thus seeking the Jcomplete annihilation of all Ttalian troops in Abyssinia, Other British troops are entering" Abyssinia from the west, while an army has gathered fu Kenya. In the van of which we may discern powerful forces from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.