Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-27
Italy Warns Egypt

Having accomplished the rela-
lively easy conquest of British So
maitland, Italy's foremost objective
in the African theater of war is now
avowedly Egypt. Mussolini has made
no secret of his plans to turn his at
tention in that direction at the
earliest feasible moment.
For many weeks formidable Ital-
ian forces, estimated as large as
25O,D0O, have been maSsed on the
Egyptian-Libyan frontier. After
Marshal Italo Balbo's death, II Duce
sent Marshal GRAHAM, FasciSm's
most seasoned colonial Strategist, to
Libya, and Rome expects him to
initiate offensive operations almost
any day. There are no Italian ilu-
sions that campaign against Egypt
will be the simple affair that Somali-
land proved to be. Grazianis strong
est line of attack will compel him to
fight along the Mediterranean coast.
There he must reckon with the Brit
ish Navy, whose guns have already
wrecked Italian fortress StrongholdS
near the Libyan-Egyptian border.
During the past forty-eight hours
the Mussolinian editorial mouth
piece, Virginia Gayda, has been more
profuse than usual in warnings"
On Sunday he served notice that at
will not be many more days before
Britain finds herself up against some
new surprise" This may turn out to
be more accurate prophecy than
the one which emanated from the
same quarter several weeks ago
that invasion of Britain was only
matter of hours or days. Manifestly,
it was the gallant Royal Air Force
which upset that particular predic-
ton.
In light of the latest warning" by
the prolific Gayda, it may be that
the next surprise" will be sprung in
Egypt. At any rate, the editorial
spokesman yesterday admonished
Egyptians against letting their coun-
try be used as a springboard for
British attacks on Italian territory.
There is a thinly yelled hint that
Mussolini may declare war on Egypt
in Gayda's charge that, because of
British attacks on Libya from Egypt,
ut is necessary to fix positions and
responsibilities quite clearly"
Egypt is bound to Britain by mu-
tual defense pact. Italians have
crossed the Libyan frontier and
raided Alexandria, Egyptian base of
Britains Mediterranean fleet, but
there have been indications at Cairo
that Egypt would 60 to war only in
the event of an attack directly aimed
at her. Gayda, patiently for propa-
ganda purposes in Egypt, accuses the
British of circulating reports Of
threatened Italian action against
that country in order to drag it into
war-as if the presence of an enor-
nous Fascist army in adjacent Libya
were not sufficiently plain evidence
of Italy's plans.
II Duce's designs on Egypt are pur-
poseful and we'll known. He seeks to
control the Suez Canal, to end Brit
ish supremacy in the Mediterranean,
and convert Our Sea" into a high
way to an expanded Italian empire
in the Near East, and perhaps be-
yond.
MusSolini will not find Egypt IA
vorable terrain for the achievement
of his immediate goal. He must not
only overcome British sea power on
the Mediterranean coast and Anglo
Egyptian armies in the field, but
fight a vast mileage of burning
desert sands, waterless wastes and
sitting heat. There is no sign that
Britain'S grave preoccupations at
home will deter her and her Egyp-
tan ally from offering Italy the
stoutest sort of resistance by land,
sea and air in the land Of tho Mile