The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-12-17
FRESH BRITISH
 TROOPS IN EGYPT
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  umn, the communique said, adding that the Italians were defeated and that the Australians captured trans port and a gun.
 Headquarters reference to stead fly increasing" British pressure on Marshal Rodolfo Graliani;s Italian armies indicated that although they have been chased out of Egypt the British intended to push on in Libya at least to the extent of clearing danger of any immediate counter-attack from the Bardia area.
 Bardia has been blasted severely by Royal Air force bombs and shells from the British Mediterranean fleet. It was believed that with Fort Capuzzo and the forts at Sidi Omar, Musaid and Shefferzen in British hands the port now was exposed to British land assault. May Have Taken Base.
 London, Dec. 17.-UP)-British troops are approaching Bardia, im- portant Itallan naval and supply base in Libya, and may have talk en it, it was reported today. Reports of the fall of Bardla were not confirmed. But it was made known that Australian and New Zealand troops had joined in a drive on it, in a new phase of the British offensive, and experts here beleived that it might have been taken already.
 |. It would be necessary, after, the capture of Sollum and Fort Ca- puzzo as announced yesterday, to see that Italians based on Bardia did not interfere with further oper- ationS, it was said. It was indicated that a picked empire force had made a lightning stab toward it. Fighting was reported general in the Collum-Fort Capuzzo- -Bardia area, with an Indian division, led by Maj. Gen. Noei Beresford- -Peirse, fighting with British, Australian and New Zealand troops.
 Capture of SoiIum, last Italian stronghold in Egypt, and Fort Ca- puzzo, first big deIenes post on the Llnyan side of the frontier, provided the British with two invaluable bases from which to start drive against the battered Italians in their richest African colony.
 So encouraging was the situation to experts here that there was hope of another big bag of Italian prison CTS if Bardla fell. The experts were even talking of capturing enough to bring the British forces up to numerical equality. with the Italian army of NorGh Africa, which had heavily outnumbered the com pact British empire army. Berlin, Dec. 17-(UP)-NaziS, be- littling the British drive in Africa, branded as stupid reports that Germany might take counter meas ures to aid Italians. They called "the changing hands of a few square kilometers of desert entirely in- significant for the final decision in this war"
 An authorized source which made this statement said:
 British propaganda is attempting to give the impression that Italian civil morale is decaying and that there is possibility of a crisis in the leadership of the state, and that certain German plans and counter measures may be reckoned with. Political circles in Berlin con- Sider it pointless to grant consid- eration to these stupiditieS." London, Dec. 17.-(UP)-The Battle of Libya is "still in progress" and the government wants to wait and see ''how we get on" before cele- brating a victory, Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the House of Commons today.
 Better see how we get on," the Prime Minister said in response to a question as to whether official buildings would fly flags in celebra- tion.
 T do not recollect that we had any important occasion for rejoic- ing in the last war but people seemed to be quite pleased by the l Wav 1t ended"