Evening star., 1941-07-05
British Cutoff
Northeastern
Syria Corner
Troops Driving From
MosuI Arrive at
Turkish Border
BY the Associated Press.

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frontier in push alone the railway
from Mosul, cutting off the north
east corner of Syria, and to have
struck at Aleppo, chief northern city
of the French mandate.
Military dispatches to Vichy said
the drive reached the Turkish from
tier at Kamechlie. but that the
border town itself had not fallen.
A little farther south, British
forces were reported encircling Deir-
Ez-Zor. Two English Indian divi-
sions were said to be participating
in the attack.
The British said they had taken
this garrison.
French military circles. consider
ing the weight and force of the
thrust into the northeast from Irao
believed it designed as an eventual
pincer movement in conjunction
with the attack from the south.
The object of the drive would be
to cut Syria off from Turkey.
Ethiopia Drive Continued.
Meanwhile, the British continued
their offensive, aimed to wipe up
Italian opposition in Ethiopia.
Fifteen thousand Italian prisoners
have been taken in the Jimma area
TO Ethiopia since June 81, the Brit
ish Near East command announced
in Cairo. Large quantities OF ma.
terial, it said, have fallen into Brit
ish hands as result of the Italian
surrender in Gala Sidamo province.
Premier Mussolini's five-year-old
East African empire has dwindled
to but two small garrisons of Italian
troops. the British said, and one of
these is under siege.
Gondar Garrison Remains.
The surrender yesterday of Gen.
Pietro Gazzera, supreme commander
of the remaining forces in Ethiopia,
together with all the Fascist troops
in Gala Sidamo, left only the be-
sieged garrison at Gondar, in
Northern Ethiopia, and a small force
dispersed in the wilderness south
west of Assab, Eritrea, a communi-
que said.
In Rome the Italian high COM
mand acknowledged that lack Of
food forced the surrender of the
Fascist garrison at Debra Tabor
after weeks of siege.
The several thousand troops at
Gondar. 80 miles west of Debra
Tabor, which capitulated earlier. are
all that remain of the Italian armies
OF a quarter million men with which
the Duke OF Aosta, now a captive
once threatened the British forces
guarding Egypt and the Suez Canal
Aleppo Objective.
British and Indian mechanical
forces, striking from Central and
Eastern Syria, made Aleppo their
objective after the capture of Dier
Ez Zor and Tell Kotchek, a mill
tary spokesman said in Jerusalem.
In the Lebanon theater, mean
while, the Royal Navy was reported
to have bombarded French coastal
stronghold hampering the Austria
Ian advance on Beirut.
DER Ez Zor, headquarters of the
French Middle Euphrates command
and an important supply center,
was taken yesterday by Indian
troops after an advance Of more
than rs miles from Abou Kemal
on the Syrian -Iraq border. the
British said. The town is about
ITS miles southeast of Aleppo.
A spokesman said another mech
anized force moving into Syria
from Iraq occupied Tell Kotchek,
which is near the Turkish border
in the northeast corner of Syria
and is on the Istanbul-
railway. This force is about 300
miles east of Aleppo as the crow
flies and $50 miles northeast of the
troops at DER EZ Zor.
British and Free French forces
advancing north from Damascus
and west from Palmyra with HONS
as their immediate objective con-
stitute third threat to Aleppo.
Occupation of HONS would put these
combined armies about 100 miles
south of Aleppo.
Navy Bombards Coast.
The troops entering Palmyra yes
terday reported most of the original
garrison had withdrawn and only
300 French soldiers were left to
surrender.
Australians on the coastal road
leading to Beirut, Iebanese capital,
ran into increased artillery shelling
from French post at Damour,
the British said, and the navy was
called upon to lombard the position.
The French at Vichy reported
the r. A. F. bombed Beirut several
times during the night of July "a
and that a bombardment during
the day caused native civilians to
fee the city to the safety of hills
back of the capital.
Soueida, capital of Jebel Ed Druz
in the south-central section of the
Levant states, also is being bombed
daily by the r. A. F.. the Vichy gov
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