Evening star., 1941-05-01
Axis Drive on Eqypt

The amazing axis drive, with its
spearhead of heavy German tanks,
has rolled across North Africa nearly
a thousand miles from its base in
Tripoli to a point we'll inside the bor-
ders of Egypt. It has not yet quite
reached Sidi Barrani, the high-water
mark of the Inflated italian drive
into Egypt last autumn, and it's mo-
mentum has slowed down consider
ably, but even British reports do not
claim that it has been stopped. Con-
sidering it's sensational performances
thus far, this axis thrust must be
considered a serious threat to Egypt
and the Suez Canal.
However, the invaders have not
yet met their real test. This will
come when they pass Sidi Barrani
and approach the British land base
at MerSa Matruh. This town is both
a port and the terminus of a railway
running west from Alexandria. thus
enabling the British to transport men
and supplies by land and by sea. Even
last autumn it was so strongly forti-
fed that General Graziani did not
dare to attack it until he had made
elaborate preparations which the
British interrupted with their bril-
liant counterStroke.
The only practicable approach for
the German heavy tanks and trucks
is along the coastal road which is
under shell fire by the British fleet.
A short distance back from the coast
rise steep hills known as the escarp-
ment. AS one goes southwark, the
region subsidies into the Libyan
desert, vast waste of shifting
sands through which motor transport
of any kind is seemingly impossible.
Perhaps light tanks might navigate
the caravan route along the edge Of
the sand desert which runs from the
Libyan oasis of Jarabub to the
Egyptian oasis of silva. Incidentally,
both oases are at present in British
hands. And even if axis troops
reached silva, their direct eastward
progress toward the valley of the Nile
would be blocked by the Qattara De-
preston, sort of Death Valley lying
many hundreds of feet below sea
level. Marshy during the winter
rains, its floor is a sticky brine-crust
even in summer, which would be apt
to snare tanks as insects are caught
by fly paper.
Thus the invaders will be COM
PEELED to advance along the coast,
with no possibility of effectively
f1anking the strong defense line, for
titled in depth, which the British are
understood to have constructed from
the seashore at Mersa Matruh in
land across the short stretch Of
hill and plateau country to the
edge of the Qattara Depression. 1t
must therefore be head-on assault,
with reinforcements reaching the
defense daily from reserve forces in
Egypt and Palestine, from Greece,
from East Africa and from Britain
itself. Needless to say, the British
high command fully realizes the dan
ger and is straining every nerve to
meet 1t.
Now that the evacuation of the
British expeditionary force from
Greece Is nearly completed, many
naval units will be released for serv-
ice along the North African coast
and for an intensification of the
blockade of the Straits of Sicily,
across which the axis invaders can
alone get the bulk of their supplies.
Air transport may bring troops, but
not tanks or other heavy war ma
terial. The reported arrival of a big
British fleet at Gibraltar from the
Atlantic presumably portends further
British naval efforts of the same
kind.
The axis invaders of Egypt are
thus in a precarious situation, at the
end Of a long and tenuous line of
communication, and faced by rapidly
growing defensive strength. Further
more, it must not be forgotten that
the British garrison at Tobruk still
holds out. This force, placed square,
ly on the main axis line of commune
cation, is constant threat. The odds
thus seem to be against this daring
axis gamble.