Evening star., 1941-04-06
Axis Force Advancing
In Libya Stopped,
British Declare
Armored Columns Are Hit
Eost of Beneosi, Says
Near East Command
81 the Associated Press.

EJ the Associated Press,
CAIRO, Egypt, April 5-German-
italian armored columns rumbling
east from Bengasi, Libya, were sud-
denly hit and held today by the
waiting British imperial forces, it
was officially reported.
This first dividend on Gen. Sir
Archibald P. Wavell's elastic defense
plan was announced by the Middle
East command in single sentence:
Enemy columns advancing east
ward from Bengasi have been sue
cessfully held and the situation is
well in hand"
The location was understood to be
some distance east of Bengasi. The
British previously have estimated
the Axis panZer forces to number
about 10000 men.
Qn Khartoum, Anglo-Egyptian
Sudan, Massaua, the Red Sea
port toward which the British
armies of East Africa are racing,
was reported tonight to have de-
fed British demand for sur
render0
The German and italian COM
mands announced only today that
they had taken Bengasi, although
the British disclosed its abandon
ment Thursday.
s German Planes Claimed.
The R. A. F. today credited the
Australian Air Force with downing
six German planes. three of them
bombers, in Western Libya, and with
heavy attacks on German-Italian
troops and motor transports in the
area.
On the East African fronts, where
italian resistance threatens to col
lapse, the British announced they
had crossed Ethiopias Awash River
80 miles east of Adds Ababa after
a sharp battle, had captured Aduwa
and Adigrat in Northern Ethiopia
near the Eritrean border, and had
increased to nearly 5000 their total
of prisoners seized at Asmara, Fri
trea.
Asmara also yielded quantities of
military supplies and railway en-
gines and equipment, the British
announced.
The Italians dynamited the rail-
road bridge across the AWash River
at the town of AWash and showered
the British South African forces
with machine-gun fire from the
western shore, then fled as the
British waded across.
The British expressed surprise that
more resistance was not offered, for
this narrow but chasmlike stream
is the best natural defense position
east of Adds Ababa.
Little Resistance at Aduwa.
The South Africans, who have
been advancing at the rate of 25
miles a day for two months, said
they ought to be in Adds Ababa
in a few more days.
There was even less resistance at
AduWa, celebrated as the scene of
an italian rout at Ethiopian hands
in 1896 and the Italians first victory
in the conquest of 40 years later.
The British said they raced down
the road from Asmara so quickly
that almost no shots were fired and
they captured an entire italian in
fantry battalion.
A British spokesman said that in
view of the many opportunities Of
fered for defense of AduWa due to
the difficult terrain, the Italians
must be completely disorganized.
They had not even mined the Aduwa
road, he said.
He predicted that once Adds
Ababa is in British hands, isolated
italian garrisons elsewhere in Ethi-
opia could be mopped up readily
because, he said, the Italian viceroy
of Ethiopia, the Duke of Aosta,
would be unable to stem mutinies
and desertions by native troops.
Race Against African Rain.
Advance British units pressed on
southwark through the wild up
lands about $50 miles due north of
Adds Ababa. They were racing to
put all East Africa in the bag before
the imminent rainy season bursts
upon the land.
OF the drives into Ethiopia from
south and west, the British COM
mand said "our advance is proceed
ing satisfactorily" and praised the
South African forces for capture
of many prisoners, including a bri-
gade commander.
The Royal Air Force reported that
SO damaged Italian planes and the
burned wrecks of six others were
found by troops entering Diredawa,
where the Adds Ababa railroad was