Evening star., 1941-12-26
Benqusi-und Beyond

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The fall Of Bengasi clinches Brit
aims grip on all of Eastern Libya, or
Cyrenaica as it is alternatively
named This hilly hump" of land
jutting out into the Mediterranean is
the most fertile part of Italy's North
African Empire. This is the region
which was won year ago by General
Wavell as a result OF his smashing
victories over purely Italian armies.
But he was obliged to halt and de-
plete his troops in order to reinforce
the British expedition to the Balkans.
Taking shreWd advantage of this sit
uation, the Germans stiffened the
remaining Italian forces in Western
Libya or Tripolitania, and under
General Rommel, an ace German
tank commander, the Axis subsequently
drove the British out of Libya and
over the Egyptian border once more.
The crafty Rommel now seems to
be almost at the end of his rope. A
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of Wavell has broken Axis resist
ance in Cyrenaica and threatens to
cut off the shattered remnants be-
fore they can make good their escape.
Between Cyrenaica and the main
Axis base in Tripoli lies about 800
miles of almost waterless country
where the sand desert reaches the
sea. Only one coastal road spans this
inhospitable waste, and it is being
strafed numerically by British
planes which control the air Rommel
and his Germans are making a su-
preme effort to break through the
British advance guards which bar the
road to Tripoli, leaving the Italians
to fight sacrificial rear-guard actions,
but it is doubtful that he will salvage
much from the disaster that con-
fronts him. 1t is equally unlikely that
there are at present very large Axis
forces in Tripoli, because all possible
re-inforcements seem to have been
sent to Cyrenaica in order to bolster
Rommel's resistance.
Conditions are thus very different
from those which halted Wavell a
year ago. and the logic of the situa-
ton would be for the powerful Brit
ish Army to press quickly across the
desert and try to eXpel the Axis en-
tirely from North Africa before they
can slip re-inforcements past the
British naval blockade or send them
secretly through the neighboring
French colony of Tunis This, in turn,
is likely to precipitate a showdown
between the Axis and the Vichy gov
ernment of France. The Axis long has
been pressing Vichy to allow the use
of its North African bases, especially
the fine harbor of Bizerta, at the tip
of Tunis, which is only $50 miles from
Sicily. That short stretch of sea is
guarded by the fortified Italian island
Of Pantelleria, which lies midway
between Tunis and Sicily. Axis con-
troll Of Tunis would likewise enable
the Italo-German forces to check a
possible British thrust beyond Tripoli
into French North Africa at the Lit
tie Maginot Line" constructed by the
French from the sea to the chain of
salt lakes which runs far into the
desert. Thus far, however, Vichy does
not seem to have capitulated, and it
might be that if the Axis tried to
crack down too hard, the French
forces In North Africa would 60 over
to the British, once these had con-
quered Tripoli and stood at the Tuni-
sian border.
Should Britain eXpel the Axis from
North Africa, it is not impossible that
an invasion of Sicily or even of
Southern Italy might be tried. Italy
is known to be full of discomfort, and
recently the Fascist authorities de-
clared a state of martial law over
Sicily and the southern mainland
provinces. That looks as though the
Axis were anticipating trouble of
some kind
Of course, it may also mean that
the Axis is meditating a gigantic
pincer movement into North Africa
by simultaneous invasions of Tunis
from Italy and of Morocco through
Spain. But as yet there are no Wis
ible signs of such major movements,
which could hardly be entirely con-
cealed The fact that Spain is in the
grip of typhus epidemic may be
one of the reasons deterring the Axis
from such risky stroke while they
are still threatened by disaster on
the Russian front.
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