Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-01-29
French
Continued From First Page

men and the disposition of supply
dumps along the route to insure
the return to the base.
In the end Gen. Catroux gave per-
mission and Col. d'Ornano set out
to get himself killed in the most
spectacular single operation this
weird war in the desert has pro-
duced
Up to the starting line on the
south edge of Italian Libya the
raiders moved in highly irregular
and colorful column-sheiks of the
Lake Chad region caparisoned in
gorgeous calico robes, riding horse
back and heavily armed with spears
and knives and bows and arrows
| They, it must be mentioned. did not
figure in the original tables of Or
ganization. they went along just for
the ride. With them came the we'll
drilled native infantry, lean leathery
officers and that peculiar rabble
which, until recently. was always
sWirling about the edges Of desert
armieS-camelmen jackass tenders,
drum beaters and, so help us, 'auto-
mobile mechanics.
The drum beaters we're sifted out
somewhere before the frontier. They
reluctantly accepted the idea that
this drive, across 300 miles OF hot
sand, was to be done quietly. 1t
seemed a great pity.
AS a compromise native musl-
clan was permitted to blow a few
calls On his 7-foot trumpet and the
column took off, as odd caravan as
this wilderness ever had seen.
I'VE Travelled light" said the
reporting officer. mo camel car
ried more than the weight of a man
of average build. That gave us
speed but it cut down transport
for supplies. So we pieced out the
old camel corps with lot Of Model
/ T Fords. We underloaded the cam
/ els and overloaded the Fords-10
/ II. 20 men hanging on each car.
Then We had a couple OF light
( trucks We used to send back to the
base camp each night for more
petrol. l can tell you our advance
was very droll indeed-there was the
morning in the dawn when l saw
them for a moment on the skyline
crossing a dune-and you got the
idea. In appearance this force
must have looked like nothing seen
since troops on high bicycles went
! TO the relief of Camelot in The
/ Connecticut Yankee But they
. went steadily on over the deadly
terrain at an incredible pace and
in the end, despite their comic opera
suise and manner. death overlook
quite lot of them. including the
colonel
They travelled for days with vir-
! tually no food at all and with
/ modicum of water that was bad to
begin with and got steadily worse.
They travelled in the dark. with no
protection against the dead cold of
the Sahara night, and slept by day
in dry washes, unshielded from the
+ sun. They breathed dust and went
! half blind from the sand in their
eyes.
/ So they came at last to Mourzouk,
capital of the Fezzan Oasis. And,
after what they had already &C
complished in getting there. it seems
an anti-climaX to mention that they
took the Italian garrison by surprise,
! drove it out into the desert and de-
stroyed it.
After that, they burned the air.
drome and squadron of planes on
the ground, buried their colonel and
came home again, 400 miles.
1T was magnificent" said Gen.
Catroux in his comment on the af-
fair. Their commander paid with
his life-the price of a successful
operation, brilliantly led. He will
hear, where he lies in the desert,
the echo of his raid across the
Sahara.
tcopyrisht, 1871, Chicago Daily News Incl