Evening star., 1941-06-02
British Remove
Families From
Nearby Cyprus
EneIish-Arob Battle
Declared Raging
In Truns-Jordun
Earlier Stories on Page A-1.)
By the Associated Press

NEdTiIcT StOTlcS OH dSc h-IJ
By the Associated Press.
German motorized infantry
troops were reported today to
have landed at the port of La
takia, Syria, and the British an
nounced the removal of British
women and children from the
island of Cyprus, off the coast of
Syria, in anticipation of a quick
Axis assault there following the
conquest of Crete.
simultaneously a battle was re-
ported raging in Trans-Jordan be-
tween British forces and Arab Ma
tionalists.
Telegraph and telephone COM
munications between Egypt and
Syria have been suspended by or
der of the Vichy government, dis
patch from Cairo said.
Landed May %.
A British crown colony since
1914, Cyprus is the third largest
island in the Mediterranean after
Sicily and Sardinia.
Dispatches from Ankara, Turkey,
said the German troops landed on
the Syrian coast May 20, arriviry
by freighters. Trucks. armored cars
and mobile field guns accompanied
the Nazi contingent, it was re-
ported. Latakia is due east of the
eastern tip of Cyprus.
These developments came even
as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mus
solini conferred for five hours with
their military chieftains at Bren-
ner Pass, scene of momentous de-
cisions in the past, and informed
Fascists declared the Axis leaders
presumably talked plans for count
ering any belligerent move by the
United States.
Removal of British women and
children from Cyprus to Egypt and
withdrawal of native Cyprus fam
lilies to the hills was started by Brit
ish authorities rushing defenses on
that island bastion.
Tension mounted as the prepara-
tionS brought home to the people
the realization that they might be
the next on the list of Hitler's aerial
raiders.
The Cyprus Post pointed out edi-
torially that the Axis would be at
a disadvantage in any attempt to
take Cyprus because the island is
so far removed from Grecian air.
fields, but it emphasized the danger
OF aerial invasion from the Dode-
canese Islands and possibly from
nearby Syria.
1T may we'll be that if the de-
tenders of Crete have blunted the
spearhead of the German attack"
the newspaper said, Cyprus will
have the honor of smashing it
altogether"
Cyprus stands between the
enemy and his grandiose Middle
East ambitions"
Germans Report Battle.
The German radio reported that
a fierce battle has been raging
for three days between Arab ma
tionalists and British forces in the
vicinity of Aboutir, in Transjordan.
British Near East mandate. Ma
tional BrOadcasting Co. Transcribed
the broadcast in New York.
The broadcast, ostensibly based
on a dispatch from Beirut, Lebanon.
added that British staff car was
attacked on the road leading from
Amman, capital of Transjordan. to
Jerusalem, in adjoining Palestine,
and two British officers were cap
tured.
The reports of German landings
in Syria followed earlier dispatches
from London which stated the be-
lief there that Britain was ready to
take swift action in Syria, both to
block any substantial German foot
hold and to bolster Turkeys stand.
With fighting over in Iraq Britain
was reported free to send her troops
through that country to the Syrian
border. The French high commits
sioner has proclaimed a state of
siege in eastern Syria, the German
radio reported in broadcast heard
in New York.