The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-08
BRITISH FORCES
CAPTURE BENcAs,
CONTINUED From po.o

-DA!N0ASl
/ Continued From Page ou.,
sumably the other British co,,u.
took the remainder of tbo Ho'ann
yesterday. A''lans
Identity Not Given
The identity Of the captures -,
ian army commander was not ot h.al'
in the special commurique, Ma 9.Sea
GRAHAM had been reported ~
easi before the final assault Den
made. was
Some of the Italian earriso,
10000 were believed to have ESQ.,. W
the British net by taking 10 ba,.
ii Bengasi's expensivelv im,rs
harbor which will accommodats w.
British cruisers and provide . wy
to support heightened Rri,tS
ground lines.
How many prisoners were in b.,
ish hands could not be estimates ,'
night. Counting was under wav,
British military sources said ~.
that of the original garrison NAV,
already had been evacuated bsf.,
the enlightenment of Bengasi IT..
completed, some perhaps BY %,
The enlightenment is roughly 500 MIL
from the base from which the H..
ish started their great desert off,,
sive on Dec. 8, the Egyptian raiIro.,
Of Matruh.
When the trap was sprung -,
Italians offered virtually no resi-,
ance in Bengasi itself, it was s,,
here. although they fired br,,
dumps Of ammunition and store,
Gem of Empire
The city-Berenice to the ancier,,
who had thus named it for an Er,,,
tan princess they considered Nor
beautiful even than Cleopatra-w,
one of the gems of the Italian o.,
pire.
More than that, it was the biceps
base yet taken in the long BritS
thrust to the west, with a norm;
population of more than 50,00O. #,
capture gave the British control d
the whole Of eastern Libya. SOM
British sources pointed out it can b
used not only against the italians
remaining in Libya but also as a,
advanced striking base to atta6
the German dive-bomber nests il
Sicily.
Between Bengasi and Tripoli-4l
airline miles to the w~est-there ar.
only a few incensequentisl coast
towns and the British expect Itat
ian Marshal Rodolfo Graziani to fail
back to that ancient city with what
ever men can survive to make bis
next and, perhaps, last stand.
Prepare for Drive
The British communique disclosin:
the fall Of Bengasi likewise Reported
that preparations for the big British
offensive on Cheren, in Eritrea ia,
to the south, were developing sat
isfactorily."
In Eritrea, 1t was stated, $500
Italian prisoners already had been
taken with many more coming in,
and the field Of action was Uttered
with abandoned Italian war ma
terials.
In Italian Ethiopia, the British ad'
vance eastward along the Gondar
road was officially reported contin-
uing and it was said that in that
sector prisoners had been captured
On the fourth African front, IN
Italian Somaliland, some 1000 miles
from Libya, British patrols were SAD
to be successfully enlarging the
area of their penetration
The developing attack on Cheren'
the most important maneuver in al
the East African area, is INTENDED
to open the way for the seizure Q.
the Eritrean capital of Asmara ana
thus, perhaps, to the fall OF 's
whole colony to British arms.
Bengasi's capture was descrlre1.
by the British command as a DIFF
liant operation-an expression n"
used by it before in all the african
campaign.
British armored forces, said tE
high command, cut to the south o.
the town and straddled and donl'
mated the Italian line leading to the
southwark.
Australian troops advancing from
Derna struck simultaneously anu
gave the fleeing Fascists no IT,
spite"
Then, "demoralized and untnan'
euvered," as the British put 1t, 'Ds
Italians could not put into ehec'
whatever plans they had for the ds'
Tense of Bengasi.
Aloft, as in the successful storm
ing of Bardia and Tobruk and Det'
ma, the Royal Air Force claimed uN'
questioned command.
The value of American alrcral'