Evening star., 1941-02-08
By Cable to The Star.


ON THE LIBYAN FRONT, Feb. 8.
The status of MussolinIs North
African empire today seemed TO de-
pend entirely on the verdict of the
adding machine. Not even the Aus
tralians, who yesterday came roar
ing out of a duststorm into Ben
gasi. know exactly the size OF their
bag. save for one important Speci-
men-a corps commander.
1t is known that there were at
least four divisions in Cirenaica
when the trap was set two weeks
ago. As prisoners file out of the city
onto the road between the salt
marshes the total looks to be higher.
1t is quite possible that the prob
lem of whether or not Italy's African
Commander in Chief Marshal Ro-
dolfo Graziani retreats on Tripoli
will be solved for him by his having
nothing 10 retreat with.
Bit. by bit by bit. the jigsaw pic
ture of what happened in the sur
prise development Of Bengasi is be-
ing put together. You learn. with
out too much surprise, that all the
Italian army was not sprlntlng dur
ing the four days between the occu-
patton of Cirene and the sudden
blocking of the exit from Cirenaica
Peninsula by British tanks. 1t
seems now that they really had IN
tended to make a stand.
Stopped Occasionally to Fight.
Despite the general loss OF morale.
the daily repetition of disaster, the
capture of numerous general Off
GERS and tacticians. the remaining
staff apparently could not believe
what had happened. They figured.
if one may Judge from the action
of the last four days, that the hat
tricks of the British and Australians
could not 60 on forever.
So, despite increasing defections
from the rear guard and despite
the accelerated movement up ahead,
they stopped now and then to fight
and their artillery has always
been good
The fall of Bengasi really dates
from the capture of Tobruk. for at
that time British commanderin-
chief Sir Archibald Wavell, set
going his audacious plan to take
the remaining strongholds in his
way. with a minimum number of
tanks, and to pocket what remained
of the italian army before it could
get out of Cirenaica.
The Australians stuck TO the
coast road, beating down consid-
erable resistance in front of Derna
but driving steadily on through
Cirene Meanwhile. British mecha-
niZed units were detached and
started. south of Jebel-Ak- Oar
the fertile, green plateau of coastal
Cirenaica-straight across the dusty.
trackless, waterless desert. 1t was
the mission of this column to cut
across the road south of BengaSi
and block retreat
The trip of the tanks over this
blistering countryside is likely to be
classed as one of the epic perform
ances of this war Once the column
left Tobruk, it was without supplies
save what it carried along. 1t
followed a course devoid of water
holes. Much of the going was in
spots below sea level-the hottest
portions of the Libyan desert There
was no communication because the
operation was kept a secret even
from the numerous cooperating
units the radio could not be used
lest it give hint to the Italians.
Battle South of Derna.
About the time the Australian
infantry was battling its way
through the outer defenses of Derna
these tanks ran into italian de-
tachments at Michili, so or 70 miles
south of Derna and there they
fought pitched battle that seems
to have lasted most of the day. De-
tails of this engagement are still
lacking, which is not surprising in
asmuch as nobody heard of it. save
the men who fought in it, until the
tanks rolled up across the road south
of Bengasi, according to schedule.
The success of this operation is
all the more remarkable because of
the independent maneuver of the
units involved The right hand
never knew about the left hand.
The whole performance was con-
Quoted on time schedule prepared
| weeks in advance
1t has been suggested by some ex-
pertS that the Italians had not
planned to make any last stand at
BengaSi because of the 500 miles
of desert no mans land that lie
between there and Tripoli-that
Marshal GRAHAM might have con-
templated withdrawal on a final
! base while stretching out the
British supply lines to the possible
breaking point.
| However, it was obvious from the
events of the past few days. that
there would be some sort of stif1
resistance in Bengasi, if merely to
permit the removal or destruction
of large quantities of arms and
supplies.
No Defense Feasible.
Then the tanks overran the guards
on the south road and began to
move north as the Australians came
roaring in over the coast road, and
no defense of any sort, for any pur-
pose, was feasible italian forces
| involved in all the incidents of this