OFFENSIVE BEGINS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 249, 18 September 1940, Page 7

OFFENSIVE BEGINS.

IN CONCERT WITH GERMANS

LONDON, Sept. 17

The Times correspondent on the Italian frontier says it is officially announced from Rome that the Italian offensive in Egypt is timed to coincide with a German thrust against Britain. Dispatches from Addis Ababa state that the Italians are advancing across the Egyptian frontier at several points, throwing in regulars, black shirts and mechanised units and also a camel corps from Libya. The beginning of the offensive has been marked by the end of the desert storms which in recent weeks have stirred up powdery sand, rendering it impossible to use motorised vehicles and even tanks because of the weight of sand infiltering the engines. Italian pilots report that the British are rushing up naval units from Alexandria and other parts of the Mediterranean and have begun shelling the roads leading to Alexandria, along which the Italians are reported to be fighting their way. - ' It is also indicated that Marshal Graziani’.s push to Egypt will he fob lowed by general activity of the Italian army in Kenya and also along the border of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The possibility of _ “expeditionary action” from the air is also reported from Borne. The Cairo correspondent of the Times says it is understood that t’he Egyptian Government views the new situation with equanimity. It is generally accepted that the Egyptian forces have a place in the scheme of the defence of Egypt and will play their part when called on. A French unit has been formed m Egypt from followers of General de Gaulle among the troops facing the Italians. It includes professional soldiers, reservists, foreign legionaries and natives from Senegal.