The War in Somaliland
The intensity and the nearness of German air attacks on the English coast must not lead us to underestimate the Italian attack on our forces in Somaliland and the threatened invasion of Egypt from Libya. The German and the Italian efforts are arranged to synchronise, and the Italians are bent on getting all the advantage they can from our preoccupation with the war nearer home. The fortunes of war have played into their hands by denying us the expected co-operation of the French in Tunisia, in French Somaliland, and in Syria. Thus in Libya they are free from anxieties on their western border; the big reserves under the French command in Syria are neutralised ; and in attacking British Somaliland their left wing has nothing to fear from the French at Djibuti. The critical point at the moment is in Somaliland, where superior Italian forces are press- ing the small British Army in the passes between Hergeisa and the sea at Berbera. After hard fighting the position is being well held. It is true enough that this little strip of country is of small strategical importance. Its capture would not affect our control of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. But in its bearing on our prestige in the Middle East, and the impression that may be created among the people of Abyssinia, who are ready to revolt when they see signs of Italian reverses, success or failure in Somaliland is of the greatest importance.
