The chief event recorded since our last issue is the
seizing of Benghazi, the chief town of Cyrenaica, the news of which was received on Saturday, though the engagement took place on the previous Thursday. The 300 Turkish soldiers of the garrison and the Arabs in the city and suburbs made a stub- born resistance, but ultimately the position was captured by the Italians, though not without considerable loss. The operations began in the early morning with a bombardment to prepare the ground. This was followed by a landing of the troops from the boats, which was fiercely contested. The Times correspondent gives a graphic account of the pluck of the Arabs under the fire of the ships' guns. Whole groups, he tells us, were mown down. "I watched one horseman advanc- ing at a walking pace. Several guns made him their target, but in spite of the rain of projectiles he neither checked nor hastened his horse's pace. At last the black smoke of a shell hid him from sight, and he was seen no more." The dash and bravery of the Italian troops seem to have well nigh equalled the splendid stoicism of the Arabs. The whole of the land- ing operations were carried out with celerity and precision, in spite of the fact that the sea was running fairly high and that the landing parties were throughout within range of the enemy's guns.
