CARIO--An Italian army of 200,000 men tonight faced dismemberment and entrapment as British Empire forces smashed deeper into Benito Mussolini's East African Empire on five fronts after seizing the Eritrean town of Barentu, military dispatches said.
Strategic Barentu, 70 miles inside Eritrea near the Ethiopian border, fell barely 24 hours after the British capture of the railroad town of Agordat, 40 miles northward, after fierce fighting that cost the Italians heavily in dead, wounded and prisoners.
An estimated half of Mussolini's East African army--about 100,000 troops --were said to face entrapment in Eritrea, while other Italian forces were reported in retreat from Western Ethiopia and from Ethiopia's southern frontier.
Thousands of Ethiopian rebels, led by Haile Selassie, were reported to be striking savagely at the Italians from the rear and flanks in the mountain regions, facilitating the British drives.
Read more in News
New York City Probes Howell's Real Potency
