Word: eritrea
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Italian seamen had boasted that they did a thorough job of destruction when they scuttled or burned or smashed everything useful in Massaua harbor. Massaua, in Eritrea, had once been one of Mussolini's biggest naval bases outside of Italy. When the victorious British arrived its waterfront shops were in ruins, its waters choked with sunken ships...
That was not all there was in Eritrea to make Italian eyes widen. When it was decided last year to set up bases there for Lend-Lease material, U.S. laborers, recruited in New York, were rushed to the fever-ridden little country on the Red Sea. To escape the heat of the lowlands, where the temperature sometimes reaches 120°, they were housed 4,000 feet above sea level on the inland plateau and transported every day to the sweltering seacoast...
From Egypt, the Nazis could also swing south, strike at the great U.S. concentration base in Eritrea. From the Near East, they could swing farther east into India, striking at the communications lines of the United Nations to China. Wherever they went, south, east, or both, they could well expect to get some help from the native populations, for the loss of Egypt would strike British prestige a severe blow in all Mohammedan countries...
...shipped. There had to be wool belly-bands for troops in the tropics, fur for Arctic troops, plenty of woolens for the British Isles. There had to be food for all in the style to which U.S. soldiers are accustomed -and lemon extract had to get to Anchorage and Eritrea on schedule, along with the lumber for barracks and gasoline for the mess stoves...
...work, decided to hold his first press conference. He explained that the Mission's object had been to service and observe Lend-Lease planes, tanks, other equipment. To this end he had: 1) brought all previous American observers, technicians, advisers into his organization; 2) expanded Italian installations in Eritrea into supply and repair bases ("We took up the job where they left off; it was very convenient"); 3) established schools to train British personnel on U.S. equipment, and so thoroughly familiarized them with U.S. matériel that he could now turn the schools over to them...