Word: mersa
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Dates: during 1940-1940
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...Made a concentrated raid on the British coastal Army base of Mersa Matruh, end of the Egyptian railroad toward Libya...
...forces massed under Marshal Rodolfo Graziani in Libya for a drive eastward at Alexandria were estimated at two divisions (30,000 men). British authorities prepared the public for a "strategic retreat" of their forces from El Sollum, near the Libyan border, to the stronger and better-watered fortress of Mersa Matruh, where Cleopatra used to bathe. Meantime British aircraft, mobile artillery and mechanized patrols sorely harassed the Italians' preparations and out posts in Libya. This week Rome claimed ten British planes downed while bombing an Italian column in eastern Libya. R. A. F. counter-score: three Italian planes...
Whatever happened, Mussolini ordered two days of national mourning. All over the Empire Italy's armed forces half-masted their flags. In a "revenge" raid on the British base of Mersa Matruh, the late, great Balbo's men claimed the destruction of 20 British planes...