Word: somaliland
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...object in the far-flung bush battles of the war in East Africa is to bite off pieces of France's colonies in the north, gain control of Egypt and the Suez, and bite into Great Britain's holdings in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, British Somaliland, Kenya Colony...
Mussolini had gained: 1) demilitarization of a 30-mile strip along the Franco-Italian frontier; 2) demilitarization of a strip 125 miles wide along the Libyan frontier; 3) demilitarization of the French Somaliland coast and full rights to the harbor of Djibouti and the Djibouti-Addis Ababa Railway; 4) demilitarization for the duration of the war of the French naval bases at Toulon, Bizerte, Oran and Ajaccio. Regarding the surrender and demobilization of the French Army, the Italian Armistice conformed to the German. No mention was made of Nice, Savoy or Corsica, for which Italians have long clamored. So humiliating...
Whether Mussolini's Italy could be induced to stay out of the war was no longer the question. Flushed with somebody else's success, Il Duce had upped his demands to include not only Tunisia, Djibouti, French and British Somaliland. Corsica. Malta. Gibraltar and Suez, but also the two French departments of the Maritime Alps (including the Riviera) and the Haute-Savoie. On hearing this news. France called off a trade pact awaiting signature, got ready for war with Italy...
Cheap. For months Dictator Mussolini has eyed well-armed French Tunisia, has made passes at French Somaliland, has shouted for a share in the Suez Canal. He got nowhere while Partner Hitler snatched territory right & left. In Albania he got a cheap victory; he also gave a ringing answer to Britain's anti-aggression moves and served notice that Rome and Berlin were still on the offensive...
Even more dramatic were French preparations in East Africa, where Italy also has some unfulfilled "aspirations." Artillery reinforcements were en route to Djibouti, French Somaliland. French authorities began recruiting natives to add to the 6,000 Somaliland defenders and to match Italy's concentration of 15,000 men on the Ethiopian and Eritrean borders...