Word: somalilands
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...Finally took strategic British Somaliland...
Africa. "The whole of North Africa from the Strait of Gibraltar to Somaliland would be at the disposition of the Axis. . . . Certain British and other African colonies on the east and west coasts would come under German and Italian control. The Union of South Africa might be required to secure complete independence...
...East Africa, the British advances looked more like dress parade than war. Some of the Eritrean force swept down into Ethiopia and took Aduwa, scene of the famed Italian debacle in 1896. The South African detachment which had taken Italian Somaliland, had swept up across the Ethiopian savannas and had cracked Harar, now drove up the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad at the rate of 25 miles a day. There was a brief, sharp action at the Awash River. Then the British pressed on and took Addis Ababa without meeting any Italian resistance...
Harar fell the same day as Cheren to a British column advancing from Somaliland in the south. Italian resistance in Marda Pass before Harar was surprisingly light, and the British met almost no resistance at Harar itself. This column's mission-breaking the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad-was accomplished at week's end when the British announced they had occupied Dire Dawa, the nearest station to Harar on the railway, and that the Italians had withdrawn westward toward the capital. Main reason given by the Italians for this withdrawal was again British air activity. All week long...
...question was how many Italians were prepared to defend Harar, and how hard. It was likely that most of the Italians who had been in British Somaliland had fallen back into this area. The Italians would probably put up a stanch fight here because here-and at Cheren in Eritrea-were the last chances for strong stand: before Addis Ababa. If the British could crack the old town of Harar, they could cut the rail line, just north of Harar, from Addis Ababa...