1989
RRIER TO INVASION
.S.
Jarvis sible route for a force of all arms
vehicles an easy target.
And this is not all, for there would be raids by armoured and light car patrols operating from the coast, from the oases and from dumps in the desert: Last but not least there would be the general stiffening of resistance when the defending force fell back on its base, the well-watered valley of the Nile, with the invaders, disorganis- ed by 400 miles of desert going, compelled to meet them on ground of their selection.
ARMY THAT NEVER RETURNED
The area over which such an in- vasion could take place is the 200 miles of desert that lies between Siwa and Baharia and the coast. South of this country is quite im- possible, because a vast sea of towering dunes well over 100 miles in depth runs from Siwa oasis to within a few miles of the Sudan border. Where the dunes end there is a precipitous and broken scarp 2,000 feet high called the Gilf Kebir, which is
more impassable even than the sand sea.
from Italian Libya to the Nile Val- ley is that which runs along the ently embarked Mediterranean coast. Much of it is
Where the Gilf Kebir falls away immigration made road, whilst the remainder is Italian pea- good hard going on natural desert, small waterholes of Oweinat dis- to an undulating sand plain are the Italy and Sicily and there frequent water-holes.or the land. The wells of just potable water. The Bey in 1923. The water-hole on the covered by Sir Ahmed Hassanein in its infancy, track, however, is never more than western side of the Oweinat massif st elapse before 10 miles from the sea,
and this her this attempt
is in Italian territory and is used by means that the left flank of an in- old Roman pro vading army would be open to at- mechanised units and aircraft. The
them as an advanced base
for or not, but if tack by a defending fleet. can win a living.
smaller water-hole on the eastern it is the Italian
South of this road is a tract of side is in Sudan territory and is very rough hummocky country visited from time to time by the some 30 miles in width which, ex- cars of the Sudan Defence Force. cept for an isolated deep well or two, is entirely waterless.
en busy in her Nile, and there
f thousands of
here previously
One must not rule out the pos sibility of a small car raid from
South of this again is the vast Oweinat with Aswan as its goal. cattered patches Libyan waste, which is a desert in This, considering all things, would every sense of the word. It is com- be in the nature of a forlorn hope pletely waterless except for the only, aimed and interference with country are the cases of Siwa, Baharia, Farafra, the country's water supplies. re nomads, and Dakhla and Kharga, and to all in-
.
The Libyan desert has a bad re-
of
the Beduin of tents and purposes it is trackless. coyd for military enterprise and in- e. a bigger and The surface varies; there are lines vasion by way of its sand sea, The yway and are of impassable sand dunes which Senussi onslaught in the Great War ndants of the vary in depth and length, there are was a complete failure and one proved such a
great plains of drifted sand, there must not overlook the fate of the ancient are rough limestone outcrops Cambyses' army; 40,000 of them set an Libya they with sudden scarps and valleys and out to invade Siwa in 500 B.C. and ers, but though the depressions filled with soft not a man returned to describe the ace their value blown sand, and there are
disaster that befell them. salt disciplined, and
marshes or "sabakha" which are bly uncertain,
quite impassable in winter, but storms that sweep t, by raising a passable in parts during the es, will get bet- rab man-power. oases are of a are possibly of As endemic ma- hese hot, low- ast 1,000 years re for the most ekly and lack terprise.
mer months.
The sudden and violent sand this waste in sumpanied by a burning wind called the spring of the year are accom-
the "khamain." They last for three days, and its would need a most re- doubtable force of desert-trained men to meet a khamsin and survive.
Until recently this desert con- stituted a more effective barrier to to invasion than 400 miles of open sea. But to-day, with improved motor transport and aircraft co- operation, it could be crossed with difficulty by a light mechanised force. It would be a hazardous task, for there is no question of support- ys will be of ing intantry crossing this desert ic importance nor heavy vehicles and guns accom- ously this 400- panying the expedition and, though ratively water- aircraft might assist the march by host effective dumping water and petrol, opposing To some extent aircraft, on the other hand, would. the only pos- find a long line of plainly visible"
By George McManus
VË THEY MOVED POST OFFICE- MR.JIGGS?
MÁGGIE-I THINK YOU HAD BETTER COME DOWN TO TH' OFFICE AN HELP ME WITH
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Prices per metric ton delivered, as follows:-
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000-$28.00
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$30.00
$31.00
Pokfulum
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Agents.
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