1940-12-20 — Page 59

THÈ CHINA MAIL FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, DECEMBER 20, 1940.

Before The

From this hidden desert position on the outskirts of Sidi Barrani between midnight and dawn this morning I watched infantry and artillery of the British advance striking forces go into action in the first big desert rald since Italy's westward push.

While shell-burst and flying tracer-bullets flared across the moonlit sky. Highland troops made repeated bayonet charges against Italian posts on the towns outskirt, scattering the enemy be- fore them. Clearly across five