World War, SOUTHERN THEATRE: Push into Eritrea

British Empire forces, which had driven 70 miles into Eritrea from the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, last week took Agordat (see map, p. 23). This town, 2,000 feet up on the Eritrean plateau, is strategically placed at the junction of a railway to Massaua on the Red Sea and a new highway to Addis Ababa. Agordat was defended by one Italian division. In taking the town, the attackers claimed "many hundreds of prisoners," but the Italians were not entirely surrounded, and the main body retreated into increasingly mountainous country behind Agordat.

With Agordat in their possession, the British were set to cut...

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