Strasbourg Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1945, Strasbourg, Alsace                              The Sofea Tufti Pes vol 111 51 and last Cairo four cents december 94s general Giles salutes our final edition by Benjamin amet this weeks is the last edition of stars and Middle amet will miss stars and strip it has always been a Welcome touch of Home of All of it has Given us something we could not get in any other yet i know All of you will find some Good news in the fact that stars and stripes is closing because it Means that one More function of the command is at to Many of you that Means that your history of command stresses importance of Middle East Campaign to the final Victory Giles own Job in he army is nearer its since september the command has been Cut Down our record shows that personnel have been sent Home with a Speed faster than any other of Uncle Sams far Flung overseas Heaters have Achie geographically it has been the largest of our global commands and his has one of the problems in cutting ii i but those of us who Are left Here j still have a Job to Complex and demanding of the history of he command published in these pages will explain to you what our Job has been and what we have yet to after stars and stripes other amet units will be folding and i it wont he too Long before All of you will be Back in the until i we will Ness stars and stripes and its regular weekly pages of news from i would of Hank and congratulate All who have had a part in this their work has been outstandingly faithful Heth in us regular editions and in he extras which have appeared on no table dates of the main Street has left Amir Abad has left teherans1 Pusc Headquarters whose relative i comforts once moved Edgar Snow in he sate Post to Call his Story of the yank Camp main Street comes to is no last saturday the lock project became reality for the handful of Anlo service troops and maps still left in the ghost Down a1 once teeming is getting ready to the fourth last Pusc Christmas will a celebrated tuesday and next morning the final i meal will he the summer and fall of prior to the formal entry of the United states into the had seen serious and protracted pres sure on British forces in the Middle an area of enormous strategic importance to Bolh sides of the from september of follow ing the entry of Italy the continuous pressure had exerted by and later from and by the Duke of from the latter in the first and with the help of Vichy French in control of French Soma had forced the evacuation of British and at one time threatened the closure of the red a certain disastrous effect upon seaborne communications to Egypt and the Middle in the which was entirely Cut off from England As a Supply the unremitting efforts of Admiral had permit Ted limited offensive action sufficient to give the overrated italian Navy a bad and Crete not until the arrival of German air Power in sufficient amount to overpower available air did the Royal Navy in the Eastern Mediterranean abandon its offensive in the intervening it had Able to meet and in flick a severe defeat upon italian naval forces in at the Baltic of on in com Mand of the Imperial army of the threw a Surprise attack on 9 at Graziani forces which had advanced from Libya into Egypt As far As Sidi Tho attack was fully and in the Hasty and disorganized Retreat of to disgruntled italians beyond in this Short Campaign Wavell destroyed the italian 10th and seriously crippled the italian 5th air in Ethiopia and the surrounding the British also took the Greece offensive with sketchy operating from he Sudan under Gen eral and from Kenya under a pincers was put on the italian forces there resulted in the u 20 of the Duke of Viceroy of in the Churchill had the to go to the help of the forces were withdrawn from it veils com Mand for this and sent to Greece As an expeditionary Force under general sir Henry Maitland in april of 1941 this Force was obliged to evacuate Wavell Greece after suffering heavy the afrika corns of German especially trained and equipped for desert had been dispatched to where general Erwin Rommel took command of the joint German italian his attack on a cells thinly held lines forced a withdrawal from Benghazi to bar Obruk alone held out As a Citadel within the German and was supplied by the airborne invasion of Crete took place Between 21 May and 1 and resulted in uni other forced and disastrous Eva British and Empire troops in Crete lost nearly half their estimated strength of All of their supplies and heavy and most of their Small the Royal trying to support the on he suffered heavy Osses from air it was following this that he British Mediterranean Fleet did not have a single undamaged to matters nazi in Trigue with Vichy French in and the use of that country As an intermediate Landing and fuel Point for German aircraft assisting Tho abortive rebellion in forced the British to the Maxwell Mission Wilson headed an expeditionary Force which ran into severe opposition French but was Able to pacify Syria and Denv its facilities to Jar the Early weeks of the continued intrigues of Vichy French necessitated the maintenance of a Gar ii son which further depleted the forces available o meet and con Ain Rommel in the Western de the Prospect of renewed attack upon the Middle with the contingencies of the loss of Egypt and the Suez led the British who were desperately not Only of the instruments of War tout of All sorts of miscellaneous Ware and handling instal ordnance de repair stations and the other material background of modern to Call upon die United states for Hie principle of lend lease to cover the Supply of instruments of War and All necessary Supply where essential o the de sense of the United states had Al ready been put into under these the on 13 sent a memorandum o the Secretary of requesting that arrange he at the earliest practicable to Nib for the establishment ind operation of depots in the Middle East for the maintenance and Supply of aircraft and All types of ordnance furnished the British in that this memorandum brought into being the organization known As United states military Mission to North later called Maxwell after its Russell this activated upon 27 functioned until 19 june when it became a theater of operations under the name United Maxwell imperil chief of recently to Tate lord Agnf Cooka states army forces in the Middle designated continued to function 1 March 1945 in conjunction with extensions of its area of control to include All of Africa find it was Rede Sig Latefi Africa Middle East Thea Short term v the Maxwell Mission had for its boundaries the outer limits of the territory including Ara the and in Libya to the line marking enemy on 10 Iran and part of that had been under the continued on Page 2 this which Doest How All of gives a Clear indication of heroic the command has payed in the All those names above some significance in the War that swirled about the Middle a critical Point in the balance Between War and staff map by Misha