ADVANCING ON ADOWA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 235, 4 October 1935, Page 7

ADVANCING ON ADOWA.

ITALIANS TO WIPE OUT 1896 DISASTER. SACRED ETHIOPIAN GROUND INTERVENES. (Received 1 p.m.) LONDON, October 3. The " News-Chronicle" Addis Ababa correspondent says that two squadrons of aeroplanes carried out the raids into Ethiopia, after which Italian infantry advanced east of Adigrat, indicating an encircling, outflanking movement on Adowa. There was no declaration of war and no communication from the Italian Legation to the Ethiopian Government. It is reported that the Italians have 70 tanks at the Mouss Ali base, where they are preparing landing grounds. The "Daily Mail" special correspondent at Asmara says the Italians, according to plan, are advancing in several columns. A stiff fight is expected before Adowa falls. Some 40,000 or 50,000 Abyssinians have massed in readiness for defence. Moreover, 1 3 miles from Adowa are the ruins of the town of Askum, including the tombs of the earliest Abyssinian monarchs, marked by the highest obelisks in the world, which the Ethiopians regard as sacred. They will not abandon them without hard fighting. The Italians are planning an advance base at Adowa for 200 aeroplanes from Assab with the great moral objective of wiping out the defeat of 1896.