HORROR OF GAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 239, 9 October 1935, Page 7

HORROR OF GAS.

ITALIAN ATTACK IN OGADEN. ETHIOPIANS WITHOUT MASKS. United Press Association. —Copyright.—Rec. 10.30 a.m. LONDON, October 8. The British United Press correspondent at Addis Ababa says that Ras Seyoum, commander of the Abyssinian forces in the north, has telegraphed that he captured an Italian colonel and 30 officers. Haile Silassie is unwilling that the prisoners should be brought to Addis Ababa lest they excite the population. General Nasibu, Commander-in-Chief of the southern Abyssinians, reports that the bursting of aerial bombs blanketed a wide area with thick yellow gas, causing soldiers and noncombatants to suffer painfully. He adds that only a few troops have gas masks and the use of gas is incredible and revolting. Mr, Noel Monks, representative of the Sun-Herald news service, says that for three days the Abyssinians at Adigrat have withstood terrible aerial bombardments to which they are helpless to retaliate. Emperor's Faith In Geneva. Yesterday, however, at the Emperor's command, they withdrew silently, and it was not until the 'planes came over for a further raid that they saw the town was deserted. Claiming a victory, the Italians marched in to-day. The Emperor has cabled the League telling the situation and declaring that as the Abyssinians are purely on the defensive they would not attempt to recapture the town. Haile Silassie is still looking to the League to save his country from the annihilation and massacre that threaten it. The Legations have sent a combined Note to Signor Mussolini petitioning him not to bomb Addis Ababa because of the needless slaughter of hundreds of women and children that would follow. Forty members of the native staff of the Italian Legation have left Addis Ababa, and it is feared that air raids will quickly follow. Their departure led to hundreds of foreigners making a dash to the station, but the train was full.