HOLY CITY SURRENDERED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 244, 15 October 1935, Page 7

HOLY CITY SURRENDERED.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ITALIAN ADVANCE.

25-MILE "PUSH" ON 60-MILE FRONT. United Press Association—Copyright.—Eec. 11 a.m.^ LONDON, October 14. The British United Press Adowa correspondent reports that Italians occupied the holy city of Aksum, which submitted without fighting. No military forces were seen near the town, whose priests, accompanied by the heads of thirteen monasteries submitted to General Maravigna, commander of the Second Army Corps. The correspondent states that the submission of the Coptic priests at Aksum and elsewhere in the occupied area is of great political importance, because they are the real rulers of the people. Those on the spot believe that the desertion of the Emperor s son-in-law, Degiac Haile Silassie Gugsa, which shocked the capita , and the submission of the Aksum priests at Aksum, which is the Ethiopian Mecca, are the most significant events of the war. The Italians are delaying their advance from Aksum the news of the submission spreads, believing that it will produce further submissions.

Local Abyssinians Disintegrating. The surrender of Aksum and other indications of local Abyssinian disintegration suggest that developments are showing that the Italian military authorities will have the situation on the basis they prefer, namely, a peaceable one. According to exchanges from a correspondent at Italian headquarters the authorities are especially gratified at the surrender of the sacred city. Gugsa's surrender has shaken the Abyssinians in the north, leading to six other chieftains coming in with their followers. Many of those making submission were formerly employed as labourers in Eritrea and speak Italian. They declare that they do not wish to fight Mussolini's soldiers. The British United Press correspondent at Italian headquarters says the Italians are aiming to exploit the submission of the Coptic priests, who are more influential than the Emperor, and, realising this, the Italians have shown the greatest deference to Abyssinian religious feelings. Also they deliberately avoided attacking and bombing Aksum. The first column of military lorries reached Adowa along a road the Italian engineers built, replacing a rocky sft trail used for centuries. Ras Seyoum is reported to be retreating, with his forces towards Tembien. The Italian military machine now stretches 25 miles into Abyssinia on a 60-mile front.