REPORTED CHECK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 266, 9 November 1935, Page 7

REPORTED CHECK.

ITALIANS IN OGADEN. NATIVE REJOICING. SURPRISE DISAPPOINTMENTS. "" 1 (By LAURENCE STALLINGS.) HARRAR, October If. General Nasibou, the supreme commander of the Abyssinian forcee in this region, announces that the Italians have sustained a check in the Ogaden region and th?.t the enemy has only advanced to a depth of some 20 kilometres into the country. This statement, together with the reported checkmate in the north, has been received with the j widest enthusiasm by the population. | Confidence is reviving and the inhabi-! Itante of Harrar, who had fled to the j open country, are now returning. [ It is remarkable to see how the j I women of the province are answering j j the call to arms. Collecting whatever j rifles and guns they may find, they are j travelling by lorry to the front, where j they intend to join their husbands. This coming together of husband and wife almost in the firing line indicates that the people here have made up their | minds that the conflict is going to be a j long one. i The . Ethiopians are disappointed by i j their inability to carry out any surprise j attacks owing to the activity of the Italian air scouts, who are always entirely aware of what the Abyssinian forces are doing. The regular Abyssinian troops hesitate to move out of their prepared positions as they fear that strategic efforts may be made by the Italians to envelop the irregular forces more to the south where the greatest fear is entertained of Italian aeroplanes. The Governor of Harrar has ordered the proprietor of the principal hotel here, a Greek, to reopen his house and, as a possible defence against air-raids, has given him a machine gun to fix

among the bougainvilleas on the hotel balcony. In the absence of Europeans much beloved by fleas, these parasites are now feeding , on the grease on the

soldiers' ammunition. The countryside firmly believes that Ethiopia is winning the war, but the tactics of the military commanders reveal extreme caution particularly towards the south, where reserves are streaming uninterruptedly. (Copyright by N.A.N. A.)