ABYSSINIANS CLAIM DECISIVE VICTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 3000, 19 December 1935, Page 7

ABYSSINIANS CLAIM DECISIVE VICTORY.

FEROCIOUS ATTACK.

Italians Admit Hundreds Killed and Wounded. TAKAZZE RIVER ACTION. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 1.30 p.m.) j ASMARA, December 18. The death roll in the Takazze River engagement of Monday is stated at 800, including 272 Italians, which Italy admits is the severest loss in the campaign. Three thousand Abyssinians in the first mass attack on an Italian position launched themselves upon the outposts of the 2nd Army Corps in Shebenni Valley. It was a well-planned, determinedly executed onslaught and took the defenders by surprise, forcing them to retreat. A second Abyssinian column, immediately the outposts became engaged, forded the Takazze and attacked the Askaris north of the river. The outposts hero retreated, fighting despe-, lately, while the second column slew! and wounded scores of Askaris. They neutralised the superiority of the tanks by rushing up so close to their sides that machine-guns could not be trained on them. The Italians, rallying in force, eventually dispersed the Abyssinians by bayonet ■ charges, claiming that they kiiled 500, but admitting that seven white officers and 20 men, and 48 Askari non-coms and 197 men were killed. The Abyssinians reiterate their claim that they killed 300 invaders. The deadliness of the encounter was accentuated by repeated Abyssinian counter-charges. They claim a victory: despite the loss of two chiefs and three column leaders. TWO PROTESTS. Dum-Dum Bullets and Bombs On Red Cross. NOTES TO THE LEAGUE. (Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, December 18. Almost coincidently two messages arrived here, the first from Geneva recording Italy's protest to the League against the Abyssinians' use of duin-dum bullets, "violating a high, universal, humanitarian principle," and the second from Addis Ababa announcing that the International Red Cross investigators had returned a finding that the bombing of the American hospital at Dessye on December 7 was inexcusable as the roof was marked with a 20ft rod cross. BITTER BLOW TO LAVAL. CHAMBER OF'DEPUTIES VOTE. LONDON, December 18. The Paris correspondents of both the "News Chronicle" and the "Manchester Guardian" declare that M. Laval has suffered a bitter blow to his authority and prestige, and cannot go to Geneva claiming the support of the whole of France, as only 50 Radicals out of 150 voted for him in the Chamber of Deputies, helping to stave off defeat. It was notable that M. Herriot did not applaud M. Laval's speeches, while the Radical Socialists cheered M. Leon Blum's attack. Moreover, M. Cot, a Radical Socialist, declared that no member supported M. Laval's notorious peace move. The "News Chronicle," in a leader, emphasises that M. Laval made it clear that it was before the Italo-Abyssinian negotiations began that Britain and France agreed not to try military sanctions. The paper suggests that M. Laval believed that an oil embargo came in this category, and it asks why, if Britain thought similarly, did the Committee of Eighteen, with French and British concurrence, agree to the oil embargo in principle only six weeks ago?