ITALY'S WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 65, 17 March 1936, Page 11

ITALY'S WAR.

EXPERIENCES TO DATE

IVEW ITALIAN AMBITIONS.

I>ALMATIA AND TUNIS.

(By SALVATORE : L0 GIUDICE.)

On Monday, March 9, an official communique from Marshal Badoglio gave almost a sworn assurance that from henceforward nothing will prevent the Italian army marching to Addis AbabaItaly's new military idol, docs not seem, however, in a great hurry. It is evident that in order to save lives and some undesirable military mishap, the advance is being directed slowly. Up to now, Badoglio's troops have encoun-1 tered tremendous territorial and climatic difficulties in Ethiopia—intense heat, lack of roiuls, torrential rains, malarial fever, and. communication problems. These obstacles have been overcome through sheer hard sacrifice, but something has been due to Badoglio's personal skill in artillery warfare, and to his calm and sound scientific reckonings. On the other hand, tho long silence of General Graziani ou the south, is due to tho necessary delay while immense quantities of materials are arriving from Italy for the complete strengthening of the whole Ogaden front before the next advance. Graziani, unlike Badoglio, has had to march most of tho time on a bare desert.. The terrific bare banks of sand, the heat, tho scarcity of water, and the distance from the military bases have made his task extremely difficult, but in the end this young man will earn as much recognition for himself as to be compared with that of Marshal Badoglio. Vast Engineering Works. North or south, the outstanding factor responsible for the Italians' success, so far, is, apart from the iron deter- j mi nation of the fighting men, the masterly organisation of engineering groups. To make this possible Mussolini lias spared nothing. For every soldier there are three tradesmen, who serve their time in tasks that ease the processes of advance. Huge constructions of roads, bridges, aerodromes, camps, rest camps, temporary hospitals, aerial and territorial railways, cemeteries and ammunition deposits have sprung up as if by magic. During the recent battle at Enderta some 180 kilometres of road were constructed during the actual advance of the fighting forcbs. But' Badoglio's greatest efficiency in the military organisation showed its merits when in less than two days some 3000 mules were rushed to the scene of war from Asmara. During the battlo 800 temporary radio stations were erected in a radius of 200 square miles, and all orders were transmitted by Badoglio and answers received at headquarters in the most orderly manner (imaginable. Some 7000 motor lorries, loaded with ammunition,' anus, petrol, workmen's tools, timber, iron, lime, cement, wine, mail and foodstuffs, travelled from Asmara and Adowa to keep pace with the fighting men. Only Light Tanks Useful. But the. whole military campaign lias been forced to undergo a reorganisation to suit colonial conditions. Italy's mechanised army, originally designed to meet an eventual European war, has proved a source of anxiety to Badoglio and Graziani. Out of 9000 tanks, the most formidable of which are said to defy shells of any calibre, only 1300 whippet tanks have proved of any use. These are of immense help, both to the infantry and the artillery, because of their smallness, their swiftness and the ideal defensive force carried by them. In this, matter of tank warfare Italy has been very fortunate. Had she been forced to depend on them, the scarcity of oil would have had "serious consequences. So far it is the air squadrons that absorb from 300 to 1800 barrels of oil weekly. * The Alpini divisions, too, have come to play a great part in this war. More than the infantry, in the Enderta battle. They were the first who, aided by the artillery, decided victory. The bayonet charge of the XXIII Marzo Black Shirts division came at the last moment, when the Ethiopians, forced to clear the top of the . mountain, encountered a deadly force in the plain beiow. Both sides lost heavily, because most of the fighting was done under artillery fire and .under conditions of terrain and combat that made the digging of trenches impossible. According to Badoglio's official news the whole battle was decided by a succession of desperate bayonet charges, with Black Shirts and Alpini divisions leading all along. Italy's' Foreign Policy. The League's sanctions campaign, directed solely to stop the, war, has resolved Italian Fascism to fight against this current by creating hew objectives of foreign policy. These new ambitions must be studied seriously, for Fascism is realistic, and as a national faith is the most serious-minded known to modern times. Late in the summer of 1921, at Milan, the Fascists ended a party meeting by yelling in unison: "To Rome! To Rome!" and by the next October, 1922, they had made a bold conquest of the Italian capital. Since then Mussolini has willed many things in Italy, and each undertaking has been more or less realised satisfactorily.

But Fascism went further. It made Italy a power of first magnitude. In the events that were witnessed upon the death of Dr. Dolfuss, of Austria, and King Alexander, of Yugoslavia, during 1934, Fascism decided the peace of Europe. To Fascism itself this work, brought no European gratitude. On the contrary, Mussolini was accused that by' defending Austria's independence, he was saving the Bi-enner Pass from German ambitions. That such Italian initiative, costing several thousand lives for the dramatic shifting of troops, should' be criticised so brutally, offended Fascism, which realised that it was not regarded with serious respect abroad. So the war with Ethiopia came to be willed by Fascism. A Demonstration in Rome. Recent history has not stopped the Fascists from turning to other new points. Sanctions have but resolved Fascism to • think in more desperate terms. The party now feels that history does not begin at Addis Ababa, nor does it end at Geneva. At the Musso-, lini Stadium at Rome the other day a monster party rally was opened with a conspicuous display of flags belonging to all the European countries. On the huge tower each flag was met by a large printed card with the reading, "We have old and new accounts to settle with your Government," while below the flag another card printed in bold letters read, "We will settle them." The reception given to the French flag was not reassuring to realistic French observers. The young armed spectators , dramati-. cally rose to their feet and with one voice cried'. "Tunis! Give us Tunis. To Tunis."

Tunis and Dalmatia. Doubtless this demonstration bore not only the imprint of an old grudge, but that of the new Fascists' ambitions. Italy is educated to bear in mind that Tunis was snatched ingloriously by France when Italy was going through a period of internal turmoil. In Tunisia the majority of the inhabitants ' are Italians. Every national advancement, every work, all -progress is owed to Italian labour and initiative. There are as many as four Italian printed newspapers to one French daily. In the very near future Italy will demand a plebiscite for deciding the fate of Tunis and those who live there—and if France will object, the victory will bo finally decided by the Army, the Navy and the Air Forces.

A similar feeling is now fermenting against Yugoslavia. Now that oil has boon discovered in Albania and Italy has spent several billion lire to build a gigantic refinery for keeping herself from the want of it, Jugoslavia's consent to sanctions has encouraged Italy to remind herself of the old problem of Dalmatia. This strip of land facing Aneona is historically bound up with Italy. Ironically enough Italy was allowed to proclaim Dalmatia Italian in the Treaty of London, signed by Britain, France and Russia on April 10, 1915. Tho long Italo-Jugoslavia political snarling has mainly been caused by this Dalmatian question. And because of tho bitter lessons that II Duce has learned during the trying struggle of the _ Italo-Ethiopian conflict; because Italians believe that Europe has always taken pleasure in belittling and humiliating Italy, it/ will not be any surprise if, at tho hour of victory, the Army returning home from Ethiopia is dramatically diverted to the shores both of Dalmatia and Tunisia.