ASPECTS OF CAMPAIGN

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 87, 9 October 1935, Page 11

ASPECTS OF CAMPAIGN

AKSUM AND ADT.GRAT

ITALIANS USE GAS IN SOUTH

(By S.R.Q.) There are several important items in the news of the war in Abyssinia today. In the northern theatre of operations, of which Adoiya is the .centre and Aksum and Adigrat the western and eastern flanks respectively, the capture of Aksum by the Italians is reported by one correspondent, but not generally confirmed, though later news may be more explicit on this point. Adigrat, on the. other hand, either never fell into the. hands of the Italian's, as reported earlier, or was recaptured by the Abyssinians, as stated by the "SunHerald" correspondent, for, today's news makes it clear that the Abyssinians, after suffering a terrific aerial j bombardment for three days, evacuated i Adigrat, at the Emperor's orders, only j on Monday, the Italians entering the next day. The fact that Adigrat was up till then in possession of the Abyssians would help to explain how it j was possible for a considerable Abys-1 sinian force, said to be 15,000, under j JJa^—_ Emperor's son-in-law, Ras Haile Selassie Gougsa, to pass round the invaders' flank and raid the Italian terri- j tory of Eritrea to a depth of 50 miles' inside the border. The ultimate fate! of such a raiding party will depend on what steps the Italians have taken to| protect then- lines of communication' and their bases; but, even if they are at last destroyed, the raiders may do serious damage to the-Italian military machine, and possibly stir up the natives of Eritrea, who are Abyssininn by race, to revolt. The fact that some of the native troops in the Italian forces have deserted to the Abyssinians with machine-guns and ammunition is significant in this respect. On the other flank, it is reported that Ras Kassa, with 75.000 men, is hastening to the relief of Aksum, and here also there is an uncertainty as to whether the Italians are adequately protected from any raid to the rear of their line of advance which they are stated to be consolidating. The report that Ras Seyouni holds an Italian colonel and thirty other officers as prisoners is also ah indication of the character of the conflict—that it was not all onesided. ; While the Italian advance appearsto have halted in the north for the purpose of consolidating the line occupied, the news from the south would, seem to show a much more rapid movement of the Italian army advancing from Italian Somaliland over the Ogaden desert plateau. The "SunHerald" correspondent goes so far as lo state tli at" the Italians are reported, "already to be half-way from Somaliland towards Jigjiga and Harrar," that they are "well ahead of schedule, and. unless the Emperor gives further lighting orders the. Italians will soon be linked right across lower- Abyssinia from Eritrea to Somaliland." Though the Ottaden plateau is far more suitable for mechanised military opera-, tions than the northern district' round. Adowa. the distances are so great—at, least 200 miles each way from Harrar to Eritrea and Somaliland—that the, anticipation seems a little premature* There is, however, a most important, item of news which states that General, Naslbu. in command of the defending, forces hi Southern Abyssinia, cotn-i plains of the use of Ras from aerial bombs dror>ned on his trnons. From the description of a "thick yellow gas" this arrears to- be mustard gas, and, as the Abyssinian troops are virtually unprotected, only a few having, masks, there is full iustification for describing its use as "incredible and revolting." So far as can be ascer-. tamed, this is the first instance of the. use o£ poison gas against unurotoctec] natives. What with aerial bombardment and the use of poison gas it is not surprising lo learn that the Emperor Haile Selassie is "still looking to the League to protect his country ixoax annihilation aud nvxisa.es*."