AIR MANOEUVRES

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 115, 11 November 1935, Page 9

AIR MANOEUVRES

U.S.A. NAVAL PROGRAMME

(Received November 11, 9 a.m.)

HONOLULU, November 9. Forty-one United States naval aeroplanes arrived at French Frigate Shoals late on Saturday after completing without incident the first problem in ten days' aif manoeuvres. The fastest aeroplanes completed the flight from Pearl Harbour in 5 hours -15 minutes. A mass flight comprised two divisions of 80- and 100-knot . aeroplanes. The fast machines were timed to, overtake the slower ones en route so that all would finish in one formation.

200,000, is followed by civil reorganisa- f tion, in which the abolition of slavery *( and taxation plays a part. From a military point of view, to impatient ob- ° servers, the progress may seem slow, but as a system of permanent conquest the procedure is justified by experience as the correct one, namely, to consolidate every step taken before essaying the next move. The difficulties of the country are well illustrated by the correspondent's account of Italian guns being dragged over trails at altitudes of from 6000 to 9000 feet and 100 men as well as 16 mules and a tractor being required to move a gun up a slope. Under these conditions the wear and tear on men, mules, and machinery must be heavy. It is stated in the news from Italian jj sources* that "it is accepted as a cer- a tainty that the Abyssinians will make their first stand at Amba Alagi" and jj that "therefore the most important *' phase of the- war cannot be before & Christmas." Amba Alagi is not shown * on any map available, but as "Amba" s is the name given by Abyssinians to J flat-topped mountains, it is evidently ' a sort of natural fort in the shape of c one of these pieces of broken, high •? plateaA characteristic of this part of ■ Abyssinia. One gathers that it is in * the comparatively narrow broken mass of mountains and ravines between the eastern escarpment overlooking the Danakil Desert and the north-south ; course of the Takkaze Gorge, extending from opposite Makale past Sakota 5 almost as far as Magdala. Amba Alagi J is probably between Antalo, south of * Makale and Sakota. The news from Abyssinian sources also indicates that ' the Italians may expect resistance at : this mountain position, 11,000 to 12,000 ' feet high, south of Makale, a "formid- £ able barrier to tanks and artillery" in what is described as a "key sector." ] The Abyssinian forces are here re- *. ported to be piling up, as indicated on I Saturday, probably to excess. The [ difficulty of arming and feeding a vast ! host in such a country may well ' embarrass the Emperor's staffT ENVELOPING OPERATIONS. There is talk on the Abyssinian side of "enveloping" operations to take the Italians in the rear behind Makale. On the other hand, it looks as if the Italians would be first in the field with the "enveloping," as General Maravigna's askaris on the extreme right of t the Italian main position are reported r already to have crossed the Setit or lower Takkaze, and to be advancing in three columns. The first has occupied Adigago, the second Adiabo, and the third is advancing along up the Takkaze itself, which here upstream runs forth and south. Severe fightT ing is reported, probably with the very * forces that were supposed to be outr flanking the main Italian army. It is noteworthy that the expeditions in the rougher hills and malarial valleys, 1 like the Takkaze, are mostly being carried out by askaris or native soldiers, the Italians looking after the mechanised side of the military operations, tanks, artillery, engineering, and aircraft. This would seem to imply that the Italians themselves are not yet s acclimatised to this country of exs tremes.in climate, temperatures, and i contour of surface. Maravigna's askaris are now in Aniliara proper and moving clown towards Lake Tana, I which will be about 100 to 150 miles to the south. The occupation of this country would immensely assist the Italian main advance by the Via Inglesi to Magdala by saving costly frontal attacks. ; ] In the southern theatre of the war the Italians are reported today to have occupied Sasa Baneh, halfway up the Fafan Valley to Jijiga, the vital position, which blocks the way tc Harrar, r the second largest town in Abyssinia, s and strategically the key to the whole ;- military situation as commanding the s Addis Ababa-Jibuti railway This de- -- cided advance shovys the importance is of the Gorahai position on the lower n Fafan, to which the Abyssinians clunij ;s so desperately under a hail of artillery i- and aerial bombardment, probably n with the accompaniment of gas. It n is here that the only real fighting in •s the war has taken place The fall of Is Gorahai and the advance to Sasa Baneh y are the most important event? in the ]- war so far. and the seriousness of the i- blow to the Abyssinians is already bed ing fell. It is stated that gloom is a spreading due to the realisation that i- the resistance of Abyssinian regulars >f can be shattered by modern weapons, c This is one of the main issues in the y war.