BATTLE CLAIMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 10

BATTLE CLAIMS

FIGHTING ON NORTHERN FRONT

COUNTEK-OFFEXSHES

United Press Association—By Electric Tele^ giapli—Copyright. ', . (Received January 25, 2 p.m.)

ADDIS ABABA, January 24,

£he Abyssinians, countering Italy's claim of complete success in the battle on the northern front and claiming the death of two thousand and the capture of a thousand Abyssinians, assert that 1700 Italians were killed, while 800 soldiers, many of Austrian extraction, voluntarily surrendered. The battle is continuing with un- ' diminished severity, despite the Italian assertion that they have made a ninemile advance on a thirty-seven-mile front. The operations began when twenty thousand of the finest Abyssinian troops, massed at Madi Ghibba, marched to the north-west along the Gheva River to attack the askari corps protecting the Italian right flank, which many aeroplanes supported. ■ ...

The Italians, before launching ( a counter-offensive, ordered the advanced detachment to withdraw while the Air Force spotted the Abyssinian movements. A Black Shirt Division meantime hastened to the Abaro and Alemale Passes, from whence they counter-attacked the Abyssinians with heavy medium artillery, despite which the Abyssinians made progress on the first day. The Black Shirts were then thrown in, changing the character of the battle from an artillery to an infantry engagement, the following two days constituting the fiercest engagement to date on the northern front.

The Addis Ababa correspondent of "The Times" confirms the continuance of the battle, and explains that the Abyssinian Government is withholding official details until its conclusion, but it is believed that three thousand Italians were killed and captured. The engagement is the result of the Italian endeavour not only to repel the Abyssinians, but to advance along the whole line southwards and secure a position before the general rains, but these are already heavy and greatly impeding traffic. The Dolo correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" says that the results of General Graziani's cavalry raid .on the southern front was much less than home-dwelling Italians are led to belii?Ve.