FORCES LEAVE ADDIS ABABA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22247, 23 October 1935, Page 13

FORCES LEAVE ADDIS ABABA

SCENES AT VALEDICTORY REVIEW ' /' EMPEROR GOING TO FRONT SHORTLY Times Cable LONDON. Oct. 21 The Addis Ababa correspondent of the limes states that 3000 smartly-uniformed and well-equipped Imperial Guardsmen marched out after the Emperor had embraced the 40 officers, shaken hands with the Belgian instructors and exhorted the men to fight to the death. New drafts numbering 7000 accompanied the Guards, including 1000 cavalry and 800 muleteers, carrying mountain artillery, machine-guns and anti-aircraft guns. All took the caravan road to Debra Markos, about 100 miles north-west of the capital. On the parade ground earlier there was a valedictory review. Crowds of soldiers squatted, drinking tea and coffee or bidding farewell to their families without emotion. The Emperor, under a red umbrella, looked on through the gate, while the .Empress watched from her curtained limousine. Priests watched curiously from the Entoto Mariam church. Another force will proceed to Dessie as the van of the regular soldiers following Ras Mulugueta, who left early in the morning,, their women-folk following them out of town. The ' soldiers moved easily, using tent poles for walking sticks, their sandals hanging over their shoulders and with clinking pots and pans dangling against the mules harness. One hundred and fifty ammunition mules left for Dessie fe at the week-end, and others are tethered in the courtyard in |l| readiness for the Emperor's projected journey north. He will illl' 'ravel by motor. Few Abyssinians consider that the war will ||ijp have really begun until the Emperor takes the field, and the news of his departure will arouse tremendous tsnthusiasm.