WAR IN ABYSSINIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22346, 18 February 1936, Page 10

WAR IN ABYSSINIA

War despatches issued from Rome describe a considerable advance by the Italian Army in northern Abyssinia. This operation is the greatest since the war began. For large bodies of troops to penetrate the rugged country south of Makale for 40 miles there must have been not only successful driving strategy but also tremendous preparations in the matter of engineering, transport and supply. The messages state that the Italians advanced on a front of 10 miles, but in country in which mountains rise to 9000 feet the front is not that envisaged in the ordinary sense of the word. The attack has probably been made by a series of columns, one covering another, through ravines with vantage points seized here and there. High military skill in command and in execution by individual units is required in an operation of this character even if the defenders lack the "machine" in the shape of light guns, Lewis guns and modern bombs. The Italian communique pays tribute to the valour of the Abyssinians, but states that 30,000 fled. Here students of the war will pause and reflect. There may have been panic retreat by bodies of the Abyssinian tribesmen, but even so the Italians are still hundreds of military miles from a commanding objective. They are still in the outer zone in which the Abyssinian policy so far has been to worry the invader but to withdraw without giving battle. The Italians claim to have secured a hold on the ramparts of the great plateau, but to open a road to Addis Ababa is still a paper task. On the plateau Europeans accustomed to comparatively low levels will find extraordinary physical difficulties, precisely the same physical strain that is experienced by Aucklanders when they climb the higher slopes of Ruapehu. In the rarefied air of these lofty regions faster heart beats mean slower progress. It is much too soon therefore to anticipate a steady march toward the capital.