WAR IN ABYSSINIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22353, 26 February 1936, Page 12

WAR IN ABYSSINIA

The exuberant reports of the Italian advance in north Abyssinia have received from the Times a criticism which confirms the common belief that the zone and effect of the forward movement have little significance. While there may be justification in Rome for scoffing at the claims made from time to time in Addis Ababa—the comment upon the Abyssinian report that a successful raid has been made upon the Italian lines of communication is that war news from Addis Ababa is no longer worth denying there seems equal reason for a world much better versed in the science of war than ever befojre to discount the Italian reports. The other day it was announced that Black Shirts were about to hoist a flag on a summit 40 miles south of Makale, though a week before it had been stated that the vanguard had reached that distance. Stories of flags on summits may arouse Italian emotions but they indicate little to an unbiassed observer who wishes to read a map. The Times, however, states that the operations culminated in the capture of a height two or three miles from the starting point and affirms that there has been no energetic thrust. Bearing in mind the difficulties of a practically roadless terrain and of climate, rapid progress was never anticipated. It is being proved that a modern army equipped with all the mechanical appliances necessary for a European war and meeting no resistance in the air and little of a mechanical nature on the ground has an extraordinarily difficult task in Abyssinia; and it is a question if flanking movements have here their ordinary chance of success.