FROM THE WAR.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13161, 20 January 1936, Page 6

FROM THE WAR.

THE ITALIANS ADVANCE. DESIGNED TO ENTRAP THEM? (Received 12 noon.) United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON. January 19. Jn the wake of the jubilant Italian claims of victory at Dolo, Percival Phillips, cabling to the Daily Telegraph- from Djibouti, suggests that Ras Desta’s retreat was a taetjical move, designed to lure General Graziani into the country where communications can be cut. Ras Desta is reported to have withheld the main army ancl is awaiting an opportunity for a flanking movement. The Abyssinian losses are due largely to massed counter-attacks in the open against Ras Desta’s orders. The Italian spearhead is now in country in which it easy to “harry 11 ieir conimuuications. The Evening News agrees that General Graziani achieved little, and possibly weakened his position, as Ire doubled the length of the Italian line thus intensifying the strain on communications. It will not brighten the prospects of a general advance, though it has temporarily removed the danger of an Abyssinian incursion into Italian Somaliland. The Manchester Guardian says the Italians are momentarily in the ascendant in the south but are still struggling desperately in the north, where guerilla bands are harrying their posts. GETTING ALL THE PLUMS.

The Daily Telegraph’s Addis Ababa correspondent says that Somali (Inserters are reaching Ras Desta’s headquarters report friction between the Fascist militia and the regular troops, involving rioting. Flic* Fascists are reported to be receiving honours and rewards while the regulars are doing the fighting and enduring the hardships.