PLANS FOR WAR

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1935, Page 5

PLANS FOR WAR

ETHIOPIAN STRATEGY EXPECTATION OF ATTACK GUERILLA WAR ORDERED TO SCATTER IN DAYTIME ITALIAN TROOPS MASS By Telegraph-Press Assn. -Copyright. London, Sept. 4. In a special copyright message from Addis Ababa, a special correspondent of the Times says that the Ethiopian general staff expects the first Italian attack to come from the north (Eritrea) with Adowa the objective. The direct attack will be covered by a flank action through the Takkaze Valley and north-eastern Wolkait. Here the Emperor and Ras Seyyum, who commands the Tigre district, have agreed to retire strategically, but attacks from the east must be guarded against. If the Italians make a land attack across the desert the Ethiopians feel that the enemy’s supply lines will be so elongated and attenuated that guerilla forces from Dessie and Harrar can cut the nerves of any real invasion. It is an air attack that the Ethiopians fear; therefore the Dessie forces have received the same orders as the north and north-west armies—never to mass and always to scatter in the daytime and assemble for attack at night. The staff believes that if the Ethiopians tie up the Italians in North Ethiopia and Donakil they will be able to spare enough soldiers to counter-attack in the south, Italian Somaliland, where ike Italian force is believed to be inadequate. It is thought that an Italian defeat on the Somaliland front caused by Ethiopian infiltration and tribal rebellion might ruin Italian prestige and finish the campaign. A large bomb-proof and gas-proof cellar has been constructed within the precincts of the palace at Addis Ababa and a supply of gas masks has beep ordered from the United States. Hundreds of bonfires have been prepared from the front line to 150 miles rearwards. When the Italians attack the first will be lit and. within an hour the rearmost will be alight, It is reported that hostilities are imminent and that 30,000 Italians are massed on the Eritrean frontier.