LAND OF MYSTERY

Taranaki Daily News, 26 October 1935, Page 13 (Supplement)

LAND OF MYSTERY

NATION OF WARRIORS

(By

Ronald de Laudier).

(Chapter VI.)

So much has been written recently about the Abyssinian army, and such opposite views have been expressed about its size and its fighting value that a wrong impression seems to have been created abroad on its magnitude or its failures. Some authorities have stated that the Abyssinians can place in the field a thoroughly, modern' and well-equipped army of over half a million men, trained under excellent Continental and Japanese officers, and supplied with all modern material such as machine-guns, tanks and even aeroplanes. On the other hand, other authorities have asserted that there is no such thing as an Abyssinian army and that the whole country could scarcely muster a hundred thousand men, all of them badly equipped, under-fed and armed with obsolete and almost useless arms.

The truth is that while it is impossible to give even an approximate figure of the possible number of fighters (any census being illegal in Abyssinia) and while it is also impossible to speak of the Abyssinian army from the orthodox point of view of civilised nations, it would be equally rash to under-estimate the defensive and aggressive power of this nation of born warriors.

The fact that Signor Mussolini has found it necessary to make such gigantic preparations means that he has not under-rated the opposition which is likely to be set up 'by his prospective enemies.

My own information —after personal inquiries at Addis Ababa — is that the Negus can rely on approximately three hundred thousand men, fairly well equipped, which, of course, does not necessarily mean that he has a regular army of such number nor that he can rely on the same blind discipline and allegiance of regular troops. The same political and administrative anarchy still existing in Ethiopia, the same feudal system which makes of each “Ras,” or chief, an independent ruler, bars the existence of that delicate and independent organisation known as the. army which can only exist above political or religious dissensions. Lack of uriity is therefore the gravest danger for the Ethiopian army for, although the Negus is nominally the supreme chief of the army, in practice each “Ras” raises his own' troops, who follow his lead and his orders with complete disregard of central authority. Next to the Negus comes' the first Zitaurari or Chief of the Staff and War Minister combined. Then follow the various “Ras” or chiefs of large districts (they can be compared to commanders of army corps) who in their turn control the Dejamacs or provincial chiefs (they can be compared to our generals) under whose orders are the “dejacks” (who could be compared to our colonels).

Other very important members of the military hierarcy are the four “Himacuas,” who in time of peace follow the Emperor wherever he goes and in time of war become his doubles, disguising themselves so as to be taken for him and inciting the soldiers to battle.. Thus the personal appeal of the Emperor can be made simultaneously on four different; fronts without danger to the sacred royal person. The officers, called “bashai,” are recruited from the bravest and most faithful of the men. There are several grades of soldiers; those who come from the poor classes and, having no arms of their own, are content to be servants in peacetime and take up arms when the chief orders some military expedition; those who possess arms of their own and become regular soldiers with pay, and those belonging to important families who are called up only in time of war.

Apart from a large number of rifles (many of them out ofy date) the Abyssinians have a fairly large number of machine-guns, a few hundred field guns and even a few tanks, one being the personal gift of the King of Italy to the Emperor. They also have a few aeroplanes, all of them having been presented by foreign nations, including Japan. There are no Abyssinian pilots so far. There is only a small munition factory in the country, near the capital, and its production is so small that the Abyssinians will have.to look to heavy imports unless they prefer to fall back on their ancient and favourite form of attack and defence—the spear. But even that would not demoralise the Emperor’s men, for if organisation and unity of command are lacking and arms are obsolete and deficient, the enthusiasm and endurance of the men are great. The Abyssinian despises death; he belives in war as a means of subsistence, and regards hand to hand fighting much in the same way as Britain regards football. The Abyssinian soldier is sober, and strong, and his scorn of danger is only equalled by his unlimited pride in himself, his vanity, his ignorance, his fanaticism and his inborn hatred of the foreigner. “We shall all die rather than surrender,” has said recently the Emperor to his chiefs; it is not a mere boast; it is the right expression of the hard determination of a race of warriors for whom death is preferable to captivity and defeat. , Right up by the “Guebi,” or Emperors Palace, in that part of the park where once lived the Empress Zenichitu, stands a small white building called the Imperial Museum. It is the storing place for most of the odd presents which the Emperor receives from every part of the world. No Abyssinian is allowed near the spot, but, under the escort of an officer acting as a guide, I was permitted to visit the museum and to be led to a narrow, almost bare room where a few heavily-armed soldiers were sitting and chatting.' “Here,” "said my gwde. “is stored the Imperial treasure.” In vain I looked round the room for a trace of a vault or a safe. “No, not there,” said the guide, “here,” and he pointed his finger to a narrow square iron plate in the centre of the floor. “There is a large vault down below, much larger than this room, filled with silver thalers which our great Menelik deposited there with instructions that they should never be used except in case of a great national war. “And does any one know the amount of tliis war chest?” “No, nobody has counted it or seen it; not even the Emperor, for he must abide by Menelik’s wishes, but if war came . . .”

“And if the place should be found to be empty?” I queried incredulous. “It cannot be empty. Our great Menelik has said it is full with silver thalers.”

And with the proud assurance of the believer he knelt three times to the floor, as every Abyssinian does when mentioning the name of the great Emperor whose spirit, according to tradition, now sits “high above on the throne of his ancestor Solomon, by the side of Abraham and David.