RAS DESTA’S RETREAT.

Wairarapa Age, 21 January 1936, Page 7

RAS DESTA’S RETREAT.

GENERAL GRAZIANI LURED ON. ITALIAN COMMUNICATIONS OPEN TO ATTACK. PROSPECTS OF AN ADVANCE NOT BRIGHTENED. LONDON, January 19. In the wake of the jubilant Italian claims of victory at Dolo, Sir Percival Phillips cabling to the “Daily Telegraph ’ ’ from .Jibuti, suggests that Ras Desta’s retreat was a tactical move designed to lure General Graziani into country where his communications can be cut. “Ras Desta is reported to have withheld his main army and to be awaiting an opportunity for a flanking movement,” he states. “The Abyssinian losses were due largely to massed counter-attacks in the open against Ras Desta’s orders. The Italian spearhead is now in country in which it will be easy to harry the communications.” The “Evening News” agrees that General Graziani achieved little and has possibly weakened his position, ns he has doubled the length of the Italian line, intensifying the strain on communications. This has not 'brightened the prospects of a general advance, though it has temporarily removed the danger of an Abyssinian incursion to Italian Somaliland. The “Manchester Guardian” says that the Italians are momentarily in the ascendant in the south and are still struggling desperately in the north, where guerilla fighters are harrying the invaders ’ posts. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Addis Ababa correspondent says that Somali deserters from the Italian army who are reaching Ras Desta’s headquarters report friction between the Fascist militia and the regular troops, involving rioting. Fascists are reported to be receiving honours and rewards while regulars are doing the fighting and enduring the hardships.