The Washington times., 1935-08-02


tlict.)
BY PIERRE HUSS
Copyright 1888 by International News
Service)
BERLIN, Aug. 2.-Batteries OF
artillery, nests of machine guns
and EthiopianS who know how tc
shoot guard the passes through
the towering mountains that con
front any Italian army seeking tc
advance inland from Italian Fri
terra.
Major Hans Steffen, veteran
diplomat and official representa-
tive of the Ethiopian emperor In
Europe, declared that in his opin
ion a military thrust by II Duce'i
troops would be as difficult from
Eritrea in the North as from
Somaliland' in the South. the
mountains, he pointed out, reach
q height Of from 5000 to 10000
feet and only light mountain guns
will be of any use. He said:
at must net be forgotten that
even as far back as 1896 the
poorly equipped native fighters
under MeneIik practically wiped
out an Italian army at AdOwa in
the mountains.
''NOw the natives have mod
ern arms, including machine
guns and artillery, and they
know how to use them. The
nOncOmS and the officers have
heen trained in their use in
European countries where the
guns were purchased, taking as
much as eight months tutoring.
TANKS USELESS
thanks are useless in the
mountains and only pack ami
mails can get over the passes.
Water, as in Ogada, is Stare and
the Italians must lug it along
for man and animal. There is
q blazing heat in valley and
plain, and the desert stretch
facing the southern part of
Eritrea is a furnace. The whole
of the Eritrean frontier is some
900 kilOmeters long, so again
the Italians will face the prob
lem of widespread action as
against isolated thruStS.
"AS in Ogada, suppose they
do enter a good part of either
area. Then they will have to
hurry up and build passable
roads or lay down railway
track and guard their communi.
cation lines with sufficient man.
power to drive off the Eth
Opian attacks certain to de-
VelOp by the score.
For after all what the good
Of having a powerful army $50
lated in the midst of a hostile
land if you can't keep its sup
plies coming. Unless these COM
municating lines are thus kept
open from the army'S starting
point to the last outpost,
victory might suddenly be
turned into a wholesale defeat,
POISON GAS FUTILE
"There is another weapon I
have been asked about. 1t has
been suggested that the Italians
may drive the Philippians out
of their positions and from the
passes by use Of poison gas.
"ASide from the fact that this
type of warfare has been out
lawed, it is not practical. For
. gas attack to be effective,
there must be an Overhanging
sky with more or less SO-calIed
moist ceiling.
Gin Ethiopia there will be
nothing but brassy, clear sky
and heat. Gas fumes will evap-
crate all too quickly. And, be-
sides, a gas attack is wasted I'M
less you employ it against a
rigid defense line like that of
the Western front.
"USe Of gas shells would mean
the use of big-caliber guns, and
I don't think the Italians will
cucumber themselves with huge
artillery pieces in that sort of
country. As for air gas bombs,
well, of what use when there is
no concentrated target. No, gas
Is impractical in that case.
GAS for the air force, the same
facts hold as before. The
Italians probably will seek to
wreck the Adds Ababa airdrOme
and damage whatever they can
in the way of supply drums, if
they can find them; but. on the
whole, the airplane in this case
will be largely for observation.
The Philippians have some good
anti-aircraft guns, and it won't
be all beer and skiddles for
Italian aviatorS.
The Ethiopian air force can
be discounted and, in my
opinion, the NeguS has no real
need for one. 1 know of some
well-trained Ethiopian filters and
of a dozen fairly good flying ma
chimes. But these, on the whole,
may act chiefly as occasional
observers or for getting the en-
perOr and his generals quickly
from one end of the place to an