The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-10-11
Tanks Are Amazing

ROnc-Only the Sure-1OOted goats Oh
the Ethiopian tribesmen.
Tanks Are Amazing
En- route to Aduwa 1 saw there
baby tanks accomplish such tasks
as clambering, tumbling and slid
ing over the spiny rock formations,
heavy tropical shrubs and through
river, all the while clinging tena-
ciously to the steep slopes. Italian
leaders regard these neW-type
tanks as important implements OF
war for the protection of advancing
TANKS and columns.
The men who run these tanks
have the hardest and most trying
Job of all in II Duce's ethiopian
campaign. They wear padded he'll
NETS. similar to those Of football
players, and must wear heavy cloth
ing to ease the vibration and jos
thing
Their sufferings are aggravated
by the terrific African heat. The
HARDEST and strained faces Of the
men who man the tanks provide
evidence of the strenuousness Of
their task
Another innovation of mechanical
war introduced by the Italian in
vaderS are small, four Wheel-driVe
trucks with hard rubber tires. Mar
row and set high off the ground,
they climb over Jagged, rocky trails
where one who has not witnessed
their performance would not believe
any motor vehicle could travel.
Life of Hardship
The life of a driver of one Of these
buCking bronChos of motOrdOm is
another military job of dire hard
ship
Nowhere in my travels along the
battlefront have I seen or heard
of the use of gas or liquid fire by
the Italians.
Ethiopian commanders on the
southeastern front charged early
this week that Italian planes were
dropping poisonous gas bombs on
troops and inhabitantsD
Aviation is playing an important
part in the Italian advance, par
ticularly in reconnaissance work
over the wide and difficult terri
tory. The planes also are used to
carry messages to various field
headquarters.
Censorship Not Severe
TI,o cnpcorchin is much like that
in force in any war zone except that
frequently correspondents are not
allowed to see their messages after
thew have been sent, the delationS
sometimes resulting in garbling OF
the message. From an occasional
checking Of the number of words
received at the destination I think
the censorship is not unusually
severe.
When the history Of this war is
written it should pay high tribute
to the staunch physical endurance
Of NIussolini's soldiers In none of
the military campaigns l have wit
messed during the last 20 years IN
Mexico, France and Morocco have
men endured such vicious conditions
of terrain, heat and altitude, had so
few ordinary comforts, so little food
and advanced so rapidly despite all
1t is impossible for me to withhold
my admiration for the way the
Italian soldiers have WithStood un-
precedented hardships, which to my
knowledge have been exceeded only
by those of the British in Flanders
mud during the battle of PaSschen-
daelS.
Loses Track
AS an example of our complete
isolation from the civilized world,
l have lost count of the days and
find that it is difficult to find any
one who knew the date or time in
order that l may time my dis
patches.
Every one among the troops is
asking: What is happening in Eu-
rope?" Nobody knows.
I received two bundles of tele-
grams from the United Press, each
containing a dozen messages and all
from three to six days old.
After seeing the AduWa trail I am
strongly impressed with the magni-
tude of the Italians task in making
further advances into the interior,
an ddriying through the same kind
of COuntTy-Or worse.
And Adds Ababa is 400 miles