The Washington times., 1935-11-19

| AkSunL 1D1T JTOnC. FLytng UILH
Henri de VilntOri7t, noted French
explorer, and Rene DrontlLet, no.
ted French pilot.
BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
(WorId copyright, 1898, by International
News Service. Reproduction In
whole or in part prohibited)
Adds iABABA, Nov. 19.-Pre-
cisely at 8 a. m, 40 minutes after
we had first entered the Aksum
territory occupied by the italians.
Rene Drouillet turned the plane
once more south and, 10 minutes
overdue, we left the battle area, "
a term which deserves quotation
marks.
At this moment Henri de Viii
MORN started to pour gasoline
from one of the extra tins into
the cabin tank. The fumes filled
the cabin and Vilmorin tainted.
He soon recovered, but upon us
all descended a feeling Of exhauS-
tion, mingled with disappointment.
We had seen no fighting, for
there hadn't been any. We had
seen no front in the European
sense, because there isn't any such
front.
Armies Miles Apart
The two armeis face each other
miles apart, and their only con-
tact is by patrols.
It was highly instructive to
learn this and thus confirm the
fact that the EthiopianS are stick
ing resolutely to guerrilla warfare,
Sniping from the hills and re-
fuSing to give the Italians a
chance to use their instruments OF
mechaniZed war against a concen.
tration of troops.
I also showed how impossible
it is for the Italians to move fur
ther south except very slowly, and
how increasingly dangerous it is
for them to go further into that
frozen sea Of granite.
Big Forty Minutes
We'd also had plenty of excite
ment. Now, in retrospect, those
40 minutes between Makale and
Aksum seem the most exciting any
of us had had in a decade, but
at that moment, as we turned
away from the front, we felt the
whole expedition had been futile.
The excitement had all been
anticipated. Nothing had hap
pened. We had seen nothing val
liable. There hadn't even been
any reason for anxiety. We gloom
lily reflected, peering out at the
craggy peaks below.
In short, we were just a couple
of Boy Scouts, hunting Indians.
These unhappy thoughts, min
gled with fatigue, put de Vilmorin
sound asleep in the back seat. I,
too, despite my best efforts to
take photographs, particularly of
the aweSome African alps, nodded
and slept sitting up beside Drouil-
let.
Luckily, he stayed awake, but
for is minutes two correspondents
slept on their assignments, snor.
ing along at 130 miles an hour
over the northern war.
Missed Nothing
We awoke with a start at the
horrible thought we might be
missing a battle below, but all
reports to the contrary. notwith-
standing there is no such thing
going on yet, and, as far as eye
could see, there extended around
us nothing but bare, savage peaks,
bottomleSS crevaSSeS and pitileSS,
sheer walls of rock.
We were taking a different
route back to DeSSye, but the
landscape was the same, and its
forbidding aspects wrung from the
taciturn Drouillet again the French
exclamation, "Formidable!"
Melancholy still enwrapped us
as we found Uessye and circled
it again and again. photographing
and taking movies.
At 9:35 a. m, just 3 hours and
35 minutes after the take-off, we
landed.
H. r. Knickerbocker t0iH hare
another article in tomorroD'S
| WnShinnt011 Times