Evening star., 1935-10-14
N)O-YEAR WARFARE
SEEN IN ETHIOPIA
Czarist General, Now Wash.
ingtonian, Says Race
Is AudaCiouS.


Army under the Gear. former Lieut..
Sen. Wladimire A. Levandowsky, now
IN engineer and landscape architect In
,tife National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission, said yesterday he be-
tlieves it will take Italy 100 years COM
tpletely to subjugate the Ethiopians, II
indeed it can ever be done. War be-
tween Great Britain and Italy he be-
Geves most probable.
Gen. Levandowsky, who has been
for years an American citizen and an
employe of the Planning Commission,
Is a veteran Of three major conflicts
In the worlds history-the Boxer Up
rising In China, the Russo-Japanese
War and the World War. His last
major post was as chief of staff in
the Cars army in the Caucasus and
Asia Minor
:, He knows the great difficulties ac-
tompanying mountain fighting and
iikens Mussolini's task in Ethiopia to
that Of the Russian government in
subduing the wild tribes of the Cau-
casus-a Job that took a century or
so-and was accomplished only by
constructing roads through the deep
forests and the mountain fastnesses.
Planes Cannot Hold Ground.
While Italy's planes will be effective
In bombing centers of population in
Ethiopia, Gen. Levandowsky pointed
out this is not military occupation, for
occupation means establishing bases,
pacifying the civilian population and
eolonizing.
The difficulties confronting the pres
ent Italian military expedition he
characterized as comparable to the
fight of France over IS years and
more in Algeria and Spain in Mo-
rocco. But these peoples, he asserted,
are weaker than the Ethiopians, who
hre very proud, good fighters with an
Gnconquerable spirit
The French, he recalled. attempted
to exert influence upon Ethiopia. but
with meager success-the small French
Somaliland being the only concrete
evidence Of her efforts to secure a
foothold in that part Of Africa.
AS a soldier, Gen. Levandowsky
knows the course of war-high enthu-
siasm for the cause at first, then the
long, hard struggle, when patriotism
wanes and the officers have trouble,
particularly with the young men in
their ranks and then the unrest
among the civilian population in the
homeland. particularly when the
mothers realize their sons will never
teturn to them. This story will be
repeated in the case of Italy, he says,
and Is none too sure that Mussolini's
domestic situation is secure.
Gen. Levandowsky believes the
italians in Ethiopia will have an al
most impossible task in getting their
tanks in operation in the mountainous
country. The deserts and mountains
are two of Ethiopia's greatest military
assets, says the general, and this,
coupled with the unquenchable spirit
of the people. will make conquest diff
cult. Dysentery and malaria will at
tack the invaders, for these diseases
have already made irroads upon them.
He foresees a strong possibility Of q
conflict between England and Italy,
with the London government closing
down the Suez Canal. When gums
are facing guns" as is now the case
n the Mediterranean, a greater war
close at hand, he says.
3 British Have Advantage.
The British railroads in the Sudan,
ne thinks, are bringing in munitions
now. England has backed new cara
van roads through Ethiopia, in COM
petition with the French-owned rail-
road. from Adds Ababa to Djibouti
IN French Somaliland, he declares, and
these roads are most important.
Three quarters Of the frontier Of
Ethiopia are in English hands.
The Ethiopians, he asserts, are "per-
{ect Shots" for they have compara-
lively little ammunition and must make
u tell. The mountain peoples, who
Are stronger physically and in spirit,
Are much harder to subjugate than
Ire the people Of the plains, he OBJ
Perves. The water supply for the
italians will be one of the gravest
problems for Mussolini's men, says
Zen. Levandowsky, who has had some
experience with this phase himself
Nghting the Turks during the World
War, in going to the relief of Gen.
Nownsend. Dead dogs or camels will
pc thrown into the water supply and
this alone-without poisoning-will
fender the water undrinkable.
One of Gen. Levandowskys personal
Ariends, Russian Leontief, was gov
Nrnor general of the equatorial prov
trce in Ethiopia, in the time of Meme
Nix and from him he learned much
about that country. The general has
been in Djibouti, as well as other Sec
lions of that part of the world. He
yecalls that some Ethiopians were in
Russia in his time-some at the Mill
tsry Academy, although some had to
keturn home due to the severity of
4he Winters-at St. Petersburg-and
AOme were priests sent to the churches
Russia, for they are akin in re-
Hgion.
Gen. Levandowsky fought in Per-
IL, in the Turkish part of Asia Minor
nd in the Caucasus. His command
Ang general was Gen. Youdenite. Gen
Eevandowsky was a cavalry officer in
Ahe Cars army and became a first
lieutenant in 1892. In 1918, he was
9 lieutenant general, but with the
holshevik uprising he lost everything
md lived in Paris and Italy before
eoming to the United States.