The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-10-19

Then knowing, too, that it is
hard for him to get ammunition,
he shoots only when he is sure
that his bullet is going to go eX-
actly where he wants it to go.
So, because of the shortage of
ammunition, the Ethiopian rifle
man has become an expert marks
man, who doesn't waste what ne
has, and doesn't shoot wildly at
every falling leaf or moving
branch.
1t was this kind of rife fire
the Italians ran into at AdoWa
and few military big-wigs have
recognized the Ethiopians for this,
pagan and Somali tribesmen
Il are armed with long knives
and spears. Arabs carry DamaS-
Gus blades or knobby bludgeonS,
with which they Wreak devastat-
ing havoc, if they can ever get
close enough to their enemies to
use them.
AS soldier, the Ethiopian has
courage bordering almost on the
fanatical, and is as agile as
monkey.
He can cover ground at an amaz-
ing speed knows how to take adj
vantage of every bit of scrub
boulder, or rise in the ground. shoots
with deadly accuracy from each bit
of cover and finally work near
enough so that he can suddenly
spring up and come to grips with the
enemy.
In a word, he is a wizard at
guerrilla warfare.
EACED with all these difficulties
l. and barriers Of Nature, Italy can
fight only one kind of a War-an
engineers war combined with the
ordinary old time military effort
of infantry attack.
The italian engineers are being
forced to build railways, bridges,
waterWorks-all of them, of course,
vulnerable lines Of communication.
Contact must be kept all the
time between two divisions, at
least-so that reinforcements may
come at once, in the case OF heavy
attack. So roads are essential.
The reason why Mussolini
waited, cold blooded, unremitting,
for the rains to cease before
launching his campaign is that
Ethiopia can boast only of mule
tracks, which simply bog down
wheel traffic Of any kind, no mat
ter how light, in wet weather.
The fertile part of Abyssinia lies
on the plateau 5000 feet up from
the loWlands and virtually the
only valley which gives entry in a
steady, easy slope, is the HaWash
River valley, through which runs
the DsiboutiAddis Ababa rail-
road, operated by France
Round all other sides, the rise
is steep and sudden. 1t places at
lacking forces at a disadvantage,
wide open, as they try to scale the
slopes, to the fire and the SallieS Of
the defending forces, entrenched
at the top.
ITALY does already have a toe
l. hold at the very northern tip
of this plateau. This way is crisis
crossed by rivers, ravines and
gorges. Here is where Italian en-
cheering efforts is being taxed
to the fullest, spanning bridges
across these assures in the earths
crust.
Like all tropical countries, while
the days are steaming hot, the
nights are genuinely cold, eSpe-
cially on the plateau. They are
allies of fever and malaria-and
as there is no cover of any kind
obviously protection will have to
be supplied to the Italian troops
by their engineers.
Here, again, is one more rea-
son why Italy is facing a stupen-
dous road building job, in her eff
fort to conquer this ancient king
dom of Kush.
There are some military experts,
for instance Maj. Gen. Sir Charles
Gwynn (retired, Royal Engineers