The Washington times., 1935-10-01
DEFEAT IN 1896
STILL BITTER
IN MEMORY
100000 Troops Wait
to Wipe Out Stain
on ItaIy's Honor
BY FLOYD GIBBONS
Copyright. 1885. by International
News Service)

ktOmeJ ,-deuO, eNeLyUOOy!
This dispatch is being sent to
you from within the barbed wire
defences OF the front line positions
in the valley of the River Maireb,
which is my farthest point south
In the African war.
Through port holes in this high,
rock-walled mountainside dugout.
I can see across the border into |
the valley and look right into
Abyssinias back yard.
AdOwa Is Sighted
was going to add that, even
30, 1 can't see anything Signifi-
cant, but 1 just remembered that
right out there in plain view south
Of me is a rugged, burned, bold
\ pinnacle of rock rising 5000 feet
above sea level. 1t looks like a
broken, cheap jackknife, and as
mountains 60, it is not so hot, be-
cause this country around here is
full of plenty higher and better
looking ones.
But this particular one is called
Scelloda, and at the foot of that
mountain is a town bearing the
name of Adowa.
That name, Adowa, has sort of
been figuring in the headlines the
last several months, because most
Americans, including myself, had
forgotten that we ever had heard
that thousands Of Italian soldiers
met death and defeat, captivity
and torture and multilation, at
Adowa 80 years ago at the hands
OF Ethiopian tribal warriors, out
numbering them 10 to l.
Memory Is Bitter
It was the most severe defeat
the white race had ever received
at the hands of cofcSed people in
q whole century. To Italy, it was
q sad and bitter blow which
quarter of a million Italians re-
member today, just as Americans
remembered the Alamo and Gus
ter'S last stand, as well as every
other Yankee separated from his
x1dOu1 al GOuHCC Va OOAAAA W q OSeSAS
while "civilizing the savages."
That's why the town Of Adowa |
is so important to this Italian
Abyssinian controversy.
That's why have been hopping !
planes, trains, boats. automobiles,
and mules to reach this point |
nearest Adowa, at which place the
italian army numbering 100000,
to which I am attached as your
correspondent, hopes to wipe out
q stain on Italy'S national honor,
and also gather a few choice
states the size of Oklahoma, the
DakotaS and Iowa.
Eager for Revenge
Remember, not a shot has yet
been fired on Adowa or a bomb
dropped. but the Italians are boys
whose history contains pioneers
equivalent to Davy Crockett and
Daniel Boone and Sam Houston.
and they are here by the tens of
thousands waiting for a chance to
square things.
This very observation post, in
side a hill Surmounted by enor-
NOUS stone obelisks, was erected
to the memory Of the many men
killed at Adowa and whose bones
were left here.
To reach this spot, passed
through all the paraphernalia that |
makes war at the same time hor-
1si1ala and 11YoforoafEohla
They are barbed wire, rifles,
bayonets, ammunition dumps, air
fields, mules, artillery, observation
posts, hospitals. flies, mud-all of
them I saw and encountered today
to reach this spot, which is some
miles south of the town on the
map called Tuny, which is long
way south of the Italian army
headquarters at Asmara, to which
this message goes forward tonight
by motorcycle.
Cost Runs to Millions
MuSSolini must have spent mil
lions of lire to get his army down
here so far and so well equipped.
This effort will make General
Pershing'S attempt to capture
Pancho Villa look like a street
fight, and can be compared in my
experience only to the combined
efforts of the French and Spanish
at Morocco to suppress and cap
ture Abdul Krim, which they did
nine years ago.
Infantry troops swung along the
road all day long-blonde-haired
italian boys from the northern
provinces, singing as they marched
and wearing yellow field flowers
and sun helmets, with rifles Slung
over their shoulders.
saw long trains of familiar old
army mules with Missouri written
all over them, trotting along with
hickory pack saddles transporting
I'll modern cannons, heavy ma.
chine guns, and ammunition.
At times the marching troops
and mules rested beside the road,
while long line of loaded camions
would grind past under clouds of
dust, with oily-faced truck drivers
looking and acting just as they did
in 1918.
Planes Cloud Sky
Overhead planes droned in the
blue heaven, and below a field of
roses, lushed by rain, was brilliant
with squares of yellow and blue
flowers between the field and In
dian corn just ripening.