The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-02-11
TANKS, PLANES.
FAIL ITALY IN
AFRICAN WAR
Tactics, Heat and Rough
Terrain Against Effective
ness of Campaign
By EDWARD BEATTlE
nifcd Press Staff Correspondel

The almost complete failure ct
Italian tanks and aiIplanes to full
fill their high promise AGAINST
Ethiopian'S makeshift war ma
chine has been the most import
ant tactical lesson of the present
war in the opinion of most mill
tary experts.
As hostilities spread with the
waning rains of last summer and
the overwhelming superiority G.
Italy's mechanical equipment be-
came more and more aDp2rCnt
with each transport from italy.
even foreigners in Ethiopia who
knew terrain and tactics the lt&l-
ians must face, were skeptical q"
to whether Emperor Halle SclaS~
sic could hold out for more than
month or two.
Tanks and planes were the rea-
son. for no one could foretcll the
reaction of a million Semi-wild, ut
the best Sketchily trained, poorly
armed men, 20 machines against
which they had no defense and
little, if any, means of retaliation.
BOMBS FACED ALMOST DAILY
That question has been answer.
ed. The northern armies have
been bombed almost daily for
three months, the southern slioht-
" less. For a time at the end of
1895 there were serious defCc-
tions by men. whose nerve gave
out under the daily attacks. One
army, led by Deiazmatch Aberra.
son of Ras Kassa, was decimatcd
by half and further reduced by
mass decorations until it lost its
! independent character and was
merged with another force. 9th
ers were in little better case.
That period largely has pass
cd. according to reports from the
north. Losses in proportion to the
number of troops under fire and
of bombs thrown were compare
lively small as troops learned the
! lesson Halle SelasSie tried to teach
them and which nobody thought
they would learn, to- scatter and
! lie flat when planes appeared.
And morale in the north has risen
again.
A glance at the record of Ital-
ian bombardmentS shows their
amazing lack of effectiveness. At
Dessye bombs costing an estimat-
ed 100000 were dropped with
so Ethiopian civilians dead, per-
haps $50 wounded, and a mater
ial damage, outside the Red Cross
hospital limited to a few score
native tukuls,. any of which can
be rebuilt in a day for five Maria
Theresa thalerS.
THREE CHILDREN KILLED
At Kaggahbur one day 800
bombs were dropped, with one
civilian and three chickens killed.
At Gorahai, most advanced post
in the 0gaden, there were no cas-
ualtieS until the third lombard
ment. and the radio operator was
never forced to stop sending.
One reason may be the height
from which Italian bombers insist
on attacking-at Dessye, whetn-
er because of the mountains OF
not. they dropped their loads
from 5000 feet. B ut what
ever the cause, military observ-
ers in Adds Ababa are almost
unanimous in asserting n a t
planes have failed by the widest
of margins to date to Justify their
existence in East Africa.
Much the same is true OF the
tanks. They have been thrown at
Ethiopian forces time and again,
with small results. Their effec-
tiveness has been cut down IN the
south by heat which makes 1t tor
ture for the crews under the
metal roofs, and in the north by
terrain which is a test for the
! hardest mule. They have found
inc real objective in the way OF
! fortified positions which they
might reduce. The tanks are bog
ged by rain to a point OF almost
complete immobility. Between 80
and so have been captured by the
Ethiopians since the war started.
MERELY SHOCK WEAPON
The impression is that tanks, at
least when they are up against
natural conditions like Ethiopia's,
can be really effective only as a
shock weapon in stable situa-
ton.
The one remaining question
mark is gas. 1t already has been
used on both fronts, but appar-
emily only in limited quantities,
and of a kind which has not yet
been determinde. Meager reports
from the front have mentioned
only gas, with sometimes nota-
ton such as many of our soldiers
are suffering in their eyes and
stomachs.
That has aroused the suspicion
Chat most, if not all, gas employ
ed was tear or nauseating gas,
with only temporary effects, de-
signed to break morale and not to
kill. And if that is true, if the
time comes when real lethal gas
is employed against the still raw
Ethiopian armies, there may be
different story to tell.
Military observers already are
skeptical, holding that against
small detachments in wide open
country who have sense enough
to scatter, and with high noun
tains and deep valleys to isolate
the gas until it disperscs of its
own accord, the chances of effec-
tive use are reduced by rs per
cent.