ABYSSINIAN ARMY ON THE MARCH

Evening Star, Issue 22146, 28 September 1935, Page 2

ABYSSINIAN ARMY ON THE MARCH

[William J. Makin, in Liverpool 1 Weekly Post.’] The thud of thousands of bare feet in the dust, the clash of spears against shields, the clatter of mules, and the roar of bearded wild tridesmon from tho hills. That was my first glimpse of the Abyssinian army emerging from a huge dust cloud on the plains outside Addis Ababa, the capital. And the little, black-bearded Emperor,, looking for all the world like an ordinary Jewish storekeeper dressed up for a ceremonial occasion, sat on his white charger and took the salute. A tolerant smile passed round the group of foreign military observers who had attended this march past of the Abyssinian army. To them it was a glorious, medieval pageant. A spectacle worthy of Africa’s last empire. “ And soon, maybe, Africa’s lost empire,” an Italian military attache at my side murmured. Yet the march past had- only just begun. .The real Abyssinian army had yet to come. And it was to reveal itself surprisingly, as later tho little, lithe Emperor, Haile Selassie, was to reveal himself to me in conversation well worthy of the high-sounding titles. King of Kings, and Lion of Judah. SMART AND EFFICIENT. A military band of Nubian slaves struck up a French marching tune. Then, behind the dust of the old-style’ warriors with shields and spears, came the new-style Abyssinian army. First the infantry, garbed in khaki, armed with modern rifles, packs on their backs, puttees swathing their legs, their hare feet padding the dust. True, the officers in command of each khakiclad contingent had boots, but they were mostly slung over their hacks. The African can travel further and faster without boots than Europeans shod with leather. Five thousand khaki-clad men marched past us in excellent formation. I saw a gleam of pride on the face of tho Belgian colonel, head of the Military Mission, responsible for the training of this Abyssinian army. True, he complained to me that the work was hard and the pay poor. He received £SO monthly for his services, paid in those huge, heavy Maria-Theresa dollars. But here, in tho march past, was the result of his efforts. And it was impressing the foreign military observers. Then the nimble of artillery and ammunition wagons. Perhaps the guns were a little obsolete from the European standpoint, but they were effective enough for African warfare. I saw several French 75’s, and even an occasional British 18-pounder. Mules tugged the guns past in a smother of dust.

Then the gallop of a mountain-gun battery. Smart and efficient. I gave a quick glance at tho Italian visitor, Prince Udine. Did he realise that this particular mountain gun battery had been captured intact after the massacre at Adowa of over 6,000 Italians. But the sardonic face of Prince Udipe remained expressionless. Then came the cavalry, the riders mounted on sturdy little horses with huge curved swords flapping their saddles. They were followed by the lancers, the leader carrying a flutter* ing pennant' displaying tho Conquering Lion of Judah. Machine-gun batteries, also khakiclad. More ammunition wagons. Finally, a solitary tank, waddling solemnly through the dust clouds. This was a recent gift to the Emperor of Abyssinia from the King of Italy. Ironically enough, the Abyssinians are not impressed with it. But the climax to the whole military review was the _ three aeroplanes, piloted by Abyssinians, that droned above in the blue sky, and dipped themselves in a royal salute. _ These Abyssinian pilots have been trained by French and_ Swedish officers. If their flying skill is not by any means equal to tho Hendon level, these brownfaced pilots display an indifference to air dangers which is sometimes shattering to the young officers teaching them, CONFIDENT TRIBESMEN. Altogether, an army of 20,000 men passed us on those dusty, plains. And this is only the nucleus of the fighting force that the Italians, will have to face should they essay the dangers of those African hills and forests. I talked with the Abyssinian Minister of War in his very modern office, with its American steel furniture inside and a few mules tethered to posts outside. He claims that Abyssinia has 350.000 men under the colours, and that, in a little over a fortnight the country could mobilise 800,000 to 900.000 men. Already the wild tribesmen of the northern hills bordering on British Sudan are awaiting the drum messages or the fires on hilltops that will toll them that once again Abyssinia is at war with Italy. These tribesmen are still confident that they can repeat the successes of 39 years ago, when the Italian army was massacred at Adowa. The whole of Abyssinia, with its 10,000,000 people, is well supplied with rifles and ammunition. The adventurous gun-runners of Europe have seen to that. At that French port of Djibuti, on the Red Sea, I met more than one man engaged in this profitable trade. For the most part, French Customs officials have turned a blind eye upon the traffic, which has been going on since the days when the poetadventurer, Arthur .Rimbaud, made a small fortune from gun-running. " It may he that these rifles and ammunition are of obsolete pattern.. But the guns still fire, and the Abyssinians are keen marksmen. And even-thou-sands of smooth-bore rifles can wreak deadly havoc among an invading army. In Addis Ababa itself is a _ modern arsenal, conveniently placed just behind tho Emperor’s palace. There are stocked munitions of the most modern type, a store that has been added to by purchases within the- past two years in Germany, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia. Even gas shells and bombs of German manufacture are there in abundance. The wild tribesmen, from the hills are apt to he contemptuous of _ this raoid mechanisation of the Abyssinian army. “ The King of Kings plays with toys,” one old chieftain said to me, fumbling the curved scimitar at his side. “ Wars are won by charging the enemy, bravd men hurling themselves forward in hot blood. That is how wq beat the Italians at Adowa.” Having said which he shook his lion-mane headdress stubbornly. A HOLY WAR. This is the army which Haile Selassie will lead into battle against the Italians. It will bo preceded by the Ark of the Covenant, under the guard of the Abyssinian priests. They will fight the Philistines, with a profound belief in God and their cause and the

splendour of their boasted descent from the famous Queen of Sheba. But they are not disdaining modern methods. I am told that a famous Turkish general who fought against us at Gallipoli, one Wasiv Pasha, has already been appointed commander-in-chief. And in the past few mouths several German, French, and Swiss adventurers have reached Addis Ababa and offered their services to the Emperor. Anybody who has travelled those blue highlands and seen the defiles and forests, the deserts where water is never seen, the boulder-strewn plains and the thick thorn scrub, realises that Italy is facing a tremendous task in the conquering of such a country. Tanks are useless on such a terrain. Aeroplanes will find only empty mud huts to bomb. The capital itself could be evacuated within two hours, | and its distance from the coast line fmakes a return for bombers impossible without a refuelling base in the heart of the country.