Battles and Raids The Italian success in Northern Abyssinia seems
to have had results neither greater nor less than. might have been expected. Consolidation of the position on the Aradam massif, and road-construction in the small but extremely mountainous area gained by the last advance, are essential preludes to further progress, whether this be southward to Amba Alaji, or south-westward towards the upper Takazze, unless Marshal Badoglio proposes to abandon the caution which has hitherto characterised -his movements. The demoralisation of Ras Mulugeta's men after the battle for Aradam seems to have been exag- gerated. Their comrades on the Italian western flank -have replied to a strategic threat which seems to have existed in the minds of the war-critics in Rome rather than in actuality by a series of vigorous raids on the lines of communications near Adowa and further westward into -territory which had not previously been the scene of any serious fighting. Neither the ponderous but apparently irresistible advance of the. Italian machine nor the irri- tating and irrepressible pin-pricks of the Abyssinians really contribute anything to an early issue of the war. Only two questions are really vital. How will the Italian communications and the health and morale of their troops stand the strain of the rainy season ? Which will collapse first, the Abyssinian food and munition supply or the Italian economic power and will to prolong the conflict ?
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