Comments on: One Tough Campaign http://www.historynet.com/one-tough-campaign.htm From the World's Largest History Magazine Publisher Sun, 19 May 2013 02:58:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Tilahun Tassew http://www.historynet.com/one-tough-campaign.htm#comment-818283 Tilahun Tassew Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:03:56 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13686660#comment-818283 The article seemd to forget three important features of the war. The first point the article overlooked was that the second Ethio-Italian war was a war fought between two members of the League of Nation and Italy the agressor was defeated in the first phase of the Battle of Tembein and this led Italy to revert to chemical warfare.A recent document prepared by Marshall Graziani, acquired by the Library of Congress (Bridget Conley August 29, 2012) read as follows: "Essential condition for the succeeding of the Operation: (….) the free use of special-liquid bombs and shells in order to inflict maximum losses on the enemy, and above all to effect his complete collapse of morale" Through an extensive use of chemical warfare Italy was able to occupy towns and cities. The second point the article overlooked was that the Ethiopian resistance continued for five years and it was victorious with the assistance of the allies. Ethiopia has no independence day and only patriots day for the reason I mentioned above. The third point that was overlooked in the article was that you could not consider an army defeated at Tembein and reverted to chemical warfare without no harm to itself be considered a hero. Mussoloni himself admitted that he reverted to chemical warfare because the Ethiopians were victorious. Mussolini in his letter on December 28, 1935 to Marshall Badoglio identified the reason for reverting to chemical warfare as follows: "Given the enemy system of combat, I have authorized ……. the use even on a vast scale of any gas and flamethrowers." What was the enemy (Ethiopian) system of combat which Mussolini referred above? Leul Ras Kassa the Ethiopian commander in the Northern war front, in his interview with Marcel Griaule, the French anthropologist and writer, explained what Mussolini considered the "enemy system of combat" as follow "At the battle our soldiers threw away their rifles and unleashed their swords and combated the enemy in hand to hand fight. Eve though most think this type of hand to hand combat as an outdated tactic it has proved effective in modern warfare. We succeeded to defeat the Italians in all the battles conducted in the northern warfront." In a situation where the war continued for five years and culminated with Ethiopian victory overcoming a chemical warfare that costed Ethiopia a million lives could not be cosidered to have been concluded with the Ethiopian retreat to patriotic war controlling almost all rural areas thus frustrating Italian plan to settle its nationals in Ethiopia. The article seemd to forget three important features of the war. The first point the article overlooked was that the second Ethio-Italian war was a war fought between two members of the League of Nation and Italy the agressor was defeated in the first phase of the Battle of Tembein and this led Italy to revert to chemical warfare.A recent document prepared by Marshall Graziani, acquired by the Library of Congress (Bridget Conley August 29, 2012) read as follows:
"Essential condition for the succeeding of the Operation: (….) the free use of special-liquid bombs and shells in order to inflict maximum losses on the enemy, and above all to effect his complete collapse of morale" Through an extensive use of chemical warfare Italy was able to occupy towns and cities. The second point the article overlooked was that the Ethiopian resistance continued for five years and it was victorious with the assistance of the allies. Ethiopia has no independence day and only patriots day for the reason I mentioned above. The third point that was overlooked in the article was that you could not consider an army defeated at Tembein and reverted to chemical warfare without no harm to itself be considered a hero. Mussoloni himself admitted that he reverted to chemical warfare because the Ethiopians were victorious. Mussolini in his letter on December 28, 1935 to Marshall Badoglio identified the reason for reverting to chemical warfare as follows:
"Given the enemy system of combat, I have authorized ……. the use even on a vast scale of any gas and flamethrowers."

What was the enemy (Ethiopian) system of combat which Mussolini referred above? Leul Ras Kassa the Ethiopian commander in the Northern war front, in his interview with Marcel Griaule, the French anthropologist and writer, explained what Mussolini considered the "enemy system of combat" as follow
"At the battle our soldiers threw away their rifles and unleashed their swords and combated the enemy in hand to hand fight. Eve though most think this type of hand to hand combat as an outdated tactic it has proved effective in modern warfare. We succeeded to defeat the Italians in all the battles conducted in the northern warfront."

In a situation where the war continued for five years and culminated with Ethiopian victory overcoming a chemical warfare that costed Ethiopia a million lives could not be cosidered to have been concluded with the Ethiopian retreat to patriotic war controlling almost all rural areas thus frustrating Italian plan to settle its nationals in Ethiopia.

]]> By: Tilahun Tassew http://www.historynet.com/one-tough-campaign.htm#comment-818223 Tilahun Tassew Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:53:08 +0000 http://www.historynet.com/?p=13686660#comment-818223 The article seems to forget three important features of the war. the first is that the Ethiopians had defeated the fascist army in the Battle of Tembein and this led Italy to revert to chemical warfare.A recent document prepared by Marshall Graziani, acquired by the Library of Congress (Bridget Conley August 29, 2012) read as follows: ''Essential condition for the succeeding of the Operation: (….) the free use of special-liquid bombs and shells in order to inflict maximum losses on the enemy, and above all to effect his complete collapse of morale'' Through an extensive use of chemical warfare Italy was able to occupy towns and cities. The second point the article overlook is that the Ethiopian resistance continued for five years and it was victorious with the assistance of the allies. The third point that was overlooked in the article is that you could not consider an army defeated at Tembein and reverted to chemical warfare without no harm to itself could not be considered a hero. Mussoloni himself admitted that he reverted to chemical warfare because the Ethiopians were victorious. Mussolini in his letter on December 28, 1935 to Marshall Badoglio identified the reason for reverting to chemical warfare as follows: ''Given the enemy system of combat, I have authorized ……. the use even on a vast scale of any gas and flamethrowers.'' What was the enemy (Ethiopian) system of combat which Mussolini referred above? Leul Ras Kassa the Ethiopian commander in the Northern war front, in his interview with Marcel Griaule, the French anthropologist and writer, explained what Mussolini considered the ''enemy system of combat'' as follow ''At the battle our soldiers threw away their rifles and unleashed their swords and combated the enemy in hand to hand fight. Eve though most think this type of hand to hand combat as an outdated tactic it has proved effective in modern warfare. We succeeded to defeat the Italians in all the battles conducted in the northern warfront.'' (Laketch pp 56/7) The article seems to forget three important features of the war. the first is that the Ethiopians had defeated the fascist army in the Battle of Tembein and this led Italy to revert to chemical warfare.A recent document prepared by Marshall Graziani, acquired by the Library of Congress (Bridget Conley August 29, 2012) read as follows:
"Essential condition for the succeeding of the Operation: (….) the free use of special-liquid bombs and shells in order to inflict maximum losses on the enemy, and above all to effect his complete collapse of morale" Through an extensive use of chemical warfare Italy was able to occupy towns and cities. The second point the article overlook is that the Ethiopian resistance continued for five years and it was victorious with the assistance of the allies. The third point that was overlooked in the article is that you could not consider an army defeated at Tembein and reverted to chemical warfare without no harm to itself could not be considered a hero. Mussoloni himself admitted that he reverted to chemical warfare because the Ethiopians were victorious. Mussolini in his letter on December 28, 1935 to Marshall Badoglio identified the reason for reverting to chemical warfare as follows:
"Given the enemy system of combat, I have authorized ……. the use even on a vast scale of any gas and flamethrowers."

What was the enemy (Ethiopian) system of combat which Mussolini referred above? Leul Ras Kassa the Ethiopian commander in the Northern war front, in his interview with Marcel Griaule, the French anthropologist and writer, explained what Mussolini considered the "enemy system of combat" as follow
"At the battle our soldiers threw away their rifles and unleashed their swords and combated the enemy in hand to hand fight. Eve though most think this type of hand to hand combat as an outdated tactic it has proved effective in modern warfare. We succeeded to defeat the Italians in all the battles conducted in the northern warfront." (Laketch pp 56/7)

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