XV
The short rains had already arrived on the plateau. The advance of the army had been steady, but slow. The natural way of communication of the main watershed between the north and the south of Ethiopia had been abandoned after the victorious battle of the Scirè. Thousands of soldiers opened improvised airstrips between steep cliffs that were leading to the top of the flattened lands, eroded during the course of geological eras, to allow the passage of motorized columns. The departments of the natives constituted the vanguard of the main attack directive and were siding on the shores of Lake Ascianghi.
The General Pirzio Biroli commanded the Army Corps of Eritrea. From his vantage point on the Tsolàg, three thousand meters high, he was shivering from the cold while the dawn lit up the
