At precisely 05:00, the Mareb River ceased to be a border.
It became a front.
From the high ridges on the Eritrean side, Italian artillery units unleashed their opening barrage.
Gun crews shouted over the shrieking shells, manning 149mm howitzers, their barrels glowing after the third salvo.
The coordinated thunder from the 19th Artillery Regiment shook the rock beneath them.
"Fire Mission. Code Nero," a battery captain barked.
"Elevation nine-two-zero. Confirm target Adwa sector, trench cluster Bravo."
A hundred heavy guns answered.
Explosions ripped into the black hillsides, carving gouges into the dry scrub and collapsing half-dug foxholes filled with Ethiopian conscripts.
Saturation fire was the goal not to rout a force, but to remove the terrain itself.
By 06:00, pontoon bridges previously assembled under canvas tarp were dropped into place over the Mareb.
Bersaglieri stormed across first, tight in formation.
