While a group of Blackshirts were engaged in sweeping Uork Ambà (translated as the Mountain of Gold), south of that height an Alpini battalion failed to surprise the enemy. When they realized they were in danger of being surrounded they sent for aid. Console Diamanti's Blackshirt fire brigade was dispatched as reinforcements.

The Blackshirts managed to stop the outflanking attempt by the Ethiopians and, together with the Alpini, eventually pushed back and severely damaged the Ethiopian force defending the sector south of Uork Ambà. Over the next two days the second battle of Tembien became a scattered series of firefights most often decided by the preponderant Italian artillery or aerial bombardment. The Ethiopians performed less brilliantly than in the opening stage of the campaign, but the significant imbalance in forces (over 5:1 in the Italians’ favor) and massive edge in technology made this nearly a foregone conclusion. In his memoirs Marshal Badoglio wrote that the enemy had shown “the superb warrior ethos of the race” in this campaign. Resistance continued through the first week of March, requiring Badoglio to commit more troops to search and destroy duties.