Attempting to regain the strategic initiative in the face of an increasingly aggressive Ethiopian attitude, the Italian High Command called on Maggiore Generale Giacomo Appiotti, a 62-year-old army officer commanding the 21st April Blackshirt Division. Drawn from a number of II Corps and Eritrean Corps formations, his large ad hoc battle group attacked Ras Immirù’s troops in the Seleclà region, at the Af Gagà Pass. High Command pinned a great deal of hope on this action.

This huge battle lasted many hours. Only after nightfall did the Italians succeed in driving the Ethiopians from the Ad Gagà Pass. For two more nights Appiotti’s men repulsed several hard but mismanaged counterattacks, absorbing only a few additional losses. After ten days in the district the column departed and its troops rejoined their original corps. Despite the significant size of the forces engaged (12,000 Italians and 8,000 Ethiopians), this episode draws little attention in the Italian accounts of the campaign due to its strategically inconclusive result (the Ethiopians retained operational capability). Nevertheless, the operation succeeded in convincing Ras Immirù to renounce fighting the Eritrean forces in the Tucul sector. From now on, he only launched small hit-and-run actions in the Mareb, Axum, and Adowa areas.