Dabormida urged the usage of the Alps as a strong defensive line capable of restoring balance of force in a fight with the more numerous French, against the common opinion based on Napoleonic experience that deemed the mountains a mere delaying obstacle.

In 1891, he published in Rome La battaglia dell'Assietta, a study of the 1747 Battle of Assietta he had written for his students when he was a teacher at the School of War.

[1] On 12 February 1896, pressed by the Prime Minister Francesco Crispi, Baratieri had his forces dug in at strong positions at Sauria, 26 km (16 mi) from Menelik's camp.

By 27 February, the army only had a few days of supplies left and the intelligence wrongly reported that the Ethiopians were scattered across the hills of Adwa, foraging.

[2] Dabormida joined Arimondi and Albertone in their call for an aggressive approach, reportedly arguing that, since the troops' morale was high, a retreat would only bring it down.

[6] At 6:45 Baratieri, who had spent a full hour reconnoitering the ground on which he planned to fight, reached the Rebbi Arienni and heard the sounds of the ongoing battle on the left.

[7] By 8:15 the morning mist cleared: Baratieri climbed the slopes of Mount Eshasho to survey the situation, and discovered that Albertone was heavily engaged.

Actually, the major general had left only local auxiliaries at the Spur, and about 9:30 they had been driven off by infiltrating Ethiopians, who then also started to attack the isolated 2nd Brigade.

However, at around 10:00, a column of Shewan troops, under the command of the Emperor Menelik II, attacked De Vito's indigenous battalion at Mount Diriam, overwhelming it after half an hour of fighting.

Dabormida had just sent the news of this initial success to commander Baratieri when the Ethiopians who had just previously routed Arimondi's column on Monte Rajo broke in behind him.

Dabormida's soldiers resisted for more than an hour, maintaining discipline as best as they could, until the general, up to then having been deprived of any news of what was happening on the battlefield at large, learned about the defeat of the rest of the Italian army.

The withdrawal was executed in an organized manner, but attacks by the pursuing Oromo cavalry, an elite unit of the Ethiopian army, inflicted heavy losses on the retreating Italians.