Observing Ethiopia
International Observers in Italian Eastern Africa
By Gianclaudio Polidori (Translated and edited by Leonardo Pavese).
Between January and March 1936, during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, a commission of foreign officers was accompanied to Eastern Africa to show the evidence of fair play on the part of the Italian forces, since the European adversaries of Italy insisted on the accusation of the use of illicit means in the conduct of the war. The Italians also wanted to demonstrate the operational capabilities of their military forces in that theatre.
 |
| Some of the international observers with Italian General Staff officers. In the background: S.81s of the 63rd Squadriglia of the 24th Group, 9th Stormo B.T. (9th Land Bomber Wing) of the Italian Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force), based in Gura, Eritrea. |
The head of the mission was Lieutenant Colonel Paolo Angioy, a mutilated, decorated veteran of WWI, serving in the SIM (the Italian military intelligence service), as General Roatta Deputy-Director.
A section of the SIM, designated Sezione Speciale AO (AO stands for Africa Orientale, Eastern Africa), which was probably supervised by Lt. Col. Angioy, operated in Ethiopia. The task of that Italian special intelligence section was to surveille and prevent interferences on the part of foreign hostile countries, such as Sweden and France, but also Germany. And various foreign “volunteers,” often simple adventurers with caches of weapons for the Ethiopians were intercepted.
Another task of the SIM mission in AOI (Italian Eastern Africa) was to minimize and downplay the alleged Italian violations of the prohibition to use poison gas; and on several occasions the SIM was successful in showing that the published photographs of Ethiopian casualties showed no signs of the effects of gas. The foreign reporters embedded in the armed forces of the Ethiopian Negus reported the use of prohibited gas several times.
 |
| Two pages excerpted from an Ethiopian military training manual on how to defend from a poison gas attack. The manual was probably a translation of a German manual. It was found in the Imperial Ghebbi (compound) of Jijiga, Ethiopian Somalia. |
According to Andrea Vento (at page 186 of his book: “In silenzio gioite e soffrite - Storia dei servizi segreti italiani dal Risorgimento alla Guerra Fredda.” Rejoice and suffer in silence - The History of the Italian Intelligence Services from the Risorgimento to the Cold War. Il Saggiatore. Milano, 2010), the SIM intercepted a photo-reportage shipped from Ethiopia to a British newspaper, and replaced the pictures of the Ethiopian casualties with photographs of lepers.
The British newspaper did not discover the trick and published the photographs, making it very easy for the Italians to deny the charges and show that the photographs were fake.
The British newspaper did not discover the trick and published the photographs, making it very easy for the Italians to deny the charges and show that the photographs were fake.
The international delegation consisted of military observers from Japan, Austria, Hungary and the United States. One member of the group was Lt.Col. Prenk Pervizi, an Albanian officer, who was a faithful subject of Albanian King Zog and a friend of Lt.Col. Angioy. Pervizi had attended the War School in Italy and when the Italian invasion of Albania began (April 1939) he found himself temporarily on the wrong side. But later he had been given the command of the Albanian troops that fought alongside the Italians against Greece. (When WWII ended, after a short exile in Greece he went to Italy and was offered an Italian state pension, provided he acquired Italian citizenship. But he refused and moved to Belgium where he died in 1977).
 |
| Starting from the left, standing, there are: An Italian General Staff officer, Albanian Lt.Col. Pervizi, a Hungarian Officer, Italian Lt.Col. Angioy, head of the mission, a Japanese officer and a U.S. officer. The latter is probably Pedro Augusto Del Valle, the author of Roman Eagles over Ethiopia, published in 1940. |
The delegation of international observers left Naples, Italy by ship. After reaching Massawa (Eritrea), they visited the northern Ethiopian front by ground. The southern front, however, was visited entirely by air with landings at Dolo, Neghelli (Negele Borana), Gherlogubi, Rocca di Littorio (Galkayo, Somalia) and Belet Uen (Beledweyne, Somalia).
 |
| This aircraft used a wooden propeller with the central Bristol Jupiter radial engine, and two-blades variable pitch propellers for the two side Armstrong Siddeley Lynx powerplants. |
 |
| An Austrian officer and an aviator (who is trying to preserve his hearing) prepare to board a Ca.101 of the Italian General Staff Squadriglia which is waiting with its engines running |
 |
| The same Austrian officer with four Italian colleagues. |
 |
| The Italian Commander in Chief in Eastern Africa, Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio, has just deplaned from a Caproni Ca.101 D2 of the 15th Bomber Squadriglia, La Disperata. At his left there is aviation journalist and author Guido Mattioli. He was the founder and the editor of the aviation magazine "L'Aviazione." Guido Mattioli was an assiduous presence in the Ethiopian operational war theatre and wrote two books on the conquest of the empire: "L'aviazione Fascista in A.O." published in 1936 (The fascist Air Force in Eastern Africa, 1936) and "L'aviazione fascista e la conquista dell'Impero," in 1939 (The Fascist Air Force in the Conquest of the Empire, 1939). |
This article appeared first on the n. 125 issue of the Italian magazine Ali Antiche. My translation was posted here with their permission.
All the pictures were taken from the author's collection.
Your comments, as usual, will be very appreciated.
Thank you,
L. Pavese
Comments
Post a Comment