Broken Wing
Livio Zannoni,Gold Medal for Military Valor,
Aviator, Photographer and Italian Eastern Africa’s hero.
By Stefano Colombaro (Translated by Leonardo Pavese)
Livio Zannoni (Faenza, RA, 1909 — Degehabur, Ethiopia 1935) was an Italian soldier and aviator who was awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valor during the Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1936).
He was born in Faenza, Province of Ravenna, on 10/11/1909, the second of four brothers. The family ran a grains trade that allowed them a comfortable living.
Livio had just started high school, which was set up within the local Catholic Ssminary, when his older brother Mario Giacomo, who was still very young, was among the first to join the new Fascist movement.
Mario Giacomo participated in several demonstrative expeditions of the Fascist squads, which made him the target of possible retaliations on the part of their adversaries. Eventually, he was believed to be involved in the murder of Vincenzo Caroli, a local landowner; and he had also been wounded in the July 7, 1924, exchange of gunfire between squads’ members and farmers. An arrest warrant was issued against Mario Giacomo, who remained a fugitive until his trial, in which he was completely acquitted of all charges.
But the Zannoni family had fallen on hard times, due to the cost of sheltering their fugitive son but also because of the boycott of their commercial activity by their political adversaries. Therefore, the family decided to leave Faenza and moved to Falciani, on the Greve in Chianti, Tuscany.
Livio, who had to quit school at the age of 16 to help his father, eventually opted for a career in the military. He joined the Italian Royal Air Force, and on June 19, 1928, he was sent to the Air Force Aerial Photography School of Capua (CE) where he successfully completed the course to become an air photography specialist.
In February 1929, he was transferred to Verona to complete his training. He received his air photography certification and was promoted to the rank of airman.
He was ordered to Italian Somalia, and on November 7, 1929, he sailed from Naples. Livio Zannoni arrived in Mogadishu on November 22, 1929, and he was assigned a very important duty right away.
Livio had just started high school, which was set up within the local Catholic Ssminary, when his older brother Mario Giacomo, who was still very young, was among the first to join the new Fascist movement.
Mario Giacomo participated in several demonstrative expeditions of the Fascist squads, which made him the target of possible retaliations on the part of their adversaries. Eventually, he was believed to be involved in the murder of Vincenzo Caroli, a local landowner; and he had also been wounded in the July 7, 1924, exchange of gunfire between squads’ members and farmers. An arrest warrant was issued against Mario Giacomo, who remained a fugitive until his trial, in which he was completely acquitted of all charges.
But the Zannoni family had fallen on hard times, due to the cost of sheltering their fugitive son but also because of the boycott of their commercial activity by their political adversaries. Therefore, the family decided to leave Faenza and moved to Falciani, on the Greve in Chianti, Tuscany.
Livio, who had to quit school at the age of 16 to help his father, eventually opted for a career in the military. He joined the Italian Royal Air Force, and on June 19, 1928, he was sent to the Air Force Aerial Photography School of Capua (CE) where he successfully completed the course to become an air photography specialist.
In February 1929, he was transferred to Verona to complete his training. He received his air photography certification and was promoted to the rank of airman.
He was ordered to Italian Somalia, and on November 7, 1929, he sailed from Naples. Livio Zannoni arrived in Mogadishu on November 22, 1929, and he was assigned a very important duty right away.
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| Lidio Ajmone (1926) |
Italian Somalia bordered to the North with British Somaliland, but the exact border had never been clearly defined, due to the lack of reliable cartography, which the climate and the imperviousness of the area rendered almost impossible. Based on an agreement with the British Government, there had to be made an airborne photogrammetry of the border area and the final border had to be drawn based on its results.
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| Border area between Italian Somalia and British Somaliland |
The task was divided between an Italian unit, equipped with four IMAM Ro.1 reconnaissance aircraft and one British unit, and it was accomplished between December 14, 1929, and October 1930, in torrid weather which made the development and the printing of the films extremely difficult.
The dedication to duty that Livio Zannoni showed earned him a recommendation to be promoted to the rank of sergeant.
But, sometime in 1930, Livio Zannoni had to return to Italy to cure his malaria, which he had caught after an emergency landing in a very infectious area.
After a brief duty period in Italy, he requested and obtained to be sent back to Somalia. After being promoted Airman First Class he returned to Somalia in February 1931. In the Italian colony he reorganized the air photography service, and, in the month of September, he took part in several skirmishes in the region of Belet-Uen, against large bands of Ethiopians who had attacked the scarce Italian troops in the area.
In November 1931, Colonel Frusci proposed Livio Zannoni to be promoted to sergeant for his exceptional service. But, on June 4, 1932, malaria forced Livio Zannoni to return to Italy,
After his convalescence leave, Zannoni accomplished his complementary training, at the end of which he was assigned to the 115th Reconnaissance Squadron based on Bologna’s Borgo Panigale airport.
After being reassigned to Augusta (Syracuse), on August 7, 1932, he left again for Somalia, where he arrived on the 22nd of that month.
He was assigned right away the task of carrying out the aerial photographic survey of the Migiurtinia (or Majeerteenia) - the northeastern part of the Somalian colony which jutted out into the Gulf of Aden, next to British Somaliland - to provide the military the necessary charts of the area.
While in Somalia, Zannoni also contributed to develop and organize the Royal Photography Laboratory of the colony.
In June of 1934, he was assigned to a section deployed to the airfield of Geladi (or Geladin, now in Eastern Ethiopia) - which was a small village in the Dollo region - to carry out surveillance missions against the across-the-border raids by bands of Ethiopian raiders.
On the occasion of the official visit by Italian King Victor Emmanuel III, Zannoni was given the job, by the Air Force Command, to do the photographic reportage of the various legs of the King’s visits.
On December 5, 1934, there was the infamous Ual Ual incident, at the border between Italian Somalia and the Ethiopian Empire - an area rich in water wells. Zannoni reached the place of the skirmish and documented the battle, including the use of forbidden dumdum (expanding) bullets by the Ethiopians.
In January 1935, Zannoni was recalled to Mogadishu where he became the director of the photographic laboratory but, when he was finally promoted to sergeant, he returned to the Geladi airfield.
The Ual Ual incident had prompted the beginning of the Italian preparation of the final attack against Ethiopia, which started on October 3, 1935.
The dedication to duty that Livio Zannoni showed earned him a recommendation to be promoted to the rank of sergeant.
But, sometime in 1930, Livio Zannoni had to return to Italy to cure his malaria, which he had caught after an emergency landing in a very infectious area.
After a brief duty period in Italy, he requested and obtained to be sent back to Somalia. After being promoted Airman First Class he returned to Somalia in February 1931. In the Italian colony he reorganized the air photography service, and, in the month of September, he took part in several skirmishes in the region of Belet-Uen, against large bands of Ethiopians who had attacked the scarce Italian troops in the area.
In November 1931, Colonel Frusci proposed Livio Zannoni to be promoted to sergeant for his exceptional service. But, on June 4, 1932, malaria forced Livio Zannoni to return to Italy,
After his convalescence leave, Zannoni accomplished his complementary training, at the end of which he was assigned to the 115th Reconnaissance Squadron based on Bologna’s Borgo Panigale airport.
After being reassigned to Augusta (Syracuse), on August 7, 1932, he left again for Somalia, where he arrived on the 22nd of that month.
He was assigned right away the task of carrying out the aerial photographic survey of the Migiurtinia (or Majeerteenia) - the northeastern part of the Somalian colony which jutted out into the Gulf of Aden, next to British Somaliland - to provide the military the necessary charts of the area.
While in Somalia, Zannoni also contributed to develop and organize the Royal Photography Laboratory of the colony.
In June of 1934, he was assigned to a section deployed to the airfield of Geladi (or Geladin, now in Eastern Ethiopia) - which was a small village in the Dollo region - to carry out surveillance missions against the across-the-border raids by bands of Ethiopian raiders.
On the occasion of the official visit by Italian King Victor Emmanuel III, Zannoni was given the job, by the Air Force Command, to do the photographic reportage of the various legs of the King’s visits.
On December 5, 1934, there was the infamous Ual Ual incident, at the border between Italian Somalia and the Ethiopian Empire - an area rich in water wells. Zannoni reached the place of the skirmish and documented the battle, including the use of forbidden dumdum (expanding) bullets by the Ethiopians.
In January 1935, Zannoni was recalled to Mogadishu where he became the director of the photographic laboratory but, when he was finally promoted to sergeant, he returned to the Geladi airfield.
The Ual Ual incident had prompted the beginning of the Italian preparation of the final attack against Ethiopia, which started on October 3, 1935.
On the Somalian front of the war, which was considered secondary with respect to the Eritrean side, Lieutenant Pilot Angelo Mastragostino of the 1st Land Reconnaissance Squadron enlisted Sergeant Livio Zannoni, as an observer, for a very risky mission which became known as the “Badu-Annan Prank.”
Mastragostino wanted to fly to an Abyssinian redoubt which was considered impregnable and plant an Italian flag in front of it. Two days later, Lt. Mastragostino and Sgt. Zannoni took off, together with another aircraft, reached the Badu-Annan fort and landed in front of it.
The pilot deplaned and planted an iron flagpole in front of the fort’s door, with an Italian tricolor ribbon on it. When the Abyssinian soldiers recovered from the initial shock and began to shoot, the Italians aircraft, that were already taking off, returned the fire with their machine guns. And, when the aircraft had climbed, Lt. Mastragostino also launched a few bombs on the fort.
Meanwhile, the ground war was continuing, and Livio Zannoni’s unit, the 1st Land Reconnaissance Squadron in Somalia was constantly engaged in visual and photographic reconnaissance flights to provide information to the advancing army.
On december 26, 1935, two aircraft of the squadron which was at Gorrahei (later Gabredarre, Kabri Dar, Airport) were assigned a reconnaissance mission over the area of Dagabur, (Ogaden). One of the IMAM Ro.1 was flown by Lt. Zaccardo, the other one had Second Lieutenant Tito Minniti at the controls. Sergeant Livio Zannoni insisted with Lt. Minniti’s observer, Armellini, to let him go in his place. And he insisted so much that Armellini gave in.
At 7:00 am the two aircraft took off form the Gorrahei airfield, and they reached Dagabur after about two hours of flight. At the time, Dagabur was a heavily fortified garrison town that could have been a formidable obstacle for the advancing Italian ground forces.
Lt. Minniti airplane was hit by antiaircraft fire, and it was seen descending over the town. It disappeared from the sight of the other aircraft, that flew over the area repeatedly, trying to spot it. Minniti’s airplane had landed in a clearing, and it was immediately attacked by enemy soldiers. The two Italian aviators fought back until they ran out of ammunition.
Livio Zannoni was killed in the fight, but Minniti was captured and later murdered after having been tortured.
The wreckage of the aircraft was found later, and the two aviators were awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valor.
Motivation of the Gold Medal for Military Valor awarded to the Memory of Livio Zannoni:
“Non-Commission Officer and expert photographer of rare skills offered himself enthusiastically, in every occasion, to carry out daring reconnaissance flights over enemy territory. On December 26, 1935, after having taken off from the airfield of Gorrahei to carry out a photographic reconnaissance over Dagabur, and after the airplane had been hit by the violent enemy antiaircraft reaction fire that forced them to land behind enemy lines, instead of surrendering to the overwhelming and brash enemy mass that had come to capture him, he flanked his officer pilot and, shouldering a machine gun, he engaged in a titanic struggle.
Dagabur, December 26, 1935.
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| Livio Zannoni in Gorrahei |
This article was first published in Italian on the Italian online magazine Italia Coloniale, edited by Alberto Alpozzi.
Your comments will be greatly aprreciated.
Thank you,
Leonardo Pavese
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