Second Italo-Abyssinian War - Atrocities

Atrocities

See also: Tito Minniti

The first atrocities were made by Ethiopian troops, who used to mutilate (often with castration) their prisoners: the Eritrean ascari suffered from these medieval treatments since the first weeks of war After December the Ethiopians started to do the same even to the Italians with the murder of captured pilot Tito Minniti (followed by other massacres like the one in Gondrand).

In addition to conventional weaponry, Badoglio's troops also made substantial use of mustard gas, in both artillery and aerial bombardments. Use of mustard gas, which was violated the 1925 Geneva Protocol that Italy had signed, was justified by the deaths of an Italian Air Force pilot, Tito Minniti, and his observer in the Ogaden. "Heroic death of our comrade in barbaric enemy land requires exemplary reprisal punishment," General Graziani ordered on learning of their deaths. In total, the Italians deployed between 300 and 500 tonnes of mustard gas during the war, despite having signed the 1925 Geneva Protocol. The deployment of gas was not restricted to the battlefield, however, as civilians were also targeted by the Italians, as part of their attempt to terrorise the local population. Furthermore, the Italians carried out gas attacks on Red Cross camps and ambulances.

The armed forces disposed of a vast arsenal of grenades and bombs loaded with mustard gas, which they dropped from airplanes. This substance was also sprayed directly from above like an "insecticide" onto enemy combatants and villages. Mussolini himself authorized the use of the weapons:

Rome, October 27, 1935. To His Excellency Graziani. The use of gas as an ultima ratio to overwhelm enemy resistance and in case of counterattack is authorized. Mussolini. Rome, December 28, 1935. To His Excellency Badoglio. Given the enemy system I have authorized Your Excellency the use even on a vast scale of any gas and flamethrowers. Mussolini.

Mussolini and his generals sought to cloak the operations of chemical warfare in the utmost secrecy, but the use of gas was revealed to the world through the denunciations by the International Red Cross and of many foreign observers. The Italian reaction to these revelations consisted in the "erroneous" bombardment (at least 19 times) of Red Cross tents posted in the areas of military encampment of the Ethiopian resistance.

The orders imparted by Mussolini after the war, with respect to the Ethiopian population, were very clear:

Rome, June 5, 1936. To His Excellency Graziani. All rebels taken prisoner must be killed. Mussolini. Rome, July 8, 1936. To His Excellency Graziani. I have authorized once again Your Excellency. to begin and systematically conduct a politics of terror and extermination of the rebels and the complicit population. Without the lex talionis one cannot cure the infection in time. Await confirmation. Mussolini.

The predominant part of the work of repression was carried out by colonial troops (mostly from Eritrea) of the Italians who, according to the Ethiopians, besides the bombs laced with mustard gas, instituted forced labor camps, installed public gallows, killed hostages, and mutilated the corpses of their enemies. Many Italian troops had themselves photographed next to cadavers hanging from the gallows or hanging around chests full of detached heads.