By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
We saw last week that the Ethiopian Patriots faced fierce repression
in 1936, and were attacked in the north and east of the country, both by
the Italian ground forces and by the Italian Royal Air Force, which
made extensive use of yperite gas. Now read on:
Bombing in the South
Italian aerial operations against the Patriots also took place in
Southern Ethiopia. Graziani, reporting on them, telegraphed on 16
November: “Addis Ababa air force will. . . intensify from tomorrow the
same action from the north, bombing and yperiting Irgalem and
Agheresalem and Allata.”
The importance of these tactics was not lost on the Ethiopian Legation in London, which commented on 30 January 1937:
“When the Italians wish to occupy any place they never send their
soldiers until they have performed their cruel business of bombing and
gassing that place and the surrounding countryside, killing both people
and animals. Then they send their soldiers to occupy the devastated
place.”
Italian forces were now advancing southwards into the hitherto
unoccupied territories, to capture Ghimbi and Dilla on 9 November,
Wadara on 13 November , Lekemti on 15 November, Jubdo on 17 November,
Jiren on 18 November, Gore on 26 November, Yirgalem on 1 December, Bonga
on 13 December, and Gambela on 17 December.
“I Ask You Not to Be Moved”
Repressive action meanwhile continued in the main areas of resistance
to the north, particularly in Shoa which the Italians regarded as the
heart of Ethiopian resistance. On 12 December, Graziani telegraphed to
one of his commanders, General Tracchia, declaring: “in this region from
which have originated all the offences that caused us the infernal
situation during the rains it is necessary to disarm and liquidate
immediately without mercy and illusions.” He went on to state that the
inhabitants of the area were “now mostly obsequious because of the
circumstances,” but added: “I ask you not to be moved.”
Italian reports continue to tell of considerable Patriot initiative
in this area, notably near Tegulet on 19 December, and in and around
Koromesh on the following day.
Active Ethiopian resistance was also reported by the Jibuti
correspondent of London-based “New Times and Ethiopian News”, who
observed, on 20 December, that “it is said that the Ethiopians gained
good victories near Gore and Arussi and near Garamullata.” The Ethiopian
Consul at the port, Andargachew Masai, had therefore hoisted the
Ethiopian flag as a sign of rejoicing.
Perhaps the hardest fighting for the Italians, towards the end of the
year 1936, according to their own reports, had been against Ras Desta,
Dejazmatch Gabre Mariam, Dejazmatch Beyene Merid, and Shimellis Habte in
the Gedel mountains. Some of this fighting continued into late January
and early February 1937.
Ethiopian Forces Near Breaking Point
By the end of the year 1936 the organised Ethiopian armies, as
opposed to the newly emerging Patriot units, had, however, reached
breaking point.
This led to the capture of most of the principal Ethiopian leaders.
Wondwossen Kassa was captured on 10 December, Ras Imru on 15 December,
and Wondwossen Kassa’s brothers Aberra and Asfawossen Kassa, on 21
December. The three Kassa brothers were shot, in accordance with general
fascist policy, but Ras Imru and another nobleman, Taye Gulelat, were
treated, by the special order of Graziani, as prisoners of war. They
were flown to Italy on 4 January 4, 1937, though the Viceroy noted that
their submission, being “scarcely spontaneous”, special precautions
would have to be taken to prevent their escape.
Beyene Merid, on the other hand, was taken prisoner on 20 February
1937, and Ras Desta Damtew, on 24 February. Both leaders were
immediately shot.
At about this time the Italians announced that since the beginning of
the war up to 20 December 1936, they had captured 95,727 rifles, 555
machine-guns, 473 pistols, and 155 cannon.
The Attempt on Graziani’s Life
The Patriot struggle entered a new phase as a result of the attempt on Graziani’s life on 19 February 1937.
The story of this incident, which was to have crucially important
influence on the Patriots’ struggle, was told later in the day in a
secret telegram which Graziani despatched to the Italian Minister of the
Colonies. Copies, to be personally decoded, were also sent to the
various Italian provincial governors, allegedly to “prevent the
diffusion of incorrect and alarmist news”.
In this message, the Viceroy declared:
“This morning at eleven o’clock I had convened at the Ghebi [i.e. the
palace, now the site of Addis Ababa University] the chief notables
representing the Coptic and Muslim religious communities in order to
distribute in their presence gifts for churches and mosques and alms for
about three thousand poor people of the city in honour of the birth of
H.R.H. the Prince of Naples. At twelve o’clock while proceeding to the
distribution itself persons who up to now it has been unable to identify
infiltrated among the chiefs and threw some ten Breda type hand
grenades at the official party. As a result some thirty persons were
wounded.”
Two Generals; “Multiple Shrapnel Wounds”
Graziani proceeded to list the principal victims, who included his
chief of cabinet, and two generals. He also quoted the medical report on
his own condition. This report revealed that he had suffered multiple
shrapnel wounds, causing considerable bleeding, but that his general
condition was “satisfactory”, and his morale most excellent.”
In the telegram he went on to explain that he was continuing to
exercise control of the government, through His Excellency Petretti and
General Gariboldi, who had been given joint powers to protect the
security of the capital, and that he had already ordered the taking of
“exceptional police measures”, i.e. repression. He reported, however,
that the market that morning had been crowded, that there had been no
prior indication that the incident was in the offing, and the population
still “remained tranquil,” though some 200 persons had been arrested
and the military authorities had begun investigations and
interrogations”.
Two days later, however, it was officially announced in Rome, as the
“Daily Telegraph”, of London, reported, that 2,000 natives” had been
“arrested as suspects.” This figure was also later cited by Zoli.
Graziani’s first figure of 200 had thus expanded ten-fold!
Graziani’s Subsequent Account
Recalling these events a decade or so later Graziani gave a slightly
different account. He observed that the attackers had “hurled at least
18 bombs at me, trying to wipe out at one blow not only myself, but the
whole government”.
Turning to the ensuing security action, the Viceroy added that the plot:
“did not. . . make me swerve from my fixed line of conduct by one
millimetre. . . repressive measures were taken with extreme promptitude
and prevented a rising of the native population of Addis Ababa. It was
intended that they should take our defence lines from behind, and join
hands with the rebels who surrounded the city on the outside, thus
overthrowing the heart of our power. Instead the whole thing proved
nothing more than an episode which left over 250 splinters of steel in
my body, which I still bear as a souvenir.”
Ciano’s Comment
Graziani, despite this show of fortitude, seems to have suffered
psychologically from the attempt on his life. Mussolini’s son-in-law
Count Ciano, describing the subsequent fighting of 1940 in Libya,
recalls that “it seems that his [i.e. Graziani's] nerves are quite
shaken since the time of the attempt on his life. They tell me that even
in Italy he was so afraid of attempts on his life that he had his villa
at Arciruzzo guarded by at least 18 carabinieri.”
“Repressive Measures”
The ” repressive measures ” referred to by Graziani in his
above-mentioned telegramme, were defined by other eyewitnesses as
nothing short of a massacre.
The events immediately following the bomb-throwing were subsequently
described on oath by an Eritrean archivist, Dejazmatch Resario Gilazgi,
who was in the Palace compound at the time. “I heard shooting,” he
recalls, “cars going here and there, people running, machine-gunning, it
was a big disorder – Ethiopians running from Italians, Italians running
from Ethiopians. The Italians apparently suspected that the rebels had
got into the city. It had been said before that Ras Desta would menace
the city and that the Ethiopian patriots would come and kill every
Italian.”
Ras Desta, it should be recalled, had, as already noted, in fact by then been killed.
Ladislav Sava
Another description of these events was given by the Hungarian
physician Ladislas Sava, alias Sashka, who reports: “Blackshirts were
running all over the town ordering every shopkeeper to close his doors,
and everyone else abroad to return to his home. In an hour there were no
more people in the streets.”
Guido Cortese
Dejazmatch Rosario goes on to recall that he went with two Italians
to the fascist party headquarters, where they met the party secretary,
Guido Cortese, and a “good number” of other fascists to whom the latter
declared:
“Comrades, today is the day when we should show our devotion to our
Viceroy by reacting and destroying Ethiopians for three days. For three
days I give you carta bianca to destroy and kill and do what you want to
Ethiopians”.
“They went out,” Dejazmatch Rosario continues, “well equipped with
their arms, and started their work. People who were not arrested by the
carabinieri and were found in their houses or in the streets were
killed… I saw with my own eyes burning houses… I saw young boys coming
out from burning houses, but the Italians pushed them back into the
fire… The next day, Saturday, the Italians were still burning small
houses. On the bigger houses they wrote their names to keep them for
themselves. They broke down the doors and went in looting. They could
not find a single man to kill; the ones who were not killed had been
arrested or had run away. At about 6.30 p.m. on Saturday we saw the
flames from the petrol when they tried to set fire to St. George’s
cathedral. The windows broke from the heat, but its buildings resisted”.
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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