Handwritten War Diary W/ Maps & ENGLISH TRANSLATION - Italian - Ethiopian War 1935
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:196773 | Country/Region of Manufacture: Italy |
This item includes an original handwritten diary as well as an English translation (see below). Rare diary / journal of an Italian soldier of the 1st Blackshirt Division (23 March) during their Pre-WWII invasion and war with Ethiopia. Approximately 60 pages of writing and includes 3 hand drawn maps. Diary is in excellent condition. Check out my other listings as I will soon add other diaries.
Journal of War
Italo-Ethiopian War 1935 –1936
Sar...g. Selva, Isola Lini Lou. Giorgo Carnello were the first to see our enthusiasm! The Division was formed of three Legions! The 135th Spezia and Livorno – the 192nd Florence – the 202nd Terni and Perugia, a heavy machinegunners battalion from Pisa, an Artillery Group and all of the other auxiliary services that are essential for a great operational unit! In all there were about 12, 000 men, few, but good. First period of exercises until July 16th then the departure for the mobile camp.Long, tiring marches broken up by maneuvers; after going about 160 km we stop in Cautalu on the Lannio! The training period ends here!August 23rd. They give us our colonial uniforms and we leave for Naples!24th. At 12:30 AM, we board the Atlanta __ of the Consuliti. At 1:30 PM we leave! Saying goodbye to the homeland is moving! Will we come back? What is death to us?! Dying for one’s country is always good, and Africa is there waiting for us with all of its dangers and with all of its mysteries!29th. Port Said. Suez Canal! The heat is beginning to be felt!31st Red Sea.September 2nd. Massana, a furnace! 47 degrees at 11:00 PM – We get off and we walk towards the drill ground where the column of vehicles awaits us. At four in the morning we get on the tanks and the column takes off! For 60 km. surrounding us is nothing but an infinite stretch of dry and scorching sand! Then we start to climb to the high land!Nesfarit – over 1000 m. First leg. Here the tanks leave us to the strength of our legs!4th. Nesfarit. Saradoco! Km 26, Faini to the sides, under the scorching sun for 8 hours we march covered in dust and sweat! The first leg by foot; the first exertions in the land of Africa!5th. Laradoco. Decamere! Km 24The marches in Africa are beyond tiring. The ground burns, desolate and dreary, the first __.7th. Decamere. Gurga. Here we stop for a while waiting for orders!8th. We start a period of training. Maneuvers, marches, instructions. Meanwhile we start to get to know Africa. Euforbia candelabras. Baobob. The giant men; __ of pepper and coffee; birds and monkeys of every kind and every color! Savage, primitive men; houses in Augun made with a mix of tree branches and straw ___ of Zebu The women are more primitive than the men, dirty, without any shame, sick!….9th and 10th. The order has arrived to leave for the border! We are assigned to the Corfo d’Armata Indigeni.First leg: Gauia. Mai Aini!We leave at six in the morning. Sun, dust and finally rain!We are exhausted. At 7:00 PM, we get to Mai Aini: it is still raining and so impossible to put up the tents. We put hoods over our heads and sleep like that. We wake in the morning still wet and start marching again. Mai Aini. Gauia. We arrive in the night and are accompanied at first by a forest!8-10. At exactly midnight, war is declared. The movement of the troops begins and we are receive the order to cross the border! Marching again and this time in full war trim! We cross the Belesa and we enter into enemy territory!5th. Advance! That's the order! Advance with a forced march to secure essential positions! And we march! We advance in scattered order for hours and hours under the scorching sun, covered in burning dust on mountains that are higher and higher and follow one another without break. The people of the native villages that we find on our way surrender! We stop in Amba Trebeleri! As soon as we have arrived I go on reconnaissance with 15 men. Ildeagieac Ambalasci comes to surrender with 5 men!Dry region, oppressive heat, insatiable thirst; the water we have in our canteens has to last for 3 days! We haven't eaten since yesterday morning!6th. We start advancing again. The same ever higher mountains, the same endless terraces; we climb up and up!Adi Gomboro! We are on the highland of Digrino. We occupy Inticcio! For now, the enemy flees and does not show itself! We are still without food or drink!7th. The division stops to pacify the area. My Battalion has to continue. We stop at Egago on the Nile. Hunger, thirst, the same as yesterday!8. We have to go to the aid of the 6th Group __ Diamanti that are without machine guns and in an extremely dangerous position! 50 km – 18 hours of marching. At 11:00 PM, we arrive at the group. They were waiting for us anxiously. The enemy is maybe 3 km from the Line. We stop. Finally something to eat! Half a biscuit; half cup of milk. It's been six days since we've seen a cigarette!10th. In the enemy positions we notice an unusual movement! They do not however decide to attack and they retreat! There is no chance of eating! As soon as the enemy positions are cleared, a move ahead! 20 km. towards Adua with weapons and bags on our backs for about 30 kg. We pass Abba Karima and then we settle on a mountain!12. We leave again. Gheridelta: Charon Masi! Mt. Boio. Lemarata! From up here we overlook the valley where the De Cristofori column was massacred back in 96. Alone with my platoon, I have to go on! We continue for another 4 km we take a position and we stop! No sleep tonight! A piece of bread and a teaspoon of marmalade. It’s night and the shout of __ and the __ is deafening! We lie down among the rocks, crawling with reptiles and chameleons!
14.15.16.17. M. Ilisa! Only Legions of the 23rd M__ advance __ to Inticcio! The 202nd Legion relieves the Group __: And we stay with them!We have a party! Something to eat, a few cigarettes!24. Onwards and now the enemy keeps on fleeing. Field of peas…..! 24. M. Asai! A few days of rest! Food finally arrives every day!2__.11. Battle with Bas Lewim! 300 dead. 3, 000 prisoners! This enemy is daring. They attack with scimitars unsheathed right at the sound of a horn and they do not tremble! No!We begin the advance on Trembeles. Asai. Gheveli Kalo. Marches start again and the impossible exertions start again! 23. Gheveli Kalo. Mai Mascelliquit. We get there after marching for 12 hours in an amphitheater __ that __ fantastic!27. Mai Mascelliquit. Mai River. We leave at seven in the morning. My company is rearguard to the mule train of the legions! A march? No! A torture! 50 meters then stop, and so on for the entire way! We have to collect everything; exhausted men; fallen __; abandoned loads!Every little while, stops; always with the weight on our backs under a sun that bakes our brains under the helmet! Without touching water, the food arrived at night at 1; at 4 AM, after only 3 hours, we left for Hauzien where we will stop for a while! How many km have we covered? We don’t know, nor maybe those before us, but it’s a lot; we know from our shoes and our bloody feet!We leave on 3.12 – Debrezien – Forced marches, we have to camp at Macalle where the bands of faithful Bas Gule Lelassie have already penetrated. Gurga!5. Debrezien. Suola Cercos!7. Suola Cercos. Suola Marioni einferes!8. Adi Aha.9. Macalle! The allied armed bands are waiting for us and greet us enthusiastically! We take position on Suola Lessu near Fort Galliano. The stronghold of Amba Aradan is in front of us, a formidable bulwark where 80, 000 Abyssinians are hiding belonging to the regular army commanded by Ras Molughera, Minister of War in Ethiopia.18-1-35 The Divisions of our __arrive which stay to protect our positions. We then leave to conquer Ama Arodou!Debri! The spectacle of 12 of our comrades, decapitated and tortured has embittered our souls and made our hearts hard and mean!The blacks better watch out now! Everything in our path is being destroyed, burned. Mercilessness goes into action full force!19. Our peak squads sight strong enemy contingents on the Gabal river, a river that divides the area of Debri from the area of the Inderta!We advance slowly in staggered order to find a good position. We are across from the regular Abyssinian army. We arrive on the rocks of the Gabal, which is elevated above the valley of the River with a rise of about 60 meters! We stop and we camp and dig ourselves in! Explorers who went down into the valley in the area immediately below us haven’t come back. So the enemy is very close. In fact, about 2000 Abyssinians are beneath us well hidden and well protected! This division is part of the advance guard of the army of Amba Arandau!They would have ambushed us! Indeed, if our divisions had continued, we would have been encircled and they might have destroyed the entire Division unable to defend itself because of the constitution of the terrain! Not even a single musket shot all day! 20. Calm persists on the whole front! But the enemy has gotten reinforcements! It is that famous calm that always comes before the storm!I am with my platoon at the far left of the deployment! Under the protection of my arms and a platoon of the 2nd Company of the 188 Btg. All Piombinese!In the evening around five, a strong __ of Gallic horsemen came down from the high plain that is in front of us, moves towards us, maybe in aid of the Abyssinian divisions that are still hidden in the rocks! Our lookout signals the batteries camped with us! We let them near and then they open fire! Three or four volleys of battery in all; men and beasts fly in the air; a massacre! Nonetheless many manage to reach the rocks and hide in the little caves of the eif.Silence again until 11 PM. But we don’t sleep! We choose a new position that is safer and better hidden; we move in the dark so that they can’t see us! Indeed, they do not notice the maneuver and later they will find out!Around 11:30 at night, our lookouts glimpse many lighted points that are nearing. It is the expected maneuver, the old Abyssinia tactic, the encircling!They didn’t suspect our __, so they climbed the rocks sure to then take from the enfilade and the side our positions, which would have put us in serious difficulties! The deployment was as in the sketch below:
Divis. Lila
Calamino
Gobot Valley
Abyssinians
192 Leg.
Inda Ghena Jesus
Machine-gunner Battalion
202 Legion
135 Legion
192 Legion
But we were on the alert, ready and we let them near. Leusi to my left placed his heavy artillery as a barrier defense, the platoon of my countrymen below me are at the ready! The honor of fire goes exclusively to the Piombinesi, two platoons, side by side and tight knit! They are now below and Davis gives the signal. A musket shot that shakes the dark night and an infernal din of machine guns follows! The battle is __! The enemy is disoriented by the surprise __ shots and reorganizes itself and very decisively!
The sound of a horn guides them and helps them!They climb; and in the night we glimpse the white __ and the flares of fire from their muskets! But our fire dominates them, stuns them! It is a rain of iron and of fire that falls on them ceaselessly, mercilessly spreading death.The cry of the hit that fall in the crevices and in the __ sometimes rise above the din of the battles. Yet they tenaciously persist! The bullets whistle horribly around us; some fall, but we are well protected by the reduits and we do not __. The __ action extends to the entire front. The Abyssinians now try a desperate strike, they gather and they reorganize and then they fling themselves furiously at our positions; but we are able take them. The barrels of the machine guns have turned red but we speed up the firing anyhow. There is a torrent of lead that we pour on them and they finally turn and flee, still followed by our fire!It is calm for the whole rest of the night!21. In the day we sight Abyssinians who are not dead very close to our lines! Some five or six meters away! A shield squad brings them together and then a little gas and a match, a big bonfire and everything is gone! The bulk of the enemy is still safe in the rocks however and we need to bring them out of hiding to be able to continue the advance on Amba Arodou! Artillery can’t do anything against them and neither can aviation! In the first hours of the morning, an Abyssinian light gunner lets its voice be heard and targets the positions where we are! He is soon silenced though. A volley from battery 192 and the light gunner is in the air!At about 8:30 AM the 192nd Legion F. Ferrucci from Florence that was in reserve goes down into the valley to attack the enemy positions from the side and the rear. The complete machine-gunner __ will protect it. The Legion descends uncovered and __ decisively on the indigenous village of Inde Ghana Jesus. Absolute silence while the legions near the village then all of the sudden a volley of firing hits our men full on and they have to retreat. The artillery then goes into action and concentrates the fire on the village until it is leveled! The Legion then returns to attack! __ these fine boys, proud, brave as old warriors advance divided in a scattered order uncovered!But in the village there is still a lot of resistance; the blacks are well covered and hard to hit! We move with the __ and rush to help, while the legion keeps on advancing! The first men fall. The Abyssinians understand that our fire is their greatest danger and concentrate their fire on us! The dum dums whistle madly around us! Among the first to fall is Gen. Criofo, C. Lg. Massi falls; many blacks fall! On the ground, very slowly, the armies move ahead; after a little bit some 84 __ begin the inferior __ in the center of the enemy resistance. The riflemen back up our fire! Many of them fall, very many in fact; but they too shoot and kill well and where they strike death follows; the dum dum do not miss. The 192nd Legion __ the attack. Our men fall and every fall it is a blow to the heart! We have temporarily suspended fire to not hit our men who are in contact with the enemy, however we are ready to intervene to aid them. The first wounded and the first dead are brought on stretchers behind our lines! In this moment of rest, a deep silence welcomes them, and they pass among us with lifeless eyes!Those torn limbs, that flesh tormented by the inhuman dum dum, those dear faces that will see no more make our hearts cry out! In the eyes of each of us, a tear is shining that hardens in the heart of each of us and a promise for vengeance! We will be ruthless with the barbarians, merciless like our death is merciless in the full sense of the word. The honor of the armies, an affecting __ , and we will soon avenge them!It is four in the afternoon! At any cost, during the night those positions have to be ours!The 192nd retreats to reorganize! A captain of artillery __ a single piece, running a risk, goes down into the valley and manages to place the piece, uncovered, in front of their positions. The entire front is still now. All eyes are fixed on that brave man!He points the cannon like a musket and begins a continuous incessant fire that hammers and takes apart the enemy lines. Good job! The dance starts up again! Now it is time to finish it.The 192nd returns to the attack , two companies of the 188th Btg. prepare to go down too in order to take them from the side!We open fire with the heavy artillery, continuous, ceaseless!The enemy intent on shielding themselves from our __ does not notice the maneuver!Our men move to attack and in a minute they are on them. A __; we stop firing! One to __ powerful, and a stream of cc.nn. bayonets engaged, __ between the teeth, floods among the unconquerable lines __ __ emptying __, while we take them from the back with our fire so that none of them can escape! It is the __ of the __!The enemy can no longer organize themselves and at every attempt we strike them with angry __ and strident. __ this of indescribable tensions. With hard clear eyes and cold blood, we follow the movements of our men to bring down any enemy attempt, ready to protect our men from any traps!At the sound of a horn, the enemy tries to organize itself; but our strikes come down on them inexorably making __empty spaces in their lines!Many of our men fall, but it is soon over! Our men come back after having cleared the land! Not one injured among them, not one prisoner, all dead! They don’t take prisoners and neither do we anymore. Our dead are avenged! Night falls! With the light of victory in our eyes, each of us thinks of something very dear and our eyes shine!
Then once it is quiet, we get up and we climb and climb nostalgically, stirred in the semi-darkness that envelops up. 22. Many are missing at the call this morning; the first victory cost us a lot of blood. A company comes down for the round up! There are hundreds of dead Abyssinians. A platoon launches flames to destroy them! Then the Divis. Assietta comes to relieve us and we go to rest a little under the Indoti tree!10.2. We continue the advance! Destination: Amba Ardau. Debri: Gabat Valley. Amba Aradou is the key to all of the victories! The most formidable stronghold__ the fiercest and most skilled Ras in the Empire. Ras Molugheta; Minister of War! This closes the road to Amba Alagi and brings supplies to the to the armies of Ras Corfo and Leuim in the Tembien that are still inaccessible.From 10 to 14 there is a continuous hammering on Amba! Some 48 Batteries of every caliber are concentrated there, armed by the many squadrons of aircraft that take off from the Macalle field. They also have artillery but many modern machine guns were in a dominant position with defense materials!14. The action begins at the base the 1st Army Corp on the left, from behind. The Lila in front. The 23 Manis in reserve! The evening, Celi is secured! Celi is a small Amba as thin as a knife’s blade that faces the Aradou! The night is a continuous duel of the artilleries on both sides! They do not kill well and their aim falls short!15. The Lila Divis. After 95 deaths in the __ of the bomb, is moved to the right for protection. So onwards on March 23!Hellfire until dawn; all of the batteries are in action, numerous bomb squads fly over the Amba, but there is little they can do!In the morning the 135th Legion sends a Battalion to try to take the Amba by surprise. No use, they are too well dug in! But in the evening, the need to occupy the Amba becomes imperative, we can no longer resist below! So onwards! While the artillery accelerate the fire, we advance, the 192nd Leg. On the left the 135th in the center, the 202nd on the right! My company is supporting the 135th in the center. Asblasi; sheltered behind rocks; taking advantage of all of the land’s twists and turns they keep on advancing!
[Map]
It is raining and we are soaked and sweaty; but our enthusiasm for battle is not dampened! We advance with effort under their fire and without being able to respond. With fits and starts, we keep on furiously advancing and we manage to get to under the Amba! Now the most difficult part is here! A part up high, a rock that rises about 400 meters above us! The enemy is on the peak! What should we do! We will do the __. We throw away everything, __ covers, __, we only keep the arms and we start the climb. The enemy cannot strike any more because it can no longer disperse; our artilleries prevent them. They also don’t even consider the possibility of such a daring attack as ours! But at five thirty the first squads arrive on the far right of the Amba and attack the surprised enemy with bayonets! The first step has been taken! We dig in and wait in defense for the whole legion to climb up! We have been signaled however and we take aim! Everyone climbs up; all of the heavy arms are placed and they open a hellish fire on the enemy positions spread over the Amba! Those in the caves do not even suspect our presence! Then we launch an attack with __arms! The crash is terrible and the enemy is shocked, disoriented and surprised and breaks up and cedes ground! A reserve division flings itself into the mix! It is a coup de grace! The Abyssinians; 10 times greater in number turn their back and flee from the CC.NN. of Mussolini. Black devils like these __ us!Aviation then comes into action for the follow-up and the 1st Army Corp! Very many are still hidden in the caves! Many try to resist and fall, many would like to surrender but they are stabbed anyhow! We never take prisoners! Soon all of the Amba will be occupied and cleared of Abyssinians! Here our tri-color flag flies on the highest point. It is evening! The battalions gather around the flag for the sacred ritual of the dead! Torn, dirty and sweaty, degraded by the __ and exhausted by the battle, there is still the spirit that reigns and the sacred __ of the revolution stunned that __ men rise powerfully in the light of the new victory! The thick fog quickly wraps around the Amba. Sleep? On the ground on the rocks close together, the __ frozen by the cold. We are as a tough as nails now!16. The Alfini come to relieve us; others of us have classified tasks; other tasks more difficult and even more __ !They can’t penetrate the Tembien! Ras Corfo and Leuim are still running around as owners. The 28th and the Diamanti Group have already sacrificed many men without succeeding! What should be done?The order is onwards on March 23! Onwards with a forced march, take the armed enemies from the sides, at whatever it costs the Tembien must be freed!“I ask the strong 3rd Army Corp (these are the words of Bodoglio), I ask of the fine and strong Divis, March 23, this last effort. I know I ask a lot, maybe too much, but I must! Your brothers in arms are in danger, your so recent glorious victory is compromised. Go ahead! I do not doubt you and I know that you will give what I ask!And tired, hungry, ragged, __ in a forced march we arrive on the dark Tembien.Adi Cudele, Suola Tecla, Mai Gargara, Mai Atti; Passo Masia; Red Gaela, Red Farita! __ day in the Tembien!Any notion of time disappears, any other thought, any other perception disappears in the fogginess of our brains! Morale is high though and morale is the metal of the soldier! We pass carefully, watching, ready from one moment the next encounter the enemy that we must avoid because they don’t know! And we arrive, Amba Taelleri! We make our formation, then we pass into that frightful and treacherous vast maze that forms the area of the Tembien, while strong divisions stay to guard the moves, to prevent the escape of any enemies. Inda Imonul. Field of __ Abbi Addi; continuous ceaseless battles on the __ stabbed, endless pursuits, frightful ambushes, in one of which for little __ crushed by dominant enemy forces, without the intervention of a hunting apparatus that goes down to the ground level to machine gun the Abyssinians divisions! And thirst, thirst, hunger! We are ragged, __ with bloody feet wrapped in strips of cloths our mouths parched, the tongue swollen from thirst, we continue in a __ battle; fierce, __ decisive, to squash any enemy __, to conquer the deserted Tembien, the frightful maze ruled up to now __ by the Ras Corfo and Leuim, running around with their 80, 000 men for the __ the infidels __, the frightful __ that __ the area of the Tembien.
[Map]
Gabat Valley
__
Field of __ ?
Abbi AddiTerracesIzellini
Heaps of dead that soon give off fetid odors, major losses among our lines, frightful empty spaces! This battle, how much zeal in the feverish eyes, these efforts for the exhausted enemies. The enemy armies were destroyed though and the Tembien was freed! Ras Corfo and Leuim manage to escape, but the men remove them, nailed to the ground by our lead and __ of our knives! Before returning the commander spoke! CC.NN., he said, I salute you in the victory of the Tembien, the victory of our will! 10.3. We return! More ragged and even more tired, fueled with a few pieces of bloody donkey meat. Bet Mariam! And it’s still not over! A famous last effort is asked of us! Locota, we have to succeed at all costs to secure the right of the motor columns in march to Desfie! Gula Gul, a land with no name, Lare, Fenaroa! How many roads! A __ battalion for Lacota’; we stay and we will return to Saure! A little bit of rest finally! In a few days Lacota’ is occupied.8.5.36 Ras Leuim, for several days encircled by our divisions, comes to surrender to our Army Corp! Meanwhile the occupation of the Abyssinian territory continues without obstacles; now the army is destroyed only a few bands now and then try to interrupt the advance and are quickly destroyed!5-5 Addis Alehma is occupied, the period of war here is over, and work takes it place. Roads! How much have we covered in the territories of the Empire, how much we have worked!On June 28, we leave the area of Lamza, after finishing the roads to go back to our country! We arrive at Suola Jesus but then after 180 km of march, there’s a counter order! There is more work to do! And we go; Amba Alagi. Asciaughi Lake. Quotana Moldia! Roads! We leave the __ and take the small ones! Every so often however we have to take back up our muskets because some band of __ Abyssinians __ comes near!We work a lot and finally the time to go back to our country arrives! On November 10, the movements back begin. On 23 we get on the ship Liguria. On 2.12 we are finally in our country, exhausted, tried, sick, yet proud to have done our duty!
Political division of Ethiopia before the Italian occupation.
Kingdom of Western Tigrai
[Names]
[Last Page]
Diary
23/4/35 Voluntary conscript in the 1st Division cc.nn. 23 March Btg. Machine-gunner Per
Journal of War
Italo-Ethiopian War 1935 –1936
Sar...g. Selva, Isola Lini Lou. Giorgo Carnello were the first to see our enthusiasm! The Division was formed of three Legions! The 135th Spezia and Livorno – the 192nd Florence – the 202nd Terni and Perugia, a heavy machinegunners battalion from Pisa, an Artillery Group and all of the other auxiliary services that are essential for a great operational unit! In all there were about 12, 000 men, few, but good. First period of exercises until July 16th then the departure for the mobile camp.Long, tiring marches broken up by maneuvers; after going about 160 km we stop in Cautalu on the Lannio! The training period ends here!August 23rd. They give us our colonial uniforms and we leave for Naples!24th. At 12:30 AM, we board the Atlanta __ of the Consuliti. At 1:30 PM we leave! Saying goodbye to the homeland is moving! Will we come back? What is death to us?! Dying for one’s country is always good, and Africa is there waiting for us with all of its dangers and with all of its mysteries!29th. Port Said. Suez Canal! The heat is beginning to be felt!31st Red Sea.September 2nd. Massana, a furnace! 47 degrees at 11:00 PM – We get off and we walk towards the drill ground where the column of vehicles awaits us. At four in the morning we get on the tanks and the column takes off! For 60 km. surrounding us is nothing but an infinite stretch of dry and scorching sand! Then we start to climb to the high land!Nesfarit – over 1000 m. First leg. Here the tanks leave us to the strength of our legs!4th. Nesfarit. Saradoco! Km 26, Faini to the sides, under the scorching sun for 8 hours we march covered in dust and sweat! The first leg by foot; the first exertions in the land of Africa!5th. Laradoco. Decamere! Km 24The marches in Africa are beyond tiring. The ground burns, desolate and dreary, the first __.7th. Decamere. Gurga. Here we stop for a while waiting for orders!8th. We start a period of training. Maneuvers, marches, instructions. Meanwhile we start to get to know Africa. Euforbia candelabras. Baobob. The giant men; __ of pepper and coffee; birds and monkeys of every kind and every color! Savage, primitive men; houses in Augun made with a mix of tree branches and straw ___ of Zebu The women are more primitive than the men, dirty, without any shame, sick!….9th and 10th. The order has arrived to leave for the border! We are assigned to the Corfo d’Armata Indigeni.First leg: Gauia. Mai Aini!We leave at six in the morning. Sun, dust and finally rain!We are exhausted. At 7:00 PM, we get to Mai Aini: it is still raining and so impossible to put up the tents. We put hoods over our heads and sleep like that. We wake in the morning still wet and start marching again. Mai Aini. Gauia. We arrive in the night and are accompanied at first by a forest!8-10. At exactly midnight, war is declared. The movement of the troops begins and we are receive the order to cross the border! Marching again and this time in full war trim! We cross the Belesa and we enter into enemy territory!5th. Advance! That's the order! Advance with a forced march to secure essential positions! And we march! We advance in scattered order for hours and hours under the scorching sun, covered in burning dust on mountains that are higher and higher and follow one another without break. The people of the native villages that we find on our way surrender! We stop in Amba Trebeleri! As soon as we have arrived I go on reconnaissance with 15 men. Ildeagieac Ambalasci comes to surrender with 5 men!Dry region, oppressive heat, insatiable thirst; the water we have in our canteens has to last for 3 days! We haven't eaten since yesterday morning!6th. We start advancing again. The same ever higher mountains, the same endless terraces; we climb up and up!Adi Gomboro! We are on the highland of Digrino. We occupy Inticcio! For now, the enemy flees and does not show itself! We are still without food or drink!7th. The division stops to pacify the area. My Battalion has to continue. We stop at Egago on the Nile. Hunger, thirst, the same as yesterday!8. We have to go to the aid of the 6th Group __ Diamanti that are without machine guns and in an extremely dangerous position! 50 km – 18 hours of marching. At 11:00 PM, we arrive at the group. They were waiting for us anxiously. The enemy is maybe 3 km from the Line. We stop. Finally something to eat! Half a biscuit; half cup of milk. It's been six days since we've seen a cigarette!10th. In the enemy positions we notice an unusual movement! They do not however decide to attack and they retreat! There is no chance of eating! As soon as the enemy positions are cleared, a move ahead! 20 km. towards Adua with weapons and bags on our backs for about 30 kg. We pass Abba Karima and then we settle on a mountain!12. We leave again. Gheridelta: Charon Masi! Mt. Boio. Lemarata! From up here we overlook the valley where the De Cristofori column was massacred back in 96. Alone with my platoon, I have to go on! We continue for another 4 km we take a position and we stop! No sleep tonight! A piece of bread and a teaspoon of marmalade. It’s night and the shout of __ and the __ is deafening! We lie down among the rocks, crawling with reptiles and chameleons!
14.15.16.17. M. Ilisa! Only Legions of the 23rd M__ advance __ to Inticcio! The 202nd Legion relieves the Group __: And we stay with them!We have a party! Something to eat, a few cigarettes!24. Onwards and now the enemy keeps on fleeing. Field of peas…..! 24. M. Asai! A few days of rest! Food finally arrives every day!2__.11. Battle with Bas Lewim! 300 dead. 3, 000 prisoners! This enemy is daring. They attack with scimitars unsheathed right at the sound of a horn and they do not tremble! No!We begin the advance on Trembeles. Asai. Gheveli Kalo. Marches start again and the impossible exertions start again! 23. Gheveli Kalo. Mai Mascelliquit. We get there after marching for 12 hours in an amphitheater __ that __ fantastic!27. Mai Mascelliquit. Mai River. We leave at seven in the morning. My company is rearguard to the mule train of the legions! A march? No! A torture! 50 meters then stop, and so on for the entire way! We have to collect everything; exhausted men; fallen __; abandoned loads!Every little while, stops; always with the weight on our backs under a sun that bakes our brains under the helmet! Without touching water, the food arrived at night at 1; at 4 AM, after only 3 hours, we left for Hauzien where we will stop for a while! How many km have we covered? We don’t know, nor maybe those before us, but it’s a lot; we know from our shoes and our bloody feet!We leave on 3.12 – Debrezien – Forced marches, we have to camp at Macalle where the bands of faithful Bas Gule Lelassie have already penetrated. Gurga!5. Debrezien. Suola Cercos!7. Suola Cercos. Suola Marioni einferes!8. Adi Aha.9. Macalle! The allied armed bands are waiting for us and greet us enthusiastically! We take position on Suola Lessu near Fort Galliano. The stronghold of Amba Aradan is in front of us, a formidable bulwark where 80, 000 Abyssinians are hiding belonging to the regular army commanded by Ras Molughera, Minister of War in Ethiopia.18-1-35 The Divisions of our __arrive which stay to protect our positions. We then leave to conquer Ama Arodou!Debri! The spectacle of 12 of our comrades, decapitated and tortured has embittered our souls and made our hearts hard and mean!The blacks better watch out now! Everything in our path is being destroyed, burned. Mercilessness goes into action full force!19. Our peak squads sight strong enemy contingents on the Gabal river, a river that divides the area of Debri from the area of the Inderta!We advance slowly in staggered order to find a good position. We are across from the regular Abyssinian army. We arrive on the rocks of the Gabal, which is elevated above the valley of the River with a rise of about 60 meters! We stop and we camp and dig ourselves in! Explorers who went down into the valley in the area immediately below us haven’t come back. So the enemy is very close. In fact, about 2000 Abyssinians are beneath us well hidden and well protected! This division is part of the advance guard of the army of Amba Arandau!They would have ambushed us! Indeed, if our divisions had continued, we would have been encircled and they might have destroyed the entire Division unable to defend itself because of the constitution of the terrain! Not even a single musket shot all day! 20. Calm persists on the whole front! But the enemy has gotten reinforcements! It is that famous calm that always comes before the storm!I am with my platoon at the far left of the deployment! Under the protection of my arms and a platoon of the 2nd Company of the 188 Btg. All Piombinese!In the evening around five, a strong __ of Gallic horsemen came down from the high plain that is in front of us, moves towards us, maybe in aid of the Abyssinian divisions that are still hidden in the rocks! Our lookout signals the batteries camped with us! We let them near and then they open fire! Three or four volleys of battery in all; men and beasts fly in the air; a massacre! Nonetheless many manage to reach the rocks and hide in the little caves of the eif.Silence again until 11 PM. But we don’t sleep! We choose a new position that is safer and better hidden; we move in the dark so that they can’t see us! Indeed, they do not notice the maneuver and later they will find out!Around 11:30 at night, our lookouts glimpse many lighted points that are nearing. It is the expected maneuver, the old Abyssinia tactic, the encircling!They didn’t suspect our __, so they climbed the rocks sure to then take from the enfilade and the side our positions, which would have put us in serious difficulties! The deployment was as in the sketch below:
Divis. Lila
Calamino
Gobot Valley
Abyssinians
192 Leg.
Inda Ghena Jesus
Machine-gunner Battalion
202 Legion
135 Legion
192 Legion
But we were on the alert, ready and we let them near. Leusi to my left placed his heavy artillery as a barrier defense, the platoon of my countrymen below me are at the ready! The honor of fire goes exclusively to the Piombinesi, two platoons, side by side and tight knit! They are now below and Davis gives the signal. A musket shot that shakes the dark night and an infernal din of machine guns follows! The battle is __! The enemy is disoriented by the surprise __ shots and reorganizes itself and very decisively!
The sound of a horn guides them and helps them!They climb; and in the night we glimpse the white __ and the flares of fire from their muskets! But our fire dominates them, stuns them! It is a rain of iron and of fire that falls on them ceaselessly, mercilessly spreading death.The cry of the hit that fall in the crevices and in the __ sometimes rise above the din of the battles. Yet they tenaciously persist! The bullets whistle horribly around us; some fall, but we are well protected by the reduits and we do not __. The __ action extends to the entire front. The Abyssinians now try a desperate strike, they gather and they reorganize and then they fling themselves furiously at our positions; but we are able take them. The barrels of the machine guns have turned red but we speed up the firing anyhow. There is a torrent of lead that we pour on them and they finally turn and flee, still followed by our fire!It is calm for the whole rest of the night!21. In the day we sight Abyssinians who are not dead very close to our lines! Some five or six meters away! A shield squad brings them together and then a little gas and a match, a big bonfire and everything is gone! The bulk of the enemy is still safe in the rocks however and we need to bring them out of hiding to be able to continue the advance on Amba Arodou! Artillery can’t do anything against them and neither can aviation! In the first hours of the morning, an Abyssinian light gunner lets its voice be heard and targets the positions where we are! He is soon silenced though. A volley from battery 192 and the light gunner is in the air!At about 8:30 AM the 192nd Legion F. Ferrucci from Florence that was in reserve goes down into the valley to attack the enemy positions from the side and the rear. The complete machine-gunner __ will protect it. The Legion descends uncovered and __ decisively on the indigenous village of Inde Ghana Jesus. Absolute silence while the legions near the village then all of the sudden a volley of firing hits our men full on and they have to retreat. The artillery then goes into action and concentrates the fire on the village until it is leveled! The Legion then returns to attack! __ these fine boys, proud, brave as old warriors advance divided in a scattered order uncovered!But in the village there is still a lot of resistance; the blacks are well covered and hard to hit! We move with the __ and rush to help, while the legion keeps on advancing! The first men fall. The Abyssinians understand that our fire is their greatest danger and concentrate their fire on us! The dum dums whistle madly around us! Among the first to fall is Gen. Criofo, C. Lg. Massi falls; many blacks fall! On the ground, very slowly, the armies move ahead; after a little bit some 84 __ begin the inferior __ in the center of the enemy resistance. The riflemen back up our fire! Many of them fall, very many in fact; but they too shoot and kill well and where they strike death follows; the dum dum do not miss. The 192nd Legion __ the attack. Our men fall and every fall it is a blow to the heart! We have temporarily suspended fire to not hit our men who are in contact with the enemy, however we are ready to intervene to aid them. The first wounded and the first dead are brought on stretchers behind our lines! In this moment of rest, a deep silence welcomes them, and they pass among us with lifeless eyes!Those torn limbs, that flesh tormented by the inhuman dum dum, those dear faces that will see no more make our hearts cry out! In the eyes of each of us, a tear is shining that hardens in the heart of each of us and a promise for vengeance! We will be ruthless with the barbarians, merciless like our death is merciless in the full sense of the word. The honor of the armies, an affecting __ , and we will soon avenge them!It is four in the afternoon! At any cost, during the night those positions have to be ours!The 192nd retreats to reorganize! A captain of artillery __ a single piece, running a risk, goes down into the valley and manages to place the piece, uncovered, in front of their positions. The entire front is still now. All eyes are fixed on that brave man!He points the cannon like a musket and begins a continuous incessant fire that hammers and takes apart the enemy lines. Good job! The dance starts up again! Now it is time to finish it.The 192nd returns to the attack , two companies of the 188th Btg. prepare to go down too in order to take them from the side!We open fire with the heavy artillery, continuous, ceaseless!The enemy intent on shielding themselves from our __ does not notice the maneuver!Our men move to attack and in a minute they are on them. A __; we stop firing! One to __ powerful, and a stream of cc.nn. bayonets engaged, __ between the teeth, floods among the unconquerable lines __ __ emptying __, while we take them from the back with our fire so that none of them can escape! It is the __ of the __!The enemy can no longer organize themselves and at every attempt we strike them with angry __ and strident. __ this of indescribable tensions. With hard clear eyes and cold blood, we follow the movements of our men to bring down any enemy attempt, ready to protect our men from any traps!At the sound of a horn, the enemy tries to organize itself; but our strikes come down on them inexorably making __empty spaces in their lines!Many of our men fall, but it is soon over! Our men come back after having cleared the land! Not one injured among them, not one prisoner, all dead! They don’t take prisoners and neither do we anymore. Our dead are avenged! Night falls! With the light of victory in our eyes, each of us thinks of something very dear and our eyes shine!
Then once it is quiet, we get up and we climb and climb nostalgically, stirred in the semi-darkness that envelops up. 22. Many are missing at the call this morning; the first victory cost us a lot of blood. A company comes down for the round up! There are hundreds of dead Abyssinians. A platoon launches flames to destroy them! Then the Divis. Assietta comes to relieve us and we go to rest a little under the Indoti tree!10.2. We continue the advance! Destination: Amba Ardau. Debri: Gabat Valley. Amba Aradou is the key to all of the victories! The most formidable stronghold__ the fiercest and most skilled Ras in the Empire. Ras Molugheta; Minister of War! This closes the road to Amba Alagi and brings supplies to the to the armies of Ras Corfo and Leuim in the Tembien that are still inaccessible.From 10 to 14 there is a continuous hammering on Amba! Some 48 Batteries of every caliber are concentrated there, armed by the many squadrons of aircraft that take off from the Macalle field. They also have artillery but many modern machine guns were in a dominant position with defense materials!14. The action begins at the base the 1st Army Corp on the left, from behind. The Lila in front. The 23 Manis in reserve! The evening, Celi is secured! Celi is a small Amba as thin as a knife’s blade that faces the Aradou! The night is a continuous duel of the artilleries on both sides! They do not kill well and their aim falls short!15. The Lila Divis. After 95 deaths in the __ of the bomb, is moved to the right for protection. So onwards on March 23!Hellfire until dawn; all of the batteries are in action, numerous bomb squads fly over the Amba, but there is little they can do!In the morning the 135th Legion sends a Battalion to try to take the Amba by surprise. No use, they are too well dug in! But in the evening, the need to occupy the Amba becomes imperative, we can no longer resist below! So onwards! While the artillery accelerate the fire, we advance, the 192nd Leg. On the left the 135th in the center, the 202nd on the right! My company is supporting the 135th in the center. Asblasi; sheltered behind rocks; taking advantage of all of the land’s twists and turns they keep on advancing!
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It is raining and we are soaked and sweaty; but our enthusiasm for battle is not dampened! We advance with effort under their fire and without being able to respond. With fits and starts, we keep on furiously advancing and we manage to get to under the Amba! Now the most difficult part is here! A part up high, a rock that rises about 400 meters above us! The enemy is on the peak! What should we do! We will do the __. We throw away everything, __ covers, __, we only keep the arms and we start the climb. The enemy cannot strike any more because it can no longer disperse; our artilleries prevent them. They also don’t even consider the possibility of such a daring attack as ours! But at five thirty the first squads arrive on the far right of the Amba and attack the surprised enemy with bayonets! The first step has been taken! We dig in and wait in defense for the whole legion to climb up! We have been signaled however and we take aim! Everyone climbs up; all of the heavy arms are placed and they open a hellish fire on the enemy positions spread over the Amba! Those in the caves do not even suspect our presence! Then we launch an attack with __arms! The crash is terrible and the enemy is shocked, disoriented and surprised and breaks up and cedes ground! A reserve division flings itself into the mix! It is a coup de grace! The Abyssinians; 10 times greater in number turn their back and flee from the CC.NN. of Mussolini. Black devils like these __ us!Aviation then comes into action for the follow-up and the 1st Army Corp! Very many are still hidden in the caves! Many try to resist and fall, many would like to surrender but they are stabbed anyhow! We never take prisoners! Soon all of the Amba will be occupied and cleared of Abyssinians! Here our tri-color flag flies on the highest point. It is evening! The battalions gather around the flag for the sacred ritual of the dead! Torn, dirty and sweaty, degraded by the __ and exhausted by the battle, there is still the spirit that reigns and the sacred __ of the revolution stunned that __ men rise powerfully in the light of the new victory! The thick fog quickly wraps around the Amba. Sleep? On the ground on the rocks close together, the __ frozen by the cold. We are as a tough as nails now!16. The Alfini come to relieve us; others of us have classified tasks; other tasks more difficult and even more __ !They can’t penetrate the Tembien! Ras Corfo and Leuim are still running around as owners. The 28th and the Diamanti Group have already sacrificed many men without succeeding! What should be done?The order is onwards on March 23! Onwards with a forced march, take the armed enemies from the sides, at whatever it costs the Tembien must be freed!“I ask the strong 3rd Army Corp (these are the words of Bodoglio), I ask of the fine and strong Divis, March 23, this last effort. I know I ask a lot, maybe too much, but I must! Your brothers in arms are in danger, your so recent glorious victory is compromised. Go ahead! I do not doubt you and I know that you will give what I ask!And tired, hungry, ragged, __ in a forced march we arrive on the dark Tembien.Adi Cudele, Suola Tecla, Mai Gargara, Mai Atti; Passo Masia; Red Gaela, Red Farita! __ day in the Tembien!Any notion of time disappears, any other thought, any other perception disappears in the fogginess of our brains! Morale is high though and morale is the metal of the soldier! We pass carefully, watching, ready from one moment the next encounter the enemy that we must avoid because they don’t know! And we arrive, Amba Taelleri! We make our formation, then we pass into that frightful and treacherous vast maze that forms the area of the Tembien, while strong divisions stay to guard the moves, to prevent the escape of any enemies. Inda Imonul. Field of __ Abbi Addi; continuous ceaseless battles on the __ stabbed, endless pursuits, frightful ambushes, in one of which for little __ crushed by dominant enemy forces, without the intervention of a hunting apparatus that goes down to the ground level to machine gun the Abyssinians divisions! And thirst, thirst, hunger! We are ragged, __ with bloody feet wrapped in strips of cloths our mouths parched, the tongue swollen from thirst, we continue in a __ battle; fierce, __ decisive, to squash any enemy __, to conquer the deserted Tembien, the frightful maze ruled up to now __ by the Ras Corfo and Leuim, running around with their 80, 000 men for the __ the infidels __, the frightful __ that __ the area of the Tembien.
[Map]
Gabat Valley
__
Field of __ ?
Abbi AddiTerracesIzellini
Heaps of dead that soon give off fetid odors, major losses among our lines, frightful empty spaces! This battle, how much zeal in the feverish eyes, these efforts for the exhausted enemies. The enemy armies were destroyed though and the Tembien was freed! Ras Corfo and Leuim manage to escape, but the men remove them, nailed to the ground by our lead and __ of our knives! Before returning the commander spoke! CC.NN., he said, I salute you in the victory of the Tembien, the victory of our will! 10.3. We return! More ragged and even more tired, fueled with a few pieces of bloody donkey meat. Bet Mariam! And it’s still not over! A famous last effort is asked of us! Locota, we have to succeed at all costs to secure the right of the motor columns in march to Desfie! Gula Gul, a land with no name, Lare, Fenaroa! How many roads! A __ battalion for Lacota’; we stay and we will return to Saure! A little bit of rest finally! In a few days Lacota’ is occupied.8.5.36 Ras Leuim, for several days encircled by our divisions, comes to surrender to our Army Corp! Meanwhile the occupation of the Abyssinian territory continues without obstacles; now the army is destroyed only a few bands now and then try to interrupt the advance and are quickly destroyed!5-5 Addis Alehma is occupied, the period of war here is over, and work takes it place. Roads! How much have we covered in the territories of the Empire, how much we have worked!On June 28, we leave the area of Lamza, after finishing the roads to go back to our country! We arrive at Suola Jesus but then after 180 km of march, there’s a counter order! There is more work to do! And we go; Amba Alagi. Asciaughi Lake. Quotana Moldia! Roads! We leave the __ and take the small ones! Every so often however we have to take back up our muskets because some band of __ Abyssinians __ comes near!We work a lot and finally the time to go back to our country arrives! On November 10, the movements back begin. On 23 we get on the ship Liguria. On 2.12 we are finally in our country, exhausted, tried, sick, yet proud to have done our duty!
Political division of Ethiopia before the Italian occupation.
Kingdom of Western Tigrai
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Diary
23/4/35 Voluntary conscript in the 1st Division cc.nn. 23 March Btg. Machine-gunner Per
