ifommunicated to the Council .a n d the Members of the League.] Official N o .: C. 123. M. 62. 1936.VII.

Geneva, March 19th, 1936.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

COMMUNICATION FROM THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT

[■Translation from the Italian.] Note by the Italian Government. — The Italian Government very much regret th a t they should be obliged to make public such revolting documents.

These documents, however, give the measure of Abyssinian barbarity.

ABYSSINIAN ATROCITIES COMMITTED AGAINST ITALIAN WORKMEN

PROTEST BY T H E ITALIAN GOVERNMENT

TO T H E LEAG UE OF NATIONS

No. 208481/9.

Rome, March 9th, 1936 — Year XIV.

Sir,

In the early hours of February 13th last, in the zone between the Marib and the village of Darô Taclé, an Abyssinian band consisting of about 600 men was detached from a group of about 2,000 men coming from the Arbaté zone and made a surprise a ttack on No. 1 Road- builders’ Labour Camp of Gondrand and Co., situated a t Utok Emni in the neighbourhood of Mai Lalhala.

The labour camp, which was under the direction of Engineers Cesare Rocca and Roberto Di Colloredo Mels, was overwhelmed, pillaged and destroyed; sixty-eight persons (including one woman, the wife of Engineer Rocca) were killed and some of them horribly mutilated. I transmit a list of the names of the killed and twenty-seven photographs illustrating the worst brutalities perpetra ted by the Abyssinians.

The Italian Government is quite aware th a t m ilitary operations have necessarily a character of their own, and it certainly does not desire to constitute a museum of horrors by selecting certain isolated episodes.

The present instance, however, is not one of military operations ; i t is a case :

(1) Of savage and bloodthirsty aggression against non-combatant workmen ;(2) Of bestial a ttacks on wounded men and corpses, some of whom were totally or

partially castrated (by cutting or pulling off the genital organs) or subjected to other horrible mutilations such as evisceration, the cutting-off of hands or the gouging-out of eyes ;

(3) Of the employment, as reported on many previous occasions, of dum-dum bullets with the shocking effects of bursting and gashing shown in the attached photo­graphs.

This a ttack reproduces all the typical characteristics of the various ferocious onslaughts by Abyssinians in the last forty years against all the colonies bordering on Ethiopia.

it also shows the dangers and treatm ent to which even workmen engaged on work of benefit to the comm unity are exposed at the hands of the Abyssinians.

We have here, in fact, a series of systematic and barbarous crimes which not only arouse irrepressible horror, but bear witness to the uncivilised condition of Ethiopia.

1 would request you to be good enough to bring this note, and the documents accom­panying it, to the notice of all States Members of the League of Nations.

( Signed) S u v i c h .

S- d- N. 88D. (F .) 655 (A .) 3 36. Imp. Atar.

S e r i e s of L ea g u e of N at ion s P u b l ica t ions

VII. POLITICAL

1936. VII. 3.

LIST OF MANAGERS AND W ORKM EN OF T H E “ SOCIETÀ ANON IMA NAZIONALE

GONDRAND ” K IL L E D ON T H E M ORNING OF FEB R U A R Y 13t h , 1936, D I KING

T H E SU R PR ISE ATTACK ON T H E MAI LALHALA W ORKSHOP.

1. Engineer Cesare Rocca, son of the late Mosè, born at Milan and residing at Fornazza (Novara).

2. Lidia Rocca-Maflloli (wife of Engineer Cesare Rocca).

3. Engineer Roberto Di Colloredo Mels, son of Cesare, of Udine (in charge of the workshop).4. Rag. Saverio Blanca, son of the late Pasquale (accountant), born a t Palermo, residing

at Turin.

5. Geo in. Francesco Salvini, son of Achille, born at Catania and residing at Messina (sur­veyor of works).

G. Alcide Albieri Vallidoro, son of Luigi, of Copparo (Ferrara).

7. Enea Armigeri, of Loiano (Bologna).8 . Luigi Barbierato, son of Giuseppe Luigi, of S. Martino di Venezze (Rovigo).9. Giovanni Bello, son of the late Giulio, of Pergine (Trento).

10. Luigi Bendotti, son of Evaristo, of Pieve Vergonto (Novara).11. Angelo Bertani, of Montecchio (Reggio Emilia).12. Giovanni Bisquolo, son of Angelo, of Brignano di Bovigo.13. Ferrino Boccaletti, son of Alfredo, of Novellara (Reggio Emilia).14. Sante Bombonato, son of the late Artebano, of Bovigo.

15. Giuseppe Dazzo, son of Francesco, of Malo (Vicenza).16. Giuseppe Borzoni, son of Giovanni, of Gravellona Toce (Novara).17. Cirillo Alessandro Bozzo, son of the late Giuseppe, of Rovigo.18. Severino Brigo, son of Luigi, of Ornavasso (Novara).19. Alfonso Buonanno, son of Salvatore, of Albanova (Naples).

20. Francesco Calzolari, son of Luigi, of Loiano (Bologna).21. Donato Teod. Campanaro, son of Michele, of Castelluccio Valmaggiore (Foggia).22. Mario Carinti, of Tossignano (Bologna).23. Antonio Caruso, son of the late Pasquale, of Sannicandro Verg. (Foggia).24. Giordano Cecchini, son of Celso, of Castiglione Cervia (Ravenna).25. Augusto Chiesi, son of Pietro, of Castelnuovo di Sotto (Reggio Emilia).26. Luigi Caini, son of the late Giuseppe, of Russi (Ravenna).27. Giuseppe Cornacchia, son of Anselmo, of Riolo Bagni (Ravenna).28. Ennio Corradini, son of the late Giuseppe, of Novellara (Reggio Emilia).29. Antonio di Salvo, son of Acquilino, of Marzano Appio (Naples).30. Bernardo di Salvo, son of Raffaele, of Conca di Campania (Naples).31. Fausto Falciola, son of Pasquale, of Bave no (Novara).32. Miore Gombia, son of the late Biccardo, of Montecchio (Reggio Emilia).

33. Angelo Ferrari, son of Lino, of Novellara (Reggio Emilia).34. Aurelio Galli, son of Francesco, of Rovereto (Trento).

35. Alfredo Gandolfi, son of the late Primo, of Castello di Serravalle (Bologna).36. Giovanni Gelosini, son of the late Formenzio, of Novellara (Reggio Emilia).37. Pietro Gentilini, son of Pasquale, of Tossignano (Bologna).38. Corrado Cerra, of Riolo Bagni (Ravenna).39. Antonio Giannone, son of Vito, of Calimera (Lecce).

40. Pasquale Lepore, son of the late Vincenzo, of Conca di Campania (Naples).41. Primo Losi, son of Antonio, of Novellara (Reggio Emilia).

42. Arrigo Lucchini, son of the late Giovanni, of Mezzocorona (Trento).43. Servilio Mantovani, son of the late Natale, of Copparo-Gradizza (Ferrara).44. Bruno Manzini, son of Ettore, of Castello di Serravalle (Bologna).45. Antonio Morgillo, son of the late Nicola, of Ariezzo di S. Felice Cammello (Naples).46. Antonio Niguirito, son of the late Domenico, of Rovereto (Trento).47. Antonio Pagliaro, son of Emanuele, of Formicola (Naples).

— 3 —

48. Antonio Piccoli, son of Vittorio, of Novellara (Reggio Emilia).4 9 . Giuseppe Pizzo, son of the late Francesco, of Trento.50. Enrico Giacomo Radaelli, son of Luigi, of Ornavasso (Novara).51. Nestore Righi, son of the late Achille, of Castelnuovo di Sotto (Reggio Emilia).52. Pietro Ruggero, son of Francesco, of Brindisi.53. Alessandro Scaglia, son of Pietro, of Fornazza (Novara).

5 4 . Primo Scandellari, son of Antonio, of Camugnano (Bologna).55. Domenico Schiripa, son of Giuseppe, of Bovalino (Reggio Calabria).

56. Biagio Spagnolo, son of the late Antonio, of Francolise (Naples).57. Salvatore Sperti, son of Michele, of Brindisi.58. Vincenzo Tartaglia, son of the late Angelo, of Trento.59. Attilio Tori, son of Giuseppe, of Domodossola (Novara).

60. Almerindo Turzo, son of the late Alfonso, of Castellucchio Valmaggiore (Foggia).61. Augusto Vanelli, son of Flaminio, of Castello Serravalle (Bologna).62. Giovanni Vecchi, of Montecchio (Reggio Emilia).63. Salvatore Venticinque, son of Giovanni, of Francolise (Naples).

OFFICIALS P R E S E N T FO R VARIOUS REASONS W HO W E R E ALSO K ILLE D .

64. Sergeant Riccardo Vaccari.65. Sub-Officer Cadet Carabineer Nicola Litto.

6 6 . Michele Porcelli, driver of the mail van.67. Giovanni Desta, chauffeur in the medical service.6 8 . Giovanni Viscenda, son of Angelo.

— 4 —

P A R T I A L C A S T R A T I O N A N D W O U N D S M A D E W I T H A C U T T I N G I N S T R U M E N T .

*> 0 , WmM i f ' ,

Figure 2. — t o t a l c a s t r a t i o n .

— 6 —

L

l v c e

Figure 3.

— 7 -

Figure 4. — c a s t r a t i o n b y p u l l i n g o f t h e g e n i t a l p a r t s

A N D D U M - D U M B U L L E T W O U N D

Figure 5. — t o t a l c a s t r a t i o n a n d c r a n i u m b u r s t b y d u m - d u m b u l l e t s .

— 8

Figure 6. — t o t a l c a s t r a t i o n .

(Closer view of Figure 5.)

Figure 7. — c r a n i u m b u r s t b y d u m - d u m b u l l e t .

(Closer view of Figure 5.)

L

— 9 —

Figure 8. — t o t a l c a s t r a t i o n a n d e v i s c e r a t i o n

Figure 9. — t o t a l c a s t r a t i o n .

— 10 —

Figure 10. — e x a m p l e s o f c a s t r a t i o n .

(In the case of the corpse on the left, the testicles have remained in place, but have been extroverted.)

Figure 11. — p a r t i a l c a s t r a t i o n .

(The extroverted testicles remain in place ; the penis, with the skin of the scrotum, was found on the ground near the corpse.)

— 11 —

Figure 13

Figure 12. — p a r t i a l c a s t r a t i o n .

(The penis and the skin of the scrotum have been taken away.)

. — p a r t i a l c a s t r a t i o n , a n d w o u n d i n t h e r e g i o n o f t h e l e f t a r m p i t

P R O D U C E D B Y A D U M - D U M B U L L E T .

— 12 —

Figure 14. — p a r t i a l c a s t r a t i o n a n d m u t i l a t i o n s .

(The penis is missing; the omentum is protruding from a wound in the epigastrium; huge wound in the supra-thyroid region caused by a cutting instrument probably after death.)

Figure 15. — p a r t i a l c a s t r a t i o n .

(The testicles have been taken away. The skin of the penis has been torn in the process and can be seen hanging around the extremity.)

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Figure 16. — l e f t h a n d c u t o f f a f t e r d e a t h .

(The hand is placed beside the head.)

— 14 —

Figure 17. — m u t i l a t i o n o f t h e l e f t h a n d .

W O R K M A N W H O S E E Y E S H A V E B E E N G O U G E D O U T

— 15 —

Figure 19. — w o u n d m a d e b y c u t t i n g

I N S T R U M E N T I N T H E L E F T T E M P O R A L R E G I O N

A N D B R U I S E D W O U N D S O N T H E S C A L P

P R O D U C E D b y b e a t i n g .

Figure 20. — h e a d c h o p p e d t o b i t s .

— 16 —

Figure 21. — - b u r s t i n g c a u s e d b y d u m - d u m b u l l e t .

Figure 22. — b u r s t i n g c a u s e d b y d u m - d u m b u l l e t .

(Small entry wound in the left mesogastric region ; the region of exit shows tha t the whole lumbar region has been blown to pieces and the viscera forced out.)

— 17 —

Figure 23. — w o u n d c a u s e d b y d u m - d u m b u l l e t .

(with complicated fracture of the left trochanteric region in the lower third of the left thigh)

AND A G A P I N G W O U N D C A L IS E D B Y A C U T T I N G I N S T R U M E N T I N T H E L E F T B U T T O C K .

Figure 24. — w o u n d c a u s e d b y d u m - d u m b u l l e t s .

(Both in the right arm and in the right half of the thorax and the region of the lungs.)

— 18 —

Figure 25. — w o u n d s c a u s e d

B Y D U M - D U M B U L L E T S .

Figure 26. — w o u n d s c a u s e d b y d u m - d u m

B U L L E T S .

(Huge hole in the right side of the thorax and in the right arm, with complicated fracture of the humerus

and two ribs.)

Figure 27. — w o u n d s c a u s e d b y d u m - d u m

B U L L E T S .

(Gash in face with compound fracture of the cheek­bone, the soft parts of the nose having been blown

away.)