Amedeo: The True Story of an Italian’s War in Abyssinia. Sebastian O’Kelly

      

      AMEDEO

       The True Story ofan Italian’s Warin Abyssinia

      SEBASTIAN O’KELLY

       GVILLET

      To Emily and Anna

      ‘Le due figliole’

      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

Gvillet

       Dedication

Epigraph

List of Illustrations

Introduction

1 The Prisoner

2 The Black Sword

3 The Spahys di Libya

4 Riding through Clouds

5 The Conquest of Abyssinia

6 The Sword of Islam

       7 Black Flames ZARAGOZA, SPAIN, MARCH 1938

       8 The Viceroy

       9 City of Facilidas

       10 Northern Chessboard

       11 Lightning War

       12 The Man on the White Horse

       13 Keren

       14 Private War

       15 Major Max

       16 A Horse Called Sandro

       17 Captain Reich

       18 Le Maschere

       19 The Well

       20 The Smugglers’ Ship

       21 Sayed Ibrahim

       22 Captain White

       23 Arabia Felix

       24 Giulio Cesare

       25 Sua Maestà

       26 Liberation

       27 A Bracelet

       Epilogue

       The Honours Conferred Upon Amedeo Guillet

       Index

       Acknowledgements

       About the Author

       Praise

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

       EPIGRAPH

      ‘On 19 January the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions crossed the frontier north of the Blue Nile … they met little resistance, though at one point a force of local horsemen, the Amharic Cavalry Band led by an Italian officer on a white horse, attempted a death-or-glory charge against their machine-guns.’

      John Keegan, The Second World War

       LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

      Beatrice Gandolfo

      Khadija, photographed by Amedeo before the Second world War

      The invasion of Ethiopia, October 1935: Amedeo on Sandor with the Spahys di Libya

      Uncle Amedeo

      Sotto-Tenente Amedeo Guillet, newly commissioned at the Cavalleggeri di Monferrato, 1931

      Amedeo, in full dress uniform, 1935

      Amedeo jokingly reviews some splendidly attired fellow officers

      Amedeo at the Military Academy at Modena, 1928

      Amedeo rides down a steep hillside during a cavalry exercise at Pinerolo

      Two views of Amedeo as a competitive rider, Genoa 1934

      A horseman from the Spahys di Libya

      Ethiopian irregulars confront their better-armed adversaries

      Realising their position is hopeless, some Ethiopian warriors take flight

      The Spahys di Libya completely surround the remaining