CAPTURED BY REBELS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 127, Issue 127, 9 July 1941, Page 2

CAPTURED BY REBELS

STRANGE STORY OF TWO ITALIANS ' Striking evidence of the weakness of the Italian bold on Abyssinia and the superficial character of the conquest is provided by the strange story of two Italian officer prisoners. The. two, Captain Vicenzo Bertojo and Second Lieutenant Eugenio Panascii, were captured by Abyssinian rebels; under Dcgach Mangasha on December 7, 1937, sole survivors of a battalion that was surrounded and annihilated at Mlt. Tsora south of Lake Tana. After refusing Mangasha's offer 1 that they serve under him and marry his sisteir and aunt respectively, they remained for 3% years: as his personal prisoners. Mangasha used to employ them as his personal tutors, taking copious notes while the;/ told him about European life and things isi general. During all this time they were completely cut off from the outer world. Both had wives and families in Italy. They were kept ignorant regarding the present war until last September when they chanced to see a copy of an Amharic newspaper published at A'ddisi Ababa. One. month ago they were handed over to British officers, the first white men they had seen since their capture, and now at last they have written to their families through the International Red Cross. If it had not been for the present war and intervention their captivity might have lasted indefinitely, though Italy might still claim Abyssinia was completely pacified.