Tito Minniti [SEP] place of death
Tito Minniti
Tito Minniti (1909 – 26 December 1935) was an Italian pilot who was killed after he was captured by Ethiopians during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935 near Degehabur. His death and alleged torture became an atrocity story justifying the use of mustard gas against the Ethiopians. Minniti was posthumously decorated with the Italian Gold Medal of Valor.
Life.
Tito Minniti was born near Reggio Calabria, Italy in 1909. He became a military pilot of the Regia Aeronautica in 1933. He had attained the
place and fully operational near Dolo.
On December 26, 1935, Italian pilot Tito Minniti was brought down near Dolo while flying a mission, whereupon he was captured, castrated, and beheaded, the execution committed either by Ethiopian troops (according to the Italians) or by local civilians (according to the Ethiopians).
Bombing.
On December 30, 1935, four days following the death of Minniti, the Italian Air Force dropped approximately 100 bombs on the Swedish hospital at Dolo, destroying all medical equipment,