Between February and March 1936, during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, thousands of Ethiopian troops were killed when the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) attacked them with bombs and mustard gas as they retreated across the Tekezé.Barker, A. J., The Rape of Ethiopia 1936, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1971, pp. 84, 91. In a successful Ethiopian counter-offensive, the Italians were forced to fall back from the Tekezé to Axum after the battle at Dembeguina Pass.
