"In the midst of this turmoil I was retiring... surrounded by a few groups of brave men who were still kept in hand by their officers... I noticed a walled-in enclosure, perhaps the ancient cemetery of a ruined church. I endeavoured to renew some kind of resistance in order to protect the retreat – and I collected Alpini, Bersaglieri and other white soldiers with officers among them...'Viva l'Italia,' I called out, grasping my revolver; and this shout was repeated by perhaps a hundred mouths, parched by thirst and bloodstained!...An instant later the Amhara gained a position overlooking the spur; and every moment the confusion kept increasing owing to the waves of men swept by the hail of bullets, the sight of the dead and dying – while my heart was being torn in two, as I despaired of ever being able to give an order or of getting it out."
General Oresti Baratieri in his Mémoires d'Afrique, 1899.