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When the Italians entered the Second World War the British position in Africa was potentially placed in serious danger. The Italian forces in Libya posed a real threat to the British garrison of Egypt, and if Egypt had been lost then the Italians would have been able to join up their Libyan and East African colonies into a single block from where they could have been a threat to the British in the Indian Ocean. An early sign of Italian ambition was the conquest of the isolated British colony of British Somaliland in August 1940, but after that the initiative passed to the British. The most famous aspect of this was Operation Compass, which saw the British crush the Italians in eastern Libya. However this was just the start of several years of campaigns in the western desert. In contrast the campaign in East Africa led to a clear-cut British victory, permanently eliminating Italian East Africa.
After a brief introduction we move onto the commanders. On the British side the senior commanders – Sir William Platt, Sir Alfred Reade Godwin-Austen etc – aren’t well known, but most of them were highly regarded and performed well in East Africa, before going on to play a mixed role in the rest of the war. The most famous of the British officers was Orde Wingate, who raised a guerrilla force in Sudan, the Abyssinian Patriots, and campaigned alongside the Emperor Haile Selassie.
On the Italian side the overall commander, the Duke of Aosta, is perhaps a more familiar name (although partly because his brother, who inherited the title in 1942, took part in the Italian armistice negotiations). He comes across here as a rather less impressive commander. In a move familiar from the German army of the First World War, his chief of staff General Trezzani had much of the power.
The opposing forces section makes it clear that the ‘British’ forces were actual a mix of British, Imperial, Commonwealth and Dominion forces, with the majority of troops coming from Africa and India. This included the King’s African Rifles, the South African army and forces from Sudan, along with the 4th and 5th Indian Infantry Divisions.
The Italian forces were also mixed, with a large number of colonial troops, but the key is that they massively outnumbered the attackers, with around 56,000 Italian and 180,000 colonial forces available. They also had ample supplies of heavy weapons, 24 medium tanks, 39 light tanks, and a significant air force. However the loyalty of the colonial forces was unsurprisingly suspect, while the entire army was badly organised and over-dispersed. The Italians were also entirely isolated, so could get no reinforcements or supplies, and were dealing with a wide-spread insurgency, so had limited freedom to act.
When we move onto the opposing plans, it is clear that Wavell, then the British commander in Egypt, saw Italian East Africa as a threat to his entire position and always wanted to carry out an offensive in the area, which would simplify his complex task.
The campaign section starts with a look at the limited Italian offensives early in the war. Their biggest success was the capture of British Somaliland, but they also carried out a number of raids into British territory. However these were all small scale campaigns, and even the capture of British Somaliland revealed the weaknesses of the Italian forces, which suffered ten times the casualties of their opponents.
The main campaign had several different aspects. We start with a look at the invasion of Eritrea, then in the north of Abyssinia. Here the Italian plan began reasonably, with the border forces retreating to Keren. This strong position took two attempts to capture, showing that the Italians could fight well when in a good position. However the attackers eventually prevailed despite being outnumbered.
Other parts of the campaign were less hard fought. Somaliland was quickly conquered, and the Duke of Aosta effectively surrendered Addis Ababa without a fight. In the west a force led by Wingate, and accompanied by Haile Sellassie pushed back the Italians, and eventually led to Haile Sellassie returning to the throne in Addis Ababa.
The campaign ended with the Italians defending their last redoubts, mainly at Amba Alagi and Gondar. This was effectively an admission of defeat, all that could be hoped for now was to delay the final British victory. Even this failed, and the main part of the campaign was over after only two months, when Aosta surrendered. The Italians did still hold on to the mountainous area around Gondar, but we see that being cleared methodically. This final battle lasted for some time – the Italians managed to concentrate surprisingly strong forces in the area – but after a pause for the rainy season the last strongholds were taken.
We finish with a good conclusion that examines why the British were able to defeat a numerically superior enemy holding easily defendable positions, and also examines the longer term impact of this campaign.
This is a good history of the first major British victory of the First World War, a campaign that eliminated a potential threat to the southern flank of the British position in Egypt and freed up troops to fight in the key campaigns in North Africa.
Chapters
Origins of the Campaign
Chronology
Opposing Commanders
Opposing Forces
Opposing Plans
The Campaign
Analysis
Author: Pier Paolo Battistelli
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 96
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2024