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EAST AFRICA In
the mid 1930s, Italy’s fascist leader, Mussolini wanted to increase his power base in Africa so he set up new colonies.
Italy still possessed Italian Somaliland and Eritrea and Mussolini resumed Italy’s claim on Abyssinia by sending in
the military in October 1935.
Abyssinian
leader, Emperor Haile Selassie commanded his troops to fight against the attack and declared war on Italy. His army contained
a massive 500,000 men but they were either new recruits or soldiers who were only experienced in fighting with bows and spears.
The few rifles they had were old and unlikely to beat the Italians’ modern weapons.
Despite this, the Abyssinians did the best they could and turned
out to be fierce fighters, so the Italians fought back with poisonous gas. Mustard gas was dropped from Italian planes into
towns and villages with deadly accuracy. Many Abyssinian soldiers and civilians were killed. Emperor Selassie was removed
from power and forced into exile. He fled to England. The Italians annexed Abyssinia on 9 May 1936.
The new
Africa Orientale
Italiana or ‘Italian
East Africa’ consisted of Abyssinia, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea. On 10 June 1940, when Italy declared war
on the Allies, Great Britain immediately began to shore up its defences in East Africa. It had the support of troops from
British Somaliland, British East Africa, India, South Africa, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and British West Africa.
There was even a small commando unit from British Palestine as well as several thousand Abyssinian askaris who had deserted Italian units. On the Axis side were the Italians, Eritreans,
Abyssinians and Somali Dubats as well as a small contingent of Germans. About 70% of the Italian troops consisted of local East African askaris.
Great Britain feared an attack on its supply routes along the Red Sea and through
the Suez Canal as well as on its colonies in Egypt
and British Somaliland.
After Italy’s
declaration of war, Commander-in-Chief of the British Middle East Command, Field Marshal Wavell needed more troops to assist
as he was unsure where Italy would strike first and his troops were spread out across North and East Africa. He called
on Emperor Selassie for his support to rally local Abyssinian askaris who were still loyal, along with the British government who promised
to help Selassie reclaim his throne from the Italians.
Under the alias ‘Mr Strong,’ Emperor Selassie was flown from England to the Sudan in early July 1940
where he met Allied commander, General Platt, to discuss plans to free his country from Italian rule. Another conference
was held in October 1940 which was attended by Emperor Selassie, Field Marshal Jan Smuts, British Middle East military commanders
and the British Foreign SecretaryAnthony Eden. A general plan of attack was agreed which included using Abyssinian askaris who were still loyal to Selassie and FREEDOM FIGHTERS called ‘Shiftas’
who developed a resistance network against the Italians.
A month later, the British cracked the secret codes of the Italian Royal
Army and Royal Air Force. From this point on, the Allied commanders knew about Italian plans as soon as they were issued.
This was a major success for the Allies. Another significant event was the formation of a special elite fighting unit
called the Gideon Force, organised by Major General Orde Wingate DSO, who was later to create the Chindits in the Burma campaign.
With the secret codes gathered from the code-breakers and highly skilled forces, the Allies were able to defeat the Italians.
Emperor Selassie was returned to Abyssinia in January 1941 and he continued his reign until 1974. Other battles across the
region raged on until the final surrender of the Italians in November 1941.
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