This week, seventy years ago, Italian forces, under the command of Lt. General Guglielmo Nasi, invaded British Somaliland. The invading force, numbering twenty-four thousand, was comprised of five brigades of twenty-three colonial battalions, three Camicia Nere (Black Shirt) battalions, one battalion of the Granatieri di Savoia Division and three bande of native troops. They were supported by a small number of light and medium tanks.  The Italians also enjoyed air superiority. 

British Somaliland was located in the northern part of present-day Somalia.  It was bordered by French Somaliland (presently the Republic of Djibouti) on the north and Italian Somililand on the south (presently Somalia), and Italian-controlled Ethiopia on the west. It was bordered on the east by the Gulf of Aden. Italian Somaliland had been an Italian Colony since 1925. Ethiopia was conquered by the Kingdom of Italy in 1936. Eritrea had been an Italian Colony since 1896. Together they formed the Italian East-African Empire (Africa Orientale Italiana or AOI).  

An initial glance at the map would lead one to believe that, with Italy’s entry into the war, the British position in Egypt was seriously threatened, since the Kingdom of Italy, with its Libyan colony, could mount an assault against Egypt from the West and the South. However, the reality was quite different, because now Africa Orientale Italiana was cut off from the mother country, since “Britania rules the waves.” In peace time, supplies and communication came through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. However, with the British having a stranglehold on the Suez Canal, the only other option was to run the British gauntlet in the Western Mediterranean, past the British stronghold of Gibraltar, out into the Atlantic, around the African Continent, past the British Naval Base at Cape Town, South Africa, and up the East African Coast. Clearly, that was not going to happen.

Africa Orientale Italiana was under the control of the Viceroy of Ethiopia, the Duc d’Aosta, who was a member of the Royal House of Savoy and a cousin of King Victor Emmanual, III. At the outbreak of war his forces numbered some two hundred fifty-six thousand men, of whom one hundred eighty-two thousand were native troops. The cream of the crop was the elite Granatieri di Savoia Division (the Grenadiers of Savoy.) The Camicia Nere Legions were Fascist militia and were recruited from Italian Colonists. They were expected to compensate with enthusiasm for their lack of training.

The Italians launched their invasion on August 4th in three columns. Lt. General Sisto Bertoldi commanded the northern-most column, which consisted of two Black Shirt Battalions, one Battalion of Granatieri di Savoia, six Colonial Battalions, a Somali Battalion and two irregular Navy Bande. Lt. General Carlo De Simone commanded the central column, which consisted of all Colonial Troops. The southern-most column was commanded by Brigadier General Arturo Bertello, and also consisted of exclusively Colonial Troops and two Camel Corps.  

The ultimate objective of all these troops was the capture of the capital of British Somaliland, Berbera. The centuries old city had served as the capital of Somaliland before the arrival of the British. Today, Berbera is a city of 200,000 and is the principal deep-sea port of Somalia, although this area has declared itself independent of the rest of Somalia. 

The Italians planned to converge on Berbera from the north, west and south.  British Somaliland was defended by forces under the command of recently promoted Brigadier General Arthur Reginald Chater. His forces numbered about four thousand and consisted of the Somaliland Camel Corps, Second Battalion King’s African Rifles, the First Battalion Northern Rhodesia Regiment, the Third Battalion Fifteenth Punjab Regiment, and the First East African Light Battery. The only artillery were the four 3.7-inch howitzers of the East African Battery. The British had no tanks or anti-tank weapons.

On August 5th the Port of Zeila was occupied by forces under the command of Maj. General Giovanni Passarone. This 1200 year-old city is located on the Gulf of Aden near the border of French Somaliland - now Djibouti. Brigadier General Bertello’s forces reached Odweina on August 6th and turned towards Berbera.  On August 7th the Commonwealth forces were reinforced by the First Battalion, the Second Punjab Regiment, and the next day by the Second Battalion of the famed Black Watch.  

General Chater had sent the Camel Corps and some of the Rhodesian Troops to oppose General De Simone’s troops at the Karrim Pass, but by August 5th they had fallen back and General De Simone’s troops were headed toward Tug Argan, a dry sandy riverbed in the Aussi Hills where Commonwealth forces had taken up defensive positions overlooking the only road toward Berbera. After two days of fighting, Hargeisa was captured. Today, Hargeisa is the second largest city in Somalia with a population of 1,300,000, and is the capital of the state of Somaliland.

By this time the British had sent Major-General Reade Godwin-Austen to take command of the forces in British Somaliland. His previous command had been 8th Infantry Division in Palestine. 

On August 11, the Italians began assaulting the Commonwealth positions at Tug Argan. After several days of fighting, the British positions became untenable and General Godwin-Austen informed his superiors that, “further resistence would be futile.” On August 15th the British abandoned their positions at Tug Argan and retreated to Berbera. The Duc d’Aosta ordered General Nasi to allow the British to evacuate their forces, because he hoped that efforts by the Vatican to negotiate a peace between the two countries would come to fruition. By the 19th of August, seven thousand Commonwealth Troops and Civilian Administrators had been evacuated from Berbera, and the Italians occupied it. 

British Somaliland became a part of Africa Orientale Italiana.  During the brief campaign the Commonwealth forces suffered 250 casualties. It is unclear how many casualties the Italians suffered.  Estimates range from 205 to ten times that.

This was the only Italian Victory over British forces achieved without German help. It was also the only campaign in which British forces did not have the support of the RAF.  

General Archibald Wavell was the Commander-In-Chief of all British forces in the Middle East, which included East Africa. After the loss of British SOMALILAND, he was criticized by the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Because of the low casualty rate,  Churchill intimated that the British had abandoned the Colony without a fight. In response General Wavell noted that, “...a bloody butcher’s bill is not the sign of a good tactician.” Apparently, General Wavell’s retort moved the P.M. to greater fury that anyone had ever seen.

This situation was reversed beginning January 24, 1941, when Commonwealth forces under General Alan Cunningham invaded AOI from the British colony of Kenya. On February 14, the port of Kismayo, on the Indian Ocean, was captured. Mogadishu was captured on February 25, 1941 by a Nigerian brigade of the 11th African Division. Today, the city, which is located on the Indian Ocean and serves as the capital of Somalia, has a population of 2,000,000, more or less. It is one of, if not, the most dangerous and lawless cities in the world.

On March 16, 1941, Operation Appearance was launched against Berbera with two Sikh Battalions in the first Allied landing on an enemy-held beach during World War II. However, it cannot be said that it was preparation for any of the upcoming landings, because the unfed sixty man Italian garrison of Berbera waited on the beach to surrender to the arriving British force. A British Officer noted that, “War can be very embarrassing.”  

Hargeisa was recaptured on March 20, and the capital of British Somaliland was transferred from Berbera to Hargeisa. From Hargeisa, Commonwealth forces proceeded to conquer, occupy and liberate the rest of African Orientale Italiana.  

On March 26th Harar in Ethiopia was captured. Today, it has a population of a little more than 100,000. Three days later Dire Dawa fell. Currently its population stands at 600,000. The Ethiopian Capital of Addis Ababa was liberated on April 6, 1941. The capital now has a population of 2,700,000.

The Duc d’Aosta surrendered his forces on May 18th. The Duke, acknowledged by all as a true gentleman, died in a British prison camp in Nairobi, Kenya. General Nasi, generally acknowledged as the best Italian general in East Africa, surrendered the last Italian forces in African Orientale Italiana on November 27, 1941 in Gondar in Ethiopia. This 400 year-old city currently has a population of 200,000.

NEXT WEEK: OPERATION SEA LION

 

Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.