Talk:East African Campaign (World War II)

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I find this part confusing....

"The squadron made one major attempt to attack a convoy, but was roundly defeated. Following that attack, most of the squadron's surface ships were sunk, with the escaping submarines making an epic voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to return to Italy."

Shouldn't this say surface ships sunk *during* the attack? If they were sunk after the attack, who sank them? Xanous 19:02, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

I have removed a link to a website whose content is questionable; specifically, it had a portrait of el Duce and a collection of his quotes on the front page. It claims not to support fascism but it clearly idolizes a fascist dictator. 82.24.139.22 11:04, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

More background information:

http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol084im.html http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol026dt.html http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol132ga.html

on South Africa's invlovement and the air war between Italy and South Africa over Italian East Africa


Contents

[edit] Kudos and Queries

I came to this well-written article today as a link from the main page. I had never heard of this campaign before and truly learned something new: a true Wikipedia moment.

By way of clarifications, upon reading I had the same question as Xanous poses above. Also, the article does not explain what ultimately happened in British Somaliland after the re-invasion staged from Aden. Did the British retake this area around the same time they moved into Ethiopia, or did it remain under Italian control until the end of the War? Newyorkbrad 17:26, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I've been doing a lot of work on the northern campaign which has addressed a number of queries above, including the fate of the Italian destroyer squadron. I don't have a lot of sources on the southern campaign or British Somaliland but understand that the same units which defended BS and evacuated to Aden in August 1940 returned in March 1941. It looks like much of the 25000 Italian troops that had invaded BS had been redeployed to the fighting north and south and BS was re-taken quite easily. Stephen Kirrage 14:01, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] THE RESISTANCE OF GONDER

Here I see a mistake. Gondar (Gonder) didn`t fell on May 16 but on November 27, 1941 after a hard battle (see Eddy Bauer - Storia Controversa della seconda Guerra Mondiale - volume 3 -page 127. Italian Commander was General Guglielmo Nasi. Nevertheless the war in East Africa didn`t stop: about 7,000 scattered Italian soldiers fought a guerrilla warfare in the deserts of eritrea and in the rain forests of Ethiopia. This guerrilla lasted until May - Oct. 1943. The Italians hoped to get help from the Japanese or from the Italian-German forces in North Africa. See internet : La guerriglia italiana in Africa Orientale.

Quite right re Gondar and I have changed the text to reflect your points. Hope it's OK Stephen Kirrage 14:31, 21 October 2006 (UTC)


I see other shaky points in this article: 100 Italian tanks in Massawa is a number lived on air. Moreover I don`t see any sentence about the sea battle of the Dahlak Archipel of Oct. 1940, when the british sunk the Italian destroyer "Francesco Nullo". The captain and a sailor decided to sink with the ship.

the 100 tank figure came from p66 of "Eastern Epic" cited in the "Sources" section. Clearly this book was written using mainly British sources so if you have other sources giving different figures I would be very interested to know. I don't have any information on the 1940 sea engagement and would be very happy if you could provide more info re the circumstances and background (forces involved on each side, how they came to meet etc) Stephen Kirrage 14:31, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Italy had in East Africa: 24 tanks "M 11" and 35 tanks "L3". Moreover 126 old armoured cars. On Oct. 20, 1940 the most important sea battle of the Red Sea took place: 4 Italian destroyers attacked 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, and 5 gunboats of the Royal Navy close to the Dahlak Islands (which were Italian). The "Francesco Nullo" was sunk by the British.

[edit] THE NUMEROUS BATTLES IN EAST AFRICA

The "official" war in East Africa lasted 17 months. For the list of the numerous battles see internet: Abyssinia, 1940-1941, second World War. East Africa wasn`t a minor front but very important to cut the British communications with India.

Absolutely. The informed British literature on the campaign points out that 4 and 5 Indian Divisions experienced some of the hardest fighting they saw in the the whole of WWII (bear in mind that these two divisions ended WWII with reputations second to none) and it was political consideration which saw the Allies subsequently downplaying the fighting prowess of the Italian armies and relegating the campaign to minor status. Stephen Kirrage 14:38, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I thank you. This is just what I guess. Politically reasons have destroyed the image of Italy in WWII particularly and in history generally (wars of the past). This is the reason because this week I wrote so many things in wikipedia. So people in the world can get a better idea. Tell your positive opinion to your collegue (Mr. Folks 137) who said the East African Campaign was a "joke"!

[edit] Bad Photo

The current photo here is of the Middle East and is one which actually cuts off the bottom of Ethiopia, a better photo would be much appreciated

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