Ruszamy na zakupy!
The first book in the Mussolini’s War series is available on Amazon! Have fun!
e-book (616 pages): €8,35; $10.49; £7.50 etc. Free in Kindle Unlimited.Paperback (465 pages): from €25.82, $10.49, £22.38 etc. Both versions with 81 photos and 17 maps.
When the Kingdom of Italy entered the war in Europe in June 1940, it did so only for a moment to hasten the fall of France and force Britain to the peace negotiations table. With each subsequent month it was turning out that the Italians had got involved in a war that was not going to have a quick and victorious end, and the state of their own unpreparedness for the conflict was shocking.
Due to the Italian colonial possessions, the war also spread to East Africa, so distant for Europeans. This is where the situation of the Italian forces turned out to be the most difficult. The troops fighting there, mostly consisting of natives, were disastrously poorly armed, trained only for the purposes of colonial warfare or maintaining internal order in the colonies, cut off from supplies by neighbouring French and British possessions, and the Italian high command lacked the abilities of waging regular campaign. The British Empire, too, began the battle for the Horn of Africa poorly prepared, but quickly realised the importance of this campaign, namely the safety of its own lines of communication across the Red Sea, the Nile and Africa. Having quickly mobilised its forces, it proceeded to eliminate the Italian threat in this part of the world.
This work presents in detail the campaign that lasted until November 1941, in which soldiers of about twenty nationalities from three continents fought on both sides for the colonial interests of Italy and Britain. The campaign in East Africa is not only about the frontline combat, it is also a brutal war between Italians and Ethiopian partisans. We also present issues such as the economic situation of Italian East Africa, the fate of the Italians inhabiting it, the history of the countries that constituted it after the campaign ended, and the Italian underground resistance, whose flame was smouldering up to the very armistice between Italy and the Allies.
“Mussolini’s War” series of publications is aimed to deal in a matter-of-fact way with the unfair, racist myth of the Italian being a cowardly soldier by birth. It will discuss in a substantive way the campaigns fought by the Italian forces on the ground, at sea and in the air during the reign of Benito Mussolini, the dictator. Reader-friendly language style, descriptions of previously neglected or unknown operations and actions, a lot of space devoted to the most important heroes of the events in question – the rank-and-file – all this makes these books dedicated to readers of all levels of historical knowledge and a guarantee of pleasant time spent reading. The painfully honest account of the weaknesses of the Italian military, in which however, we do not forget about the numerous examples of unprecedented heroism and endurance of the Italians, is based on references on the topic published worldwide, thanks to which we avoid mythologisation, which can often be noticed in other works. It is the first time that the subject is presented comprehensively in the English language.
Marek Sobski, a graduate of the University of Zielona Góra, is a historian. Author of several books (including some published in English like „Lictorian Fasces Over England. Regia Aeronautica In Action Against Britain 1940–1941” and the two-volume „Crickets Against Rats. Regia Aeronautica In The Spanish Civil War”), as well as articles in specialist magazines. Since late 2011, he has been a promoter of interest in the history of the Italian military in the first half of the 20th century, and his expertise has been made available to readers of the „Mussolini’s War” blog and on social media.
————————————————————————–
Table of contents
Introduction
I. Italian East Africa
II. Empire Under Siege
1. The general importance of Africa Orientale Italiana and its
military situation
2. New governor, new methods
3. The shocking scale of unpreparedness for war
4. The Italians’ goals and strategic plans
5. General situation of His Majesty’s colonies
6. The path to war
III. Unrest Inside Italian East Africa
1. A restless Empire
2. End of rases, the rise of new leaders
3. Organization of the Ethiopian resistance movement
4. Italian methods of fighting the uprising
5. 1939 – 1940, calming down the situation
IV. Italian Troops in East Africa
1. General situation of the Italian armed forces in the Empire
2. Weapons and equipment of the Italian army
3. The Regia Aeronautica in AOI
4. Characteristics of units composed of troops of Italian
nationality
5. The Police of Italian Africa and other police and auxiliary units
6. Italian colonial troops
V. Battle of Kassala and Other Italian Operations On the Border with Sudan
1. The war begins in the Horn of Africa
2. Forces of the British Empire in Sudan
3. The battle of Kassala
4. Other actions on the Sudan border
VI. Italian Activity On The Kenya Border, Capture Of Fort Moyale
1. The importance of Kenya in the war in East Africa
2. Forces of the British Empire in Kenya
3. The Union of South Africa goes to war
4. Italian forces involved in operations on the border with
Kenya
5. Fighting for Fort Moyale
6. The situation in the Juba (Giuba) sector
VII. The Fall Of British Somaliland
1. Plan „G.I.”
2. British Somaliland
3. A troublesome general
4. British Somaliland defence plans
5. The forces and plans of the Italians
6. The beginning of the invasion
7. Battle of the Tug Argan Gap
8. Evacuation of British Somaliland
VIII. Battle of Gallabat – The First Allied Counteroffensive
1. The British Empire gathers its forces
2. November action at Kassala
3. General rehearsal at Gallabat
IX. End of the Year in the Kenyan Sector
X. Mission 101 Moves To Gojjam
1. Beginning of Foreign Involvement in the Internal Affairs of the AOI
2. The Emperor is back in the game
3. Mission 101 is on its way
4. The Negus on Mount Belaya
XI. Battle of Agordat
1. Situation on the Sudan-Eritrean Border before the British
offensive
2. The Italians evacuate the Kassala area
3. Guillet’s legendary charge
4. Evacuation of garrisons in secondary directions
5. Battle of Agordat
6. Battle of Barentu
XII. Battle Of Keren
1. The mountain ring around Keren
2. The first attempt to break through the defences of Keren
3. Indians in the suburbs of Keren
4. The second phase of the battle (14 February – 14 March)
5. The northern front
6. Dologorodoc lost
7. Outcome of the Battle of Keren
XIII. End Of The Campaign In The North
1. Battle of Ad Teclesan
2. The fall of Massaua
3. Elimination of the remaining Italian garrisons on the Red
Sea
XIV. The British Invasion On Italian Somali
1. Italian Somali
2. Italian troops in Somali
3. Preparations for the offensive
4. The fall of Kismayo
5. Crossing the Juba River
6. Italians surrender Mogadishu
XV. The Fall Of Addis Ababa
1. Union Jack flies over Berbera again
2. Advance to Harar
3. Fighting on the Awash River and the fall of Addis Ababa
XVI. The Allies Enter Ethiopia
1. Fighting for Fort Mega
2. The difficult campaign of the Force Publique
XVII. Emperor Selassie Returns To Addis Ababa
1. A stalemate at Debra Markos
2. The epic march of the Maraventano column
XVIII. Battle Of Amba Alagi
1. The fall of the Dessie redoubt
2. Prince Aosta’s last stand
XIX. Campaign In The Province Of Galla And Sidama
1. The Scacchiere Sud in the Spring of 1941
2. The destruction of the forces on the left bank of the Omo
Rivers sector
3. Fighting in the central sector
4. End of resistance in the Galla and Sidama Province
XX. The Last Stand: Gondar
1. Scacchiere Ovest on the eve of the campaign
2. Attacks on the Chilga position
3. The fall of the Debra Tabor redoubt
4. Battles for the Wolchefit Pass
5. Battle of Kulkaber
6. The fall of Gondar
XXI. New Orders In The Horn Of Africa
1. The Italian resistance
2. Evacuation of Italians from Africa Orientale Italiana
3. East Africa after the end of World War Two
Conclusion
Appendix 1
Italian Ranks and Appointments Used Throughout The Book And Their British Equivalents
Appendix 2
Traditional Ethiopian Appointments
Appendix 3
Biographies Of The High-Ranking Italian Commanders In East Africa
Appendix 4
From “The First Cruiser Tanks” by Peter Brown
BIBLIOGRAPHY
