East Africa 1940-1941 (land campaign): The Italian Army Defends The Empire In The Horn Of Africa (Mussolini's War) Paperback – December 10, 2020

This book details the war in East Africa from the outbreak of hostilities on 10 June 1940 to the fall of Gondar in late 1941. Before diving into the course of the campaign, it provides a general background of the Italian presence in the region as well as the state of their forces on the eve of war. As the title hints at, it is mostly from the Italian point of view, but the Allied forces, leadership, and decision-making is not neglected. It is well researched, the bibliography contains over 50 books and 15 periodicals. I found it to be a much-needed work on the war in this part of the world. It covers pretty much all of the action - battles both big and small such as Moyale, Kassala, Gallabat, Mega, Gideon Force, the Juba, Keren, Tug Argan, etc. It's rather detailed and there were many more actions and figureheads I had never heard of before reading this.The text was translated from Polish into English. The table of contents is in the back of the book rather than the front. That was a little different but it's not a big deal.The author shows us that the war here was not a total walkover for the Allies. The Italians and their native auxiliaries fought as well as could be expected given the circumstances they were operating under. This is a welcome departure from the inaccurate and borderline discriminatory school of thought that tries to tell us the Italians were terrible soldiers and Italy was a drain for the Axis cause. Such prejudices are absent here and I read through the book with a breath of fresh air.I thank the author for this work and I hope he continues with more volumes.

A very good history of the end of the Italian Rule in Ethiopia and the Horn nations. Mussolini unwisely decided to join Hitler and declare war on France, British Empire and USSR.

Excellent research and presentation of facts. My opinion is that Mussolini’s Crown Jewels were his colonies in the Horn of Africa - and he just threw them all away by getting mixed up in WW2. Franco in Spain didn’t commit to WW2 and neither should have Mussolini. At any rate, we see how Italy abolished slavery, serfdom, and brought their colonies into the 20th century; asphalted roads, hospitals, schools etc, etc. and we see how Mussolini just throws it all away. Prince Aosta never got supplies and was left to fight his opponents almost empty handed.

This book covers a subject that has no received much attention in the English language and it is apparent the author did extensive and excellent research. The book is worth reading because of this. However, the book loses rating points due to some problems. The book is a translation and it shows in poor sentence structure, confusing word choices and poor grammar throughout the book. I frequently had to re-read paragraphs to clarify what the author was trying to convey. For instance, the book is inconsistent in how it references the Italian and British forces, calling both the enemy at various points when it would be clearer to consistently just call them Italian and British. The placement of photographs is poor with photographs covering the Italian conquest of British Somaliland showing up beside later text dealing with the British offensive staged from Sudan. There are many places where a clear and simple map would have better described the distribution of opposing forces than the long and involved paragraphs that are used to do it.Overall, I am glad I read the book because this particular part of the history of World War 2 barely gets a mention in passing in English language histories of the war.

Maps in ebook are diffiulct to return to, but the account is as complete and thorough as any on the campaign. The amount of detail is amazing.

The East African campaign of 1940-41 is not well know but it is unique and interesting. It is the only campaign fought between only Italy and the British Empire. This book is comprehensive and the only book in English that has used both British and Italian sources. It clears up many myths about the fighting. British sources don't mention their complete control of the air from almost the start of their offensive for the next year of fighting up till the last Italian surrender in November 1941. Both sides relied heavily on African colonial soldiers. The Italian colonial units made up or Eritreans were good fighters and quite loyal almost to the end. Other colonial units were mixed, but the book makes it clear that the Italian officers led from the front to try and keep the loyalty of their colonial troops. The Italian forces were almost completely cut off from resupply while the British were able to beef up their armor, artillery and especially control of the air. Italian colonial units began to recognize that they were over gunned and bombed at liberty, and they began to desert especially the Ethiopian units. Meanwhile the British encouraged a brutal guerrilla campaign in the Ethiopian areas, causing the Italian troops to have to defend their African allies families and the many Italian colonists spread around the vast lands. if you read the British accounts the Italians after the fierce battle of Keren in which a mixed Italian force of colonial and metropolitan units stood off a larger better equipped British force which had total control of the air for almost two full months. However the book shows that even after Keren the Italian forces fighting both the guerrilla and conventional British forces put up a stiff if doomed battle. The author isn't too effusive of the Italians, he gives great credit to the British who fought over difficult terrain and at times horrid weather conditions against a tenacious enemy. In fact if you read the British versions after Keren this was a walkover for the British, it was anything but, so the book gives even greater credit to the skill of the British even if Churchill wanted a quicker victory. Why only four stars. Well the book could have used many more maps to describe a difficult diffuse campaign. Also an editor may have helped, one thing that bothered me was the constant listing of units making up a force in the individual battles. To me this never helps as who can remember some ten or twelve regiments or brigades. Finally the book did help defuse the myth of Gideon Force under Wingate [the WW2 version of Lawrence of Arabia] while Wingate was a brave resourceful leader of Ethiopian troops he was greatly aided by the masses of guerrillas and even Italian colonial troops which switched sides when a British victory became apparent. Wingate also of course had control of the air which was essential in the Ethiopian terrain. The Italian units had all they could do to escape encirclement and protect their civilians , and for the most part they usually succeeded even if they never really could win. By the way I am not an Italian apologist. That fool Mussolini left his troops and settlers out on a limb which only could be cut off, but I didn't like the British seeming to mock the Italians who were fighting an impossible losing battle with courage.

ENJOYED READING IT

Super frustrating

Superb account of a campaign that many followers of the WW II have either missed or never heard of.