This little known campaign against the Italian invasion of British
Somalia was bravely fought by a small force of elderly RAF and
Commonwealth aircraft against almost overwhelming odds. This,
against a backdrop of Britain's meager assets being in demand in
the much more prominent and important theatres such as Egypt and,
of course, at home during the height of the Battle of Britain and
the Blitz.
The history starts with the Italian's use of airpower and gas
against the spear-armed Abbysinnians in 1936. In August 1940 the
Italians attacked and overwhelmed British Somalia and under air
cover the British evacuated to Aden. The Allies fought many air
battles with the better equipped invaders and flew dangerous
reconnaissance missions in preparation for the major offensives in
1941.
On the Northern Front, the first phases see aggressive air
patrols and Allied reinforcements arriving from Egypt. They
attacked towards Agordat pushing deep into Eritrea from the Sudan.
Meanwhile to the south the South African Air Force and ground
forces attacked into Italian Somalia during January and February
1941. In March the allies attacked Keren and the Italians finally
surrendered. The final allied air strikes against Asmara and
Massawa led to the final collapse of Italian resistance in May
1941. The campaign in Ethiopia saw General Cunningham's force
advances 1,725 miles from Kenya in 53 days to reach the Ethiopian
capital Addis Ababa and liberating it on April 6 1941. However, the
conflict was still not over - there was continued resistance from
7,000 Italian troops and air operations continued against them
until their surrender in September 1943.
The book includes the experiences of the men who flew the
outdated aircraft of the RAF and the SAAF in the campaign and
includes many quotes and incidents from both Allied and Italian
pilots.
REVIEWS
..". a very well researched study of the forgotten battle for
the horn of Africa."IPMS, 11/2009
General
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