March on Gondar

March on Gondar
Part of Second Italo-Ethiopian War
Italian soldiers after the occupation of Gondar
Date 15 March – 1 April 1936 Location Gondar, Ethopia 12°36′27″N37°27′33″E / 12.60750°N 37.45917°E / 12.60750; 37.45917 Result Italian victory Territorial changes Italian occupation of Gondar and Lake Tana
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy	Ethiopian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Achille Starace	Ajaleu Burrù
Strength
3,348 Italians	Unknown
Casualties and losses
9 killed	Unknown
March on Gondar class=notpageimage| Location within Ethiopia Show map of Ethiopia March on Gondar March on Gondar (Africa) Show map of Africa

The March on Gondar was an action conducted by regular troops and volunteers following the secretary of the PNF Achille Starace aimed at occupying the Amara region and Lake Tana.

Background

After the victorious battles of Endertà, Tembién and Scirè, the Ethiopian armies of the north had been annihilated, leaving the northern regions of the empire practically undefended. While Haile Selassie with the last remaining army was preparing to block the passage of the Italian troops along the road to the capital near Quoram, the Italian troops proceeded to occupy the Alagi passes and the localities of Corbettà and Socotà, the capital of the Uag. ^[1]

In the void left by Ras Immirù 's troops retreating from Scirè and counting on the ambiguous position of his lieutenant Ajeleu Burrù who had been in contact with the Italians for some time, a rapid column led by the secretary of the PNF Achille Starace was launched with the objective of conquering the capital of the Amara territory, Gondar, and controlling the territory of Lake Tana. ^[1]

Battle

The column, composed of 3348 men and 500 vehicles loaded with ammunition and supplies, made up of the 3rd Bersaglieri Regiment and the 82nd CCNN Battalion Benito Mussolini of Forlì, left Asmara on 15 March and quickly arrived on the Setit, the old border of the Eritrean colony, near the town of Omhajer. ^[2] While the Italian troops occupied the surrounding areas to cover the attackers' backs, the fast-moving column, having crossed the border, headed decisively towards Gondar following a track partially covered by vegetation and plagued by landslides that an Italian officer named Malugani had traced in 1909. ^{[2] [3]}

On March 21, Badoglio updated Starace via radio on the relations between the dejac Ajeleu Burrù, commander of the forces that were supposed to oppose the column, and the higher command, suggesting that he make contact and obtain their collaboration, but the dejac, although not hindering the advancing column, refused, at least momentarily, to collaborate with the Italians. ^[4]

According to the memoirs of Giovanni Artieri and Paolo Caccia Dominioni who took part in the march, the enemy was often sighted but never attacked, not even in the difficult passages of the Angareb river, of the Samboccò embankment. The Ethiopian troops however abstained from engaging in battle not so much because of an explicit order from Ajeleu Burrù but because they were pressed by the askaris of the third brigade under the command of General Cubeddu, who Badoglio had sent with the order to first flank and then precede the AO fast column, with the aim of protecting the safety of the secretary of the PNF. The rapid advance of the askaris did not in fact give the Abyssinian troops time to stop and organize a line of defense, forcing them constantly to retreat. ^[5]

On March 30, after having crossed the Sengià torrent, the track became impassable due to landslides and so Starace decided to abandon the vehicles and continue on foot for the final stretch of the march. In the meantime, Cubeddu's askaris had reached the gates of Gondar but, for political reasons, waited for the fast-track column to enter the city first the following day, thus ending the march after two weeks and 330 km travelled in enemy territory. ^[6]

Starace stopped briefly in Gondar, spurred on by Mussolini who, for reasons of opportunity, wanted to occupy the shores of Lake Tana, the only English interest in Ethiopia, and eager to verify the feasibility of establishing a seaplane base there, on 11 April he set out again and, without encountering obstacles, reached the lake the following day, occupying the islands and the shore. ^[7]

Aftermath

The march on Gondar allowed the Italians to reach, without any particular military effort, a position further south than that occupied by the Ethiopian troops at Mai Ceu, potentially putting their flank at risk. However, the capital of Amara was not the point of arrival of the column, in fact, exploiting the rivalries between local leaders and facilitated by the collapse of the Abyssinian armies, the march continued in the following weeks: leaving Lake Tana, Starace entered Bahar Dar on 24 April, Debre Tabor four days later, reached the source of the Blue Nile on 3 May and entered Debre Marcos on the 20th of the same month. In sixty-five days, the column travelled 1700 km occupying a territory equal to 100,000 Km². ^[6]

References

1. Del Boca 1992, pp. 606.
2. Del Boca 1992, pp. 609.
3. Starace 1936, pp. 53.
4. Del Boca 1992, pp. 610.
5. Del Boca 1992, pp. 610–611.
6. Del Boca 1992, pp. 612–613.
7. Vego 2002, pp. 158–160.

Bibliography

• Del Boca, Angelo (1992). Gli italiani in Africa orientale, Volume II: La conquista dell'impero. Cles (TN): Oscar Mondadori.

• Starace, Achille (1936). La marcia su Gondar della colonna celere A.O. e le successive operazioni nella Etiopia occidentale. Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori. p. 53.

• Vego, Milan (2002). Maneuver in War. London: Frank Cass.