Plan Carnera begins
Recap: After the Italian victory in Ethiopia in May 1936, the large build-up of British forces on the Ethiopian-Sudanese Border unnerved the Italians. Marshal Balbo pitched a “grand plan” (dubbed the "Drin-Drin" Plan by Mussolini) for a war against the Allies to Mussolini. It was accepted and a multi-front war began between Italy and the Allies on the 11th May 1936. The aim was to steal key British and French territories in Africa (including the Suez) and then sue for peace. Mussolini had committed the ‘mad dog act’ so feared by British diplomats and politicians.
On the 2nd July 1936, Spain erupted into civil war. The Italian Fascist’s and the German Nazi’s both supported the Nationalist side.
British opinion on the war hardened towards the beginning of August 1936 and it no longer looked like peace is an option. It has become a battle to the death. Such a battle required a new approach to the war, Plan Carnera.
Europe
Recap: At the start of the war the Italian I and IV armies had easily pushed over the unprepared French forces along Little Maginot Line (in the Alps) and expanded into the Provence and Rhone regions. The front became static with the arrival of two French armour divisions and the French forces then counterattacked and retook Marseille. With reinforcements from the II and VIII armies, the Italians have now retaken the initative along the front. Marseille was recaptured on the 1st August. In accordance with Plan Carnera these forces will now push west and form a front along the Rhone River to Lyon in the north.
10th August: For four days the 2nd Alpine Division held off a determined French attack at Ruffieux. Despite their strong position on the eastern side of the Rhone, they were unable to hold out against odds of 3:1 and fell back in disarray after taking many casualties.
2nd Alpini Division on the retreat.
The defeat of the 2nd Alpine Division at Ruffieux.
12th August: Now the whole front erupted into battle. The Italians initiated the second stage of the drive to the Rhone in the south.
Plan Carnera called for the establishment of a defensive line along the Rhone up to and including the city of Lyon. Four divisions from the II, IV and VIII armies were committed to an attack on the French 1st Division which was dug in at Cavillon on the eastern side of the Rhone River.
The battle of Cavaillon begins.
13th August: The next day, further to the north, five Italian divisions were committed to an all-out assault on Bourgoin-Jallieu. The divisions came from the I, II, IV and the VIII armies. The initial stages of the battle started out badly for the Italians. They had failed to commit another division to the attack from Grenoble and the mass of men advancing from Valence hindered their ability to come to grips with the enemy and caused outright confusion.
The Italian mass assault on Bourgoin-Jallieu begins. The French strike back with devastating bombing of the Italian divisions.
15th August: To make matters worse for the attacking divisions, a few days later the skies were filled with French bomber aircraft. They delivered three devastating bombing runs leaving over 400 Italian dead strewn along their lines. Italian interceptors did not scramble quickly enough and were nowhere to be seen.
16th August: Further north along the front, the French 1st Armoured Division had now occupied Ruffieux after driving out the Italian Alpini. They now continued their advacne east. This time the French 70th Infantry along with the 1st Armour attacked the 3rd ‘Ravenna’ and 2nd Alpine Divisions which were dug in to the alpine foothills at St-Claude.
General Guzzoni ordered and immediate counterattack from the south against the armour division at Ruffieux in an attempt to break the French attack.
The French attack against St-Claude and the Italian counterattack against Ruffieux.
In the battle of Bourgoin-Jallieu matters now got tougher for the Italian forces, the French were able to reinforce their lone division defending the province.
The mass assault against Bourgoin-Jallieu get tougher.
ASI
Recap: In North Africa, the Italian IX Army captured Tunis and is now heading west to Algiers. The X Army and the VI Army advanced east, first taking Cairo and then besieging the British in Alexandria. After a tough battle the British 7th Infantry Division and the Middle East Command were forced to surrender. The Italians were then forced on the defensive along the line of the Suez against a determined British and Iraqi attack. The line was breached in its entirety and the British were able to initially push on before their attack faulted. The deplated state of the VI and X armies meant that this front required new reinforcements - they would arrive from the south in accordance with Plan Carnera.
Italian propoganda, glorifying the struggle in Africa.
Suez Front
9th August: Around midnight the main force of the 2nd ‘Emanuele Filiberto’ Division which had been hurrying north now reached the high ground at Zagazig to the east of Cairo. Expecting to launch a relief attack against the Allied forces to the northwest, they were surprised to find themselves under attack by the disorganized remnants of the 2nd Iraqi Division.
The 2nd ‘Emanuele Filiberto’ Division unexpectedly finds itself under attack.
10th August: The reunited and unblooded 1st Blackshirts Division leaves the safe walls of Tobruk in the transport vessels of the 19th Squadron. They headed west to Alexandria and the Suez front.
1st ‘Eugenio di Savoia’ Division is on the move (yellow) while the 19th Squadron (green) disembarks from Tobruk.
Alarmed that the Iraqi Division at Port Said is approaching the poorly defended Cairo, the unprepared 1st ‘Eugenio di Savoia’ Division, is sent southwest to garrison the city.
After the 19th Transport Squadron (transporting the 1st Blackshirts) had disembarked from Tobruk and headed east to Alexandria, reports came in that an unidentified British fleet was shadowing it along the coast. Reconnaissance plans were sent out to attempt to identify the composition of the fleet but it was not able to be found. Luckily the 19th Transport Squadron managed to stay ahead of its pursuers and safely sailed into the protective harbor at Alexandria.
Crammed onto the docks were the battered soldiers of the 102nd ‘Trento’ and the 7th ‘Cirene’ Blackshirts Divisions, waiting to be picked up and taken west away from the war zone. The soldiers of the 1st Blackshirts had been prepared for this in advance by their officers and were not overly alarmed. They disembarked in an orderly manner before marching east out of the city towards the front lines.
11th August: Despite the Allied advances from Port Said, to the south the Allied positions were weakening. First the attack by the 2nd Iraqi Division on 2nd ‘Emanuele Filiberto’ Division at Zagazig slackened and then fell away altogether. When this it became apparent to the officers of the British division to the east, they too called a halt to their offensive against the 27th ‘Sila’ Division at El Suewis.
MAIN: Battles of Zagazig and El Suweis are won by Italian forces. The 30th ‘Sabauda’ Division lands at Quseir (purple); INSET: The Italians turn on their attackers at Isma’iliya.
Now it was time for the Italians to hit back at these forces at Isma’iliya. The Iraqis briefly held out against the Italian counterattack before taking to their heels in an attempt get to the other side of the Suez while the British 18th Infantry covered their retreat.
To the south, de Stefanis’s 30th ‘Sabauda’ Division had been ferried onto the beautiful but desolate beaches at Quseir on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. This area is known as the Eastern Desert. The troops struck north, the 3rd Berseglieri Brigade leading the way. The first troops of the I-AOI Corps had landed in accordance with
Plan Carnera.
The outriders of the 3rd Berseglieri Brigade head north.
13th August: Under heavy attack from Italian cavalry, tankettes, bersaglieri, infantry and artillery. The British 18th Division is forced to retreat to the eastern side of the canal.
The Italians are soon victorious at Isma’iliya.
The Italian 12th Artillery Regiment, attached to the 27th ‘Sila’ Division, pounding the positons of the British 18th Division.
Algeria
10th August: A report came via Tunisia from Fedinando di Savoia and his 6th Submarine Flotilla coasting along Tunisia. A mountain division had been sighted in Algiers (previously undefended). This lone division could provide significant resistance when the forces of de Bono’s South/Tunisian Army Group were in place for an attack on the city.
AOI
Recap: In East Africa, the strong French 1st Army in Djibouti initially made threatening advances on the Eritrean capital of Asmara but they were eventually surrounded and annihilated by Italian forces. The Italians were also able to capture key British strategic locations in the Somaliland, northern Sudan and British East Africa, effectively trapping the British 3rd Army in the Sudan east of Ethiopia. Entrapement of the British 3rd Army and the coloninal troops in the Sudan was the key objective of Marshal Balbo's "Drin-Drin" Plan. It meant that the Italians could also strike north and attack Egyptian Nile Delta from two directions. In the south, a relief effort attempted by the British 4th Infantry Division just north of Lake Victoria failed and the Italians have finally closed the pincer and trapped the British against the impenetrable water waste called The Sudd. Italian forces will now proceed to push into Tanganyika further to the south.
Uganda/South Sudan
7th August: As night closed in the British 3rd Army committed their last reserve in a final attempt to break out of the Sudan pocket. In foul weather, the 10th Indian Division attacked south out of the Sudd across the savanna of Northern Uganda.
The 10th Indian Division attacks to the south in an attempt to break out of the ‘Sudan sack’ to the south. The beleaguered 4th Indian Division finally gives up the Italians wins Phase 2 of the Battle of Jima.
8th August: Heavily outnumbered, the Indian troops had the advantage that the two of the three Italian Divisions were currently engaged in the battle for Jima. They did however underestimate the shock power of the Ovest Bassacampi ‘Celere’ Division, its swift moving cavalry, armored cars and tankettes quickly formed a front and drove them back into the wetlands of the Sudd.
Eritrean Ascari cavalry move swiftly to intercept the attack.
To the northeast the bloody battle of Jima finally came to its conclusion. After 18 days of tough fighting, the 4th Indian Division and local African troops were finally driven from the Ethiopian escarpment. The difficult terrain caused many deaths on both sides. Jima was the last foothold that the British held in Ethiopia. Nearly 700 men lay dead at the end of the battle which involved over 40,000 troops in total.
The Ethiopian escarpment in all of its glory, note the winding road.
To the south, right on the equator, the retreating men on the British 4th Division were still under attack from the pursuing 29th ‘Piemonte’ Division. The British had cunningly set up a strong defensive line along the Kagera River (a tributary of Lake Victoria) while the majority of their forces still trekked south. Frattini’s men were having great difficulty in breaching this line in the damp tropical conditions. The attack was called off. They would let the British go and then cross the river.
The 28th ‘Piemonte’ gives up the Battle of Bukoba.
The 28th ‘Piemonte’ shows no mercy.
10th August: Now the 5th ‘Cosseria’ Division had marched south to the front lines. Joining up with D’Oro’s 4th Eritrean Division, they launched a joint assault on the British troops holding Lowelli. Resistance appeared weak as both divisions only came into contact with British HQ units.
The Italians meet up with weak resistance at Lowelli.
Arabia Felix
Recap: On the 11th July, the Italian colonial troops successfully landed and secured the undefended British port of Aden. Yemeni forces (allies of Britain) immediately attacked the Italians but could not hold out when Italian reinforcements arrived. Yemen was overrun but the fighting units of their army escaped across the border into the British Aden Protectorate. This victory yielded full control of the Gate of Tears to the Italians, a significant strategic advantage.
Yemeni loyalist forces then emerged from the deserts to the east, attacked and defeated the Somali Dubats which were guarding Aden. The Italians then landed the 30th ‘Sabauda’ at Aden and drove the loyalist forces deep into the Aden Protectorate.
7th August: There was to be no rest for the veterans of de Stefanis’s 30th ‘Sabauda’. After hurling back the Yemeni forces from Aden, they were now ordered to board a transport fleet, its destination being Port Sudan in the Red Sea.
Plan Carnera called for their immediate transfer to the Suez Front.
LEFT: The 30th ‘Sabauda’ leaving Aden in Yemen. RIGHT: The division, just north of Port Sudan in the Red Sea.
10th August: After a brief stopover the overworked Red Sea Flotilla and its precious troops disembark from Port Sudan and continue north towards the Suez. The Royal navy was not spotted. (See above for the landing of this division at Quseir on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea).