The Year of Returned Hope
Part 12: Continuing the War in Africa, 1943
While the Regio Esercito had been launching, conducting and then ending the greatest operation it had ever to that point undertaken, another war was being fought thousands of miles to the south. In Africa, six Italian divisions continued to wage their largely isolated war against the British. It was necessary to keep a line of sorts in Africa to prevent the British from sweeping northward, as they would eventually reach Egypt and create even more problems for the Italians than they already were, so far away from Italy’s Mare Nostrum. Nevertheless, Italian achieved what, given the character of the theater and the war being fought therein, were signal successes.
The main Italian problem in Africa was that, while marines had taken the ports of East Africa, the interior remained largely in the hands of the British. There they fielded a handful of divisions that, due to their numerical superiority, being three brigades rather than two, and their interior position they could operate more effectively than their Italian counterparts. The poor infrastructure and vast distances of Africa prevented the Italians from exploiting their exterior lines. Furthermore, the six divisions were dispersed, with the three infantry divisions in or around the northeastern corner of the Belgian Congo, with the marine divisions deployed in a u-shape from Lake Victoria in the north to Dar es Salaam to the northern shores of Lake Malawi. The obvious first step was to reduce the British position, beginning by redeploying two divisions to the western shores of Lake Victoria in late February. This redeployment resulted in the battle of Mwanza in late May, where the Italians managed to throw three divisions at a single French division under British command. It was the first of the Italian successes in Africa, resulting in heavy casualties for the theater: nearly three hundred and forty Italians and over thirteen hundred British casualties.
The battle of Mwanza, the first of the year in the African theater.
The next months were filled with occupying Mwanza and maneuvering for position around the interior of East Africa. Unfortunately there is little in the way of archives for this part of the Africa campaign, as this was the period during which the campaign in Illyria was in full swing. Naturally, the small and far away actions in Africa pale when compared to the nearby, relatively titanic and consequential operation in the Balkans. Nevertheless, on August 13, the Regio Esercito won another battle in Africa, at Tabora. It is unknown whether it was the British or Italians who were attacking, but given later events then it’s probable that it was the Italians who were on the offensive. Nevertheless, the Italians lost just over two hundred and twenty men in their victory, whereas the British lost more than one thousand three hundred and fifty. This was closely followed by another, but bloodier, victory at Mbeya, where just under nine hundred Italians and eleven hundred British died on the 29th of August. The 14th of September witnessed another battle, at Arusha, where four hundred and seventy Italians and just under five hundred fifty British died in what became another Italian victory. The British could not, however, afford this level of casualties as easily as the Soviets. Furthermore, it was at this point that one British division was overtaken when retreating and fully destroyed.
The results of the battle of Tabora.
By the 20th, another British division had been trapped against the coastline just outside the port of Mombasa but without any hope of accessing it. There, three Italian divisions assaulted it after a well executed campaign that had already resulted in the destruction of one British division. The trapped British division was on its last legs, and quickly overwhelmed and destroyed. The rest of the year was spent assuming favorable positions between Lakes Tanganyika and Malawi. There, two divisions of the marine corps dug in. The infantry corps under Dall’ora reinforced its station in the northern corner of the Belgian Congo. Finally, October saw the introduction of a new, and friendly, force into the theater: a carrier fleet. It was commanded by neither Campioni A. nor da Zara. It was, indeed, a fully new fleet, centered on the two new fleet carriers RN Alesia and RN Actium, and commanded by Campioni I., another distinguished admiral.
The battle of Tanga, which resulted in the destruction of the second British division.
The campaign in Africa was far from over, but more than ever before the Italians had secured their position well. The interior of East Africa was finally subdued and the British divisions holding out there either destroyed or driven away. While two destroyed divisions pales in comparison to the victories of Illyria, in a theater where the entire Allied force, as far as Italian intelligence estimates go, comprised no more than five British and two or three Belgian divisions in the entirety of Central and East Africa, two divisions is a significant victory. On the deficit side, the distraction of Illyria for the Regia Marina resulted in the British retaking a number of Indian Ocean islands taken the previous year.