Opening shots of the Sinai Campaign, loss of the 6th ‘Tevere’ Blackshirts Division
Recap: After the Italian victory in Ethiopia in May 1936, the large build-up of British forces on the Ethiopian-Sudanese Border unnerved the Italian leadership. Marshal Balbo pitched a “grand plan” (dubbed the "Drin-Drin" Plan by Mussolini) for a war against the Allies to Mussolini and the Fascist Council. 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. With fascist support the Nationalists appear to have the edge.
British opinion on the Italian conquests hardened towards the beginning of August 1936 and it no longer looked like peace would be an option. It has become a battle to the death. Such a battle required a new approach to the war called 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 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 initiative along the front. Marseille was recaptured on the 1st August. In accordance with Plan Carnera these forces have thrust westwards and effectively cleared the eastern bank of the Rhone to form a front along the Rhone River to Lyon in the north and then onto the Swiss border.
Rhone Front
31st August: The French counterattacked against three Italian divisions dug in at Lyon with only of one division of their own. They would need a serious “Ace up their sleeve” to make any gains with this attack.
At St Claude to the north, the situation was the same. The French armour was making no significant headway against the Italian divisions dug into the hilly countryside. More worrying for Marshal Badoglio and his Generals was the casualty rates arising from the continuous French bombing.
At this stage it had become very apparent to the Italian leadership that their Fiat CR.32 interceptors were unable to defend their troops this far into France from their forward bases at either Marseille or Milan. A retreat from St Claude was ordered to avert a massacre.
The French attack Lyon with underwhelming force while the Italians pull out of St Claude to forestall the mounting casualty rate from French bombing.
1st September: To the east in Northern Italy, RAF carpet bombing continued. Now the British aviators had switched from Milan to Turin perhaps in an attempt to “pick low hanging fruit”.
Turin is now the target of the British strategic bombing focus.
Italian Chief of the Air Force, Giuseppe Valle, had not been idle with his attempts to deal with this problem. Aviation engineers had been busy researching and testing technological advances in small single engine aircraft. Even before the war, new machine gun weaponry and aero engines had been designed and tested. Since then improvements had also been developed to small single engine airframes and now the focus was on improving fuel tanks for longer range.
Italian engineers tinkering with a fighter engine
More importantly it was the manufacture and roll out of these improvements that counted. With the devastation of the Milanese manufacturing and industrial centre’s, Valle was easily able to persuade Mussolini and the Fascist Grand Council to prioritise the upgrade of the CR-42 Wings within the slim budget allocated to military upgrade manufacturing.
New weaponry and engines have improved the attack and defence capabilities of the Cr-42 biplanes.
Valle had also attempted different tactics to disrupt the British strategic bombings. His latest proposal was to simply fill the skies with a mass of Interceptors. He hoped that such overwhelming force coupled with the improvements made to the old Cr-42’s would be able to inflict some serious damage on the British bombers. So far it had yielded little in the way of results. Time would tell.
3rd September: The dreaded French bombers had returned to the Rhone-Lyon Front, this time over the skies of Lyon. Initially three Italian divisions defended the city from a weak attack from a single French division but now the numbers had evened up. The Italians had the advantage of defending in the urban terrain while the French bombers ruled the skies.
Battle of Lyon is won by the Italians – French take heavy losses.
4th September: Despite their air superiority the French troops were making no headway against the Italian positions in Lyon. The French commanders pulled back their divisions to stop the slaughter.
French dead following the battle of Lyon.
7th September: After driving the Italian troops from St Claude a week earlier with the assistance of their air force, the 1st French Armour Division launched another assault. This time it was against the 2nd Alpine Division and the 6th ‘Cuneo’ Division who were dug in at Bourg-en-Bresse northeast of Lyon.
French amour continues to harass the north end of the front – now attacks at Bourg-en-Bresse.
8th September: The odds on the battle at Bourg-en-Bresse were judged to be about even despite the Italians outnumbering the French tankers and mortised troops 4:3. This balance soon fell apart on the morning of the 8th when French bombers ripped into the temporary fortifications of the Italians leaving over 200 men dead or out of action on the field.
ASI
Recap: In North Africa, the Italian IX Army captured Tunis with leading elements 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 depleted 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. de Stefanis’s 30th ‘Sabauda’ Division was the first division to be landed in the Eastern Desert of Egypt south of the front lines. The battle hardened men of the Sabauda Division have joined the fray and further divisions are on their way.
Suez Front
30th August: With the British attack from Port Said crushed, the 2nd ‘Emanuele Filiberto’ Division marched north to join the battle for Port Said, now poorly defended by battered British and Iraqi soldiers.
The battle for Port Said intensifies.
31st August: Further bad news befell the Allied forces fighting in Egypt when news arrived of an invasion of Italian force to the east of the Sinai. The 19th ‘Venezia’ Division under the command of Major General di Feroleto had landed at Elat. The 19th was the lesser known sister division of the 30th ‘Sabauda’, both divisions being instrumental in the
defeat of the 1st French Army in Djibouti in East Africa. The aggressive di Feroleto immediately ordered his veteran troops to attack Iraqi positions to the southwest. The Sinai campaign had begun.
LEFT: di Feroleto 19th ‘Venezia’ Division landing at Elat; LEFT: The ‘Venezi’ Division attacks.
2nd September: The weakened Allied troops at Port Said had held out well against the attacks of the 1st Blackshirts Division across the Damietta Distributary of the Nile. With the full focus of the Allied forces now repelling their attack, the loss of men accelerated and ran out of control. Major General Rastreli ordered his men to pull back when in reality they already had.
Rastreli’s 1st Blackshirts are mauled on the attack on Port Said while the 102nd ‘Trento’ Division returns from rest and refit to launch an attack across the Suez Canal
To the south the 102nd ‘Trento’ Division had returned to the front line after recuperating in Cairo and Alexandria. Silvesti was ordered to take the eastern bank of the Suez and then turn north in an attempt to trap the Allied divisions at Port Said. He chose Bir Gifgafa as the breakthrough point. It was only lightly defended by the ‘pen pushers’ and aristocrats of the Iraqi 1st Corps.
Following up on Silvesti’s attack would be de Stefanis’s 30th ‘Sabauda’ Division. They would cross the Suez at the point cleared by the 102nd and drive north to Romani cutting off the Allied troops in Port Said.
4th September: Within days, the 102nd ‘Trento’ Division had swept aside its opposition at Bir Gifgafa and now began to take control of the eastern side of the Suez. The 30th ‘Sabauda’ Division was clear to cross and advance north.
MAIN: The 102nd ‘Trento’ and the 19th ‘Venezia’ Divisions sweep aside weak opposition from Iraqi non-combat troops; INSET: The Red Sea Fleet ferries more men from AOI to the front.
On the other side of the Sinai the 19th ‘Venezia’ Division was up against similar weak opposition at Thamad. Here the men of the Iraqi 1st Army HQ put up stiffer but limited resistance, knowing that their escape eastward was now cut off. After heavy casualties they fled westwards.
To the south, the Red Sea Naval Squadron was heading north with another division from AOI, the 26th ‘Assietta’. The dusty barren shores of the Sinai could be seen off the port side as the transport fleet cruised into the Gulf of Aqaba.
4th September: As the di Feroleto’s 19th ‘Venezia’ Division advanced into the Thamad region, they came into contact with reconnaissance forces of the Iraqi 3rd Division who were advancing westwards. Fire was exchanged and the Iraqis held firm and awaited the advance of their main force.
At the port of Elat the 26th ‘Assieta’ Division had now disembarked from the transports of the Red Sea Squadron. Rossi and his men were ordered to strike northward into Nizzane Sinay and cut off the Allied troops on the Sinai Peninsula from the Levant. Luckily for the British rear echelon troops happened to be in position to contest this move with a division of garrison troops moving into position to defend the area.
The 19th ‘Venezia’ Divisions comes under attack at Thamad. British rear echelon troops contest the important ground at Nizzane Sinay against the newly arrived 26th ‘Assieta’ Division.
5th September: After a short battle where the Iraqi 3rd Division got the worst of the battle at Thamad and pulled out leaving the 19th Division in control of Thamad.
LEFT: di Feroleto 19th ‘Venezia’ Division defeats the 3rd Iraqi Division at Thamad.
8th September: The Allied troops at Port Said may have beaten off the attack of the 1st Blackshirts but they were far from out of danger. To the south Major General Infante had repositioned the elite 2nd ‘Emanuele Filiberto’ Division and now attacked. His objective was twofold, pin the Allied troops in Port Said while the eastern bank of the Suez was secured by de Stefanis and then eliminate the Allied forces at Port Said.
Captured British "Marmon-Herrington” armoured car used for mine clearing ahead of the Italian advance.
On the eastern bank of the Suez the 30th ‘Sabauda’ Division also attacked the lightly defended town of Romani region. This expected to close the trap and bring about the end of the Allied resistance on the Suez. Coincidentally, Romani was the same location as the
1916 Battle of Romani which ended the Defence of the Suez Canal campaign in the Great War.
The simultaneous battle of Port Said and Romani begin. Will this end the Suez campaign?
Algerian Front
Since his appointment as commander of the now combined Army Groups South & Tunisia, old Marshal de Bono had been intensely planning a combined amphibious and land operation for the capture of Algiers. When it was found that Algiers was not as lightly defended as first thought a new plan, Operation Icosium was put in place. The plan was wrecked when the elite 3rd ‘Principe Amedeo’ Division failed in its landing on the western beaches leaving the colonial troops of the IX Army stranded deep in French Algeria to fend for themselves. Two division of French mountaineers are now pushing the IX Army forces eastward.
3rd September: Tringali and his Lybian troops were given no chance to rest. Having retreated from Dou Saada and descended from the highlands to the desert land at M’Sila, they were soon under attack from French mountaineers again. Without having time to dig, the French troops again had the advantage over the 2nd Libyan Division.
The 2nd Libyan Division retreats east to the deserts of M’Sila but once again the French mountaineers attack.
On a more positive note, to the north the French mountaineers who had driven 3rd Eritrean Division westward appeared to be returning to Algiers.
AOI
Recap: In East Africa, the strong French 1st Army in Djibouti initially made advances on the Eritrean capital of Asmara but were eventually surrounded and annihilated by the Italians. 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. Entrapment of the British 3rd Army and the colonial 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 were able to close the pincer and trap the British against the impenetrable water waste called The Sudd. The remaining British forces are slowly being compressed against the unforgiving marsh as the Italian forces position themselves for the final blow.
Italian forces have also pushed into Tanganyika to the south around the western shores of Lake Victoria. Recently, Marshal Graziani also launched a daring seaborne invasion of the last mainland British port in East Africa - Dar es Salaam.
Uganda/South Sudan
4th September: The battle at Juba had now been in progress for a week. Huxley-Walker’s 10th Indian Division was holding the front against the massed Italian assault along with an ad hoc force of non-combat troops. Of the six divisions trapped in Juba only the 10th Indian had the ‘stomach’ left to continue the fight. The other five divisions had lost their officers, were out of supplies and ammo, were deserting or just milling around. In fact, being colonial troops they could not see why they should continue to fight for the British at all when Italian superiority was clear.
The reduction of Juba continues, with the full British force revealed.
Kenya/Tanganyika
2nd September: Within a few days of the British attack on Dar es Salaam, the 6th Blackshirts were in serious danger. The British 4th Division were fighting like lions and had already hemmed the Italians in on two sides and threatening to surround them completely.
The Italian 29th ‘Piemonte’ Division was a long way off, Italian bombers based out of Mombasa could not get enough fuel to lend a hand and the Red Sea Fleet was far to the north busy ferrying troops into Egypt.
The men of the 6th ‘Tevere’ Blackshirts Division were on their own and they knew it.
The British 4th Division maul and surround the 6th Blackshirts Division in Dar es Salaam.
4th September: Despite the significant amounts of supplies captured at the port city, the Italians had not had the time to effectively put them to use. In fact the Blackshirts were being slowly squeezed out of the city as the British secured its northern parts and pushed them out into a no man’s land to the south.
Men of the 221. Legione CC.NN ‘Italiani all’Estero’ of 6th ‘Tevere’ Blackshirts Division pinned down (?) and demoralised on the high ground above Dar es Salaam.
The defeat and surrender of the 6th ‘Tevere’ Blackshirts Division
6th September: Beaten and demoralised, elements of the 6th Blackshirts still holding out in the southern fringes of the port city initially began to surrender. The disease of cowardice quickly began to spread to the rest of the division and it wasn’t long before Major General Orsini had lost all control.
The 6th ‘Tevere’ Blackshirts Division surrendered...