1940
Africa Vetus
So the flames of war licked Europe once again. For a second time in half a century the dark green fields of Poland played host to giant hordes and armies rumbling across it, as nations played the great game.
During July France desperately attempted to revert the situation, to appease and solve this 'problem' like it had in 1938 and 1936, and many times beforehand. But Hitler had reached the end of his patience, and felt no room left for other nations to appease his own. Instead he sent over sixty divisions tumbling in a synchronised fashion straight into Danzig.
In the early days of July the border provinces of Poznan and Gdyina were shocked as the small amount of Polish troops were decimated. German artillery opened fire with revenge in their heart, and so it was that the weak border troops were swept away like a monster wave snapped houses in half. This stunning victory by the German Army could easily be compared to this, with the large tanks and masses of troops seemingly a grey wave overwhelming isolated Poland.
Over July the Axis armies descended on the rest of Poland, fast approaching the far eastern border. War was now entirely impossible to deny, and so on July 22nd France and the United Kingdom finally declared war upon the Axis powers. The armistice of twenty years had finally ended.
Poland was encircled by greedy enemies quickly
The Allies late intervention could do nothing to save Poland, and on July 24th the remaining political representatives of Poland signed a unconditional treaty in Warsaw, and formally ceded the entirety of their country over to their German and Russian neighbours, who had also intervened at the end of the campaign.
The news reached Rome that very day. Though publicly the news was greeted with cheers and smiles, the leaders immediately looked south with furrowed brows. For as they were at war with the British, it was now impossible to supply Abyssinia, and North Africa would become a torrent of war.
Dark times waited ahead.
The Second Abyssinian Campaign and Defence of Libya
June 1940 – February 1941
Let us focus on Abyssinia for now. Considering that it was a recent addition to the Italian Empire it is perhaps with the same importance it is retained, even though the Allied Empires will undoubtedly throw everything and anything at this small outpost in small attempts to throw off our strong hold.
There is one small detail which ruins any meticulous plans to defend Abyssinia. That it is impossible to supply the twenty nine divisions there. Not a single ton of supplies can get past the firmly held ports of Gibraltar and the Suez, both British possessions.
This adds unbelievable urgency to the task of the northern divisions. They must break through Sudan and into Libya before the Allies can strike north from Chad. If a connection can be established with Italian Libya, then a good supply route can run through occupied Sudan. If the Allies cut off our attempts, then we have lost many thousands in Abyssinia. This is how these two campaigns are linked.
The initial salvo was the seizure of the French and British colonies of Djbouti and Hargeisa, both which lay on the very tip of the Horn of Africa and were important ports for passing enemy fleets. A waypoint for the British between Cairo and the Cape. A single division claimed both with no resistance.
French and British Somaliland was seized at once
At the same time the twenty nine divsions spread out along the entire border of Abyssinia and prepared for the onslaught, as the Allies hadn't a single division nearby except three in Port Sudan. Due to the urgency of the campaign as soon as the Eriteran divisions were ready they began a large offensive north. On August 17th over ten divisions made contact with small continegents of the British Army. The enemies fast moving divisions managed to defend the Port for nearly a month, for when the Italians attempted to dislodge them in a storm of artillery fire, before moving in with the infantry.
It was a victory in battle. As has been noted Port Sudan was merely a stepping stone on the way to Libya. No one predicted the possibility of a lack of oil in Abyssinia, and so it was with grim news that it took until November for the army to reach Port Sudan. Nearly four months wasted, and hardly any closer.
There was hardly any major confrontation over the next five months but rather a small set of small events which contributed to the decline of the entire campaign.
Though divisions in Somaliland had been moved closer to the border of British Kenya in attempts to halt the obvious colonial divisions there, they had been pushed away by (suprisingly) French forces moving east from Uganda. This unexpected move meant that the three poorly equipped divisions fell back on the provincial capital of Mogadishu.
The collaspe of the southern front ran opposite the success to the north, where Italy was rapidly pushing into Sudan. By November though, as shown before, the Allied front was solidified with French divisions moving in from Syria. The British had obviously given priority to Sudan as well, as troops were moving south from Cairo after offloading transports. With our convoys having not reached Abyssinia since August, the troops were now losing large numbers of men due to desertion and hunger. Morale plummeted as many realised that there was no escape, except perhaps to scramble northwards in horribly sad attempts to make contact with Tripoli.
As the last four squadrons of fighter planes left Mogadishu forever, flying towards Tripoli Airport, they were shocked to find the (only) three divisions stationed there were loading onto heavily guarded transports and shipping off to Benghazi. This news, never to reach the public, was that all of Western Libya was being sacrificed to the French who were racing east from Tunisia. Not only this, but as a firm defence line was being drawn from Tobruk to Benghazi (with Tobruk being the main point in the line) four divisions were pulled from Sicily, Naples and Rome and brought down to Libya. The situation, even in well supplied Libya, was getting desperate in the early days of the war.
The air force abandoned Abyssinia early on in the campaign
We can also essentially write off Abyssinia. The navy and air force had pulled out in October, and by Christmas Somaliland was defenceless while Sudan had thousands of Allied troops enacting a vicious counter-offensive certain to break through to Addis Adeba by March 1941.
So our attention must be brought around to North Africa, where the main concern of Italy now was. There had been light skirmishes south of Tobruk throughout 1940, with one large skirmish happening nearly three hundred kilometres south when the British managed to crack through the line and enclose the Italian front. The Tripoli divisions, freshly arrived, swept from the flank and sliced away the British. The new divisions from the mainland soon reinforced the entire southern front.
The situation is as such – we had enclosed all of North East Libya in a defensive ring of well equipped, and well supplied divisions. The southern front was now firm with reinforcements, though news of at least thirty divisions roaring north from Sudan and Chad alarmed the generals. The eastern flank was straining with heavy pressure from Alexandria, but had pre-war fortifications there to survive the worse. Unless the British navy somehow cut off the vital supply route from Taranto to Tobruk, thus killing off the supply of the armies, then Libya promised to being a long-term fort of strength.
In the wild depths of Africa the twenty nine divisions had been assigned a horrible fate. The Allies surrounded and tore apart Abyssinia with no mercy. This front, something which could have been a brilliant success, was undersupplied and as such lost to every Allied offensive. Abyssinia was lost.
The Last Gasp
June 1940 – February 1941
Europe was a continet left stunned with renewed war. The Allies had refrained from declaring war until at least August, giving Germany ample time to strike down isolated Poland.
The German conquests were one of shock to even its allies. The news that it had tore apart Poland, along with Axis- Czechoslavkia and the Soviet Union were no suprise, but when it invaded and occupied Denmark in mere days – this was one of confrontational shock to the cosy public of the West.
The Germans rolled into Slesvig victoriously
The Germans had sent at least twenty panzer divisions north in November and had reached Northern Slesvig within days. Copenhagen threw in the towel soon after, and urged its close ally Norway to follow swiftly or suffer as the new battleground of Europe.
France bristled with outrage and threatened Germany, but its borders remained inactive and selfishly centred on its own defence. But not a single nation moved when the Communists rumbled slowly into action, invading Finland in November as well. The hypocrisy was one of great satisfaction to Mussolini, and he gloated on every moral defeat of the Allied cause.
His gloating could not be long sustained. He had suffered more defeats then any King ever had, no matter what he had done in times of peace. Now the first war Italy had involved itself in, four years beforehand, came roaring to a sudden halt. It was with great sadness that Rome received news of the Spanish fascists surrender in February 1941. Th Communists had once again gained a silent victory at the very border of France, and they reacted with only congratulations from Paris.
The war had kicked off with a very loud bang for Italy. Though Europe itself slumbered from years of the Armistice, the old jewel of Africa was now shining with renewed and vigorious war. The much hated colonial gain of Abyssinia had been 'reclaimed' by the Allies (or surely would be soon), and they now approached the entirety of Libya in alarming speed. The propaganda machine was perhaps Rome's only defence in these early months.
But the positives must be examined. Firstly, Libya promised to hold out no matter the severity of any offensive thrown at it (the 'Africa Line' it was named, in honour of the old Roman province) and perhaps provide a tender base for further expansion into North Africa. And secondly, the great military machine of Nazi Germany was now in slow action. The rapid defeat of the French would mean the release of pressure from Libya, and the regain of ancient cities along the Piedmont border.
These, of course, were also viewed as desperate hopes in imperialist's mind. Some also viewed it as a matter of utter survival.
