My dear Benito! I am so glad that I am speaking with you now, it has been nearly four months, we last talked just before the invasions of Abyssinia in December! Much has occurred since then, to the glory of Italy!
I am revitalized my technological research and doctrinal development, and the results will be good! Not only that, but I have whipped the war hawks in Italy into even more of a frenzy, they already quite strong and getting stronger.
Italy's researches on January 1, 1936
The Imperial Italian Army, comprised of the
I and
II Corpo d’Armata dell’A.O.I. and the
Corpo d’Armata Libico began their general offensive against Abyssinia after a month of preparation.
Italy's Grand Battle Plan in Abyssinia
Gains were made quickly, and by the 11th of January the town of Denakil had been occupied on January 11. The Abyssinians immediately attacked with their vaunted Imperial Guard and a reservist division, the 1st Militia. The attack was quickly stopped and General Pintor’s
I Corpo d’Armata dell’A.O.I. counterattacked like the lightning! Major General Messe’s
26a Divisione ‘Assieta’ and Major General Roatta’s
30a Divisione ‘Sabauda’ smashed through the Imperial Guard defenses in hours, but could not exploit to their full capability as Pintor’s two reservist divisions and two regular infantry divisions had a harder time breaking through the Abyssinian reservist militia.
On January 12, the same day Abyssinian defenses around Dire Dawa were finally broken by Pintor’s assaults and until the 14th, Lieutenant General Geloso’s
II Corpo d’Armata dell’A.O.I. battled two Abyssinian reservist divisions around Dese. Concurrently, Graziani’s
Corpo d’Armata Libico smashed Abyssinian defenses at Moyale. All my generals are gaining fame and prestige in glorious battle against the hated Africans!
The
26a Divisione ‘Assieta’ was the first Italian unit to enter Addis Ababa, facing no resistance. I proudly annexed this last African kingdom, this loathsome Abyssinia, hours later. It was 1800, February 6.
Vital events occurred earlier, in January, during this campaign. On the 7th, I proudly announced to my people, my proud Italians, that Italy was in alliance with Germany! This alliance had immediate benefits for my Italy. They freely trade me enough energy to keep Italy’s vast industries going until such a time when it is fully self-sufficient. Also, they have provided Macchi with three of their own Messerschmitt Bf-109D interceptors; this greatly sped up Macchi’s development of their own interceptor. I am proud to announce to you that the first working prototype of the Macchi MC.200 Saeta was demonstrated to me on March 30th, yesterday. I immediately put in an order for them to produce enough to upgrade my five interceptor squadrons in Rome.
Three Macchi MC.200 Saetta interceptors
On the same day, I contracted Giulio Natta to develop a working agrichemistry to improve Italy’s fertile fields even more.
Another benefit from my new Rome-Berlin axis is that I have upgraded and refurbished all my divisions, increasing their size by one brigade each and bringing them up to parity, both manpower and equipment-wise, with the impressive German divisions. The German chief of the navy—Admiral Raeder—convinced me to scrap all my ships that date from the Great War. With such a move, I free up thousands of trained sailors for usage on more modern ships.