WW2 Forgotten Fronts: Italian East Africa

The East Africa Campaign of World War Two lasted from June 1940 to November 1941. It is commonly overlooked in most mainstream histories of WW2 and I believe it deserves more attention as an excellent case study to understand Italy's shortcomings during the Second World War.
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If you'd like to learn more on this subject, here are some interesting sources I used:
www.britannica.com/event/Worl...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...
#ww2 #history #worldwar2

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

Italy conquered 6 countries, was awarded the territory they won in France, and were the main contributors in the victory in the Spanish civil war vs. the Communist. Aside from Russia and Germany no other European country performed better, or stated another way, Italy was the 3rd best performing European country of the war, and an Empire larger than Germany's.

[@marccs1978]

In the first video clip, there are Scottish Soldiers walking behind a truck and on the KM.1822 sign there is an HD logo painted on the top. This was the badge of the 51st Highland Division. Everywhere they went/fought (France 1940, North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, North West Europe) they would paint or put up HD signs to show they had been there like their fore-fathers did in World War 1. They became known as the "Highway Decorators" by other Allied units.

[@DrRomaioi]

Italy did not have a technological advantage at Adawa. They were outnumbered ~10:1 and the Ethiopians were well equipped with the latest rifles (courtesy of France and Russia). Otherwise, good video. Though Keren was considered a legendary battle. Might be worth looking into

[@tyrone5619]

Italy had air support and had access to their weak yet usable armor. Ethiopia didnt have a significant force of either

[@DrRomaioi]

@@tyrone5619 you are thinking of the wrong war. Adawa, the referred to battle above, was in 1890.

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

Rommel was a “genius” thanks only to the Italians: “At that point, of course, the situation changed considerably and Rommel has gone down in history as one of the greatest military leaders of all time for his stunning victories over the British in north Africa.. What many fail to realize though is that the forces effectively under his command, which he used to win these masterful successes, were 2/3 Italian and the large majority of his armored forces were Italian tanks.” “The German soldier has impressed the world, however the Italian Bersagliere soldier has impressed the German soldier.” _Rommel And Italian intelligence and bravery: NOTE: This video has since been removed due to copyright infringement. It showed how Italian Intelligence Services penetrated British Intelligence and relayed British fighting positions to Rommel, hence why he seemed to know their every move.

[@FigNewtonBars]

Great video! It balances education and entertainment perfectly, overall amazing. Good job!

[@PoorlyGraded]

Thank you!

[@ClemDiamond]

Good video and summary. I always enjoy looking at "forgotten fronts" of the war. In a KZbin world full of history enthusiasts, i think you have room for improvement like maybe having just a little more tone in your voice and some short pauses in your speech to let the audience fully digest long or complex sentences (there are foreigners like me on the internet), but you certainly have potential. Subbed for the promised series on the campaign.

[@PoorlyGraded]

Thank you! I appreciate your comment, I plan on uploading more often going forwards and will be sure to take your advice :)

[@daspinguinhd6467]

I was kinda surprised to see that you only have 750 subscribers, while delivering such high-quality videos. Keep it up man!

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

High quality PROPAGANDA...

[@JustARandomGoofyKid]

Fun fact: germany support ethiopia in second italo-ethiopian war by giving resources

[@hajime2k]

Germany also trained Chinese resistance fighters against Japan. USSR allowed Germany to build planes and tanks in Soviet territory pre-war.

[@warhawk4494]

Good video and very informative. Keep up the great work.

[@lightfootpathfinder8218]

Really enjoyed the video 👍 iv just subscribed

[@pippleyfisching9214]

Dude. You're channel is so underrated. Love your content, and I will be sure to share your videos. Cheers!

[@josephpercente8377]

Italy wasn't doing bad untill they lost their air force. The british raided their main base and destroyed about 50 planes on the ground. Some of these had been flown in on transports (wings removed etc.).

[@quinvos57]

The main issue was the lack of spare parts (due to lack of supplies coming from Italy)

[@SPD3DPrinting]

WW2 History in the Africa and the Balkan regions were a drain on Germany & Axis resources (men, machines & materials) and are not covered well in mainstream WW2 history materials. thanks for the information.

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

“On June 7, 1942, infantry of the Italian X Corps saved Rommel’s 15th Brigade near Gazala, in North Africa, from otherwise certain annihilation. These and numerous other disclosures combine to debunk lingering propaganda stereotypes of the inept, ineffectual Italian armed forces and their allegedly inept commanders and supreme leader. That dated portrayal is rendered obsolete by a true-to-life account of the men and weapons of Mussolini’s War: Volume 1-The Triumphant Years.”

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

“This revisionist history convincingly argues that the Regia Marina Italiana (the Royal Italian Navy) has been neglected and maligned in assessments of its contributions to the Axis effort in World War II. After all, Italy was the major Axis player in the Mediterranean, and it was the Italian navy and air force, with only sporadic help from their German ally, that stymied the British navy and air force for most of the thirty-nine months that Italy was a belligerent. It was the Royal Italian Navy that provided the many convoys that kept the Axis war effort in Africa alive by repeatedly braving attack by aircraft, submarine, and surface vessels. If doomed by its own technical weaknesses and Ultra (the top-secret British decoding device), the Italian navy still fought a tenacious and gallant war; and if it did not win that war, it avoided defeat for thirty-nine, long, frustrating months.”

[@BlueDebut]

Awesome video man. HOI4 and the WW2 series by Indy always brought it to my attention but people rarely talk about it!

[@benchapman3383]

Great video mate

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

"Not only should Tunisia have exploded the myth of Hitler's military acumen, it should have discredited the idea that Germans fought better than the Italians, since Messe's 1st Italian Army held out longer than Arnim's 5th German Army and the DAK, even both groups had about six divisions and faced roughly equal Anglo-American forces. Indeed, Hermann Goring division was the first to be scattered on 7 May, DAK the next to break and surrender on 9 May, with the Italian Spezia division closing the gap created by the German collapse and watching still combat-efficient German units march off into captivity on 11 May. Whether it is significant that the German 90th Light division was the first to collapse in Messe's 'Italian' Army, there is no doubt that the Italians fought well and held out longest in Tunisia." (The Second World War: The German War 1939-1942, Jeremy Black, Page 265, Ashgate, 2007)”

[@steven.ghodgson765]

Born at the time of this conflict and a follower of WW11 , I never knew about this conflict although Italy's Etheopian campaign before WW11 was noted. Thanks , good video.

[@dyanreoliveira4764]

440 subs? Yeah I’m getting in on the ground floor here mate. Only gonna go up

[@rrogue4340]

Amazing video.

[@kacperq1987]

8:40 Rather state independence - in Ethiopia there was no singular nation even before Italian invasion (that was one of several key points to Italian victory in 1936, next to slavery and lack of modernization)

[@canraid3477]

Fascinating to hear the Italians conducted an insurgency in Ethiopia. I sas very curious about the circumstances behind that. It turns out the local Somali and Eritreans helped the Italian soldiers navigate their insurgency. It's also crazy to see the incompetence of the Italian army throughout all of WWII, and then finding out they performed relatively well in the Eastern front. The Italian volunteer groups there quite sucessful. Either way informative video about a front that often is just skipped over. Thank you 🙏.

[@jamalfaisal8521]

Amazing clip

[@tavishnundoo6002]

Actually in the First Italian-Ethiopan war, the Abyssians had technology superior weapons as they got a lot of weapons and advisors from the Russian Empire.

[@RinoBellissimo]

Frank Joseph, Mussolini’s War, Fascists Italy’s Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935 - 1945. Among the great misconceptions of modern times is the assumption that Benito Mussolini was Hitler's junior partner, who made no significant contributions to the Second World War. That conclusion originated with Allied propagandists determined to boost Anglo-American morale, while undermining Axis cooperation. The Duce's failings, real or imagined, were inflated and ridiculed; his successes pointedly demeaned or ignored. Italy's bungling navy, ineffectual army - as cowardly as it was ill-equipped - and air force of antiquated biplanes were handily dealt with by the Western Allies. So effective was this disinformation campaign that it became post-war history, and is still generally taken for granted even by otherwise well-informed scholars and students of World War Two. But a closer examination of recently disclosed, and often neglected, original source materials presents an entirely different picture. They shine new light, for example, on Italy's submarine service, the world's greatest in terms of tonnage, its boats sinking nearly three-quarters of a million tons of Allied shipping in three years' time. During a single operation, Italian 'human torpedoes' sank the battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth, plus an eight-thousand-ton tanker, at their home anchorage in Alexandria, Egypt. By mid-1942, Mussolini's navy had fought its way back from crushing defeats to become the dominant power in the Mediterranean Sea. Contrary to popular belief, his Fiat biplanes gave as good as they got in the Battle of Britain, and their monoplane replacements, such as the Macchi Greyhound, were state-of-the-art interceptors superior to the American Mustang. Savoia-Marchetti Sparrowhawk bombers accounted for seventy-two Allied warships and one hundred-ninety-six freighters before the Badoglio armistice in 1943. On 7 June 1942, infantry of the Italian X Corps saved Rommel's XV Brigade near Gazala, in North Africa, from otherwise certain annihilation, while horse-soldiers of the Third Cavalry Division Amedeo Duca d'Aosta defeated Soviet forces on the Don River before Stalingrad the following August in history's last cavalry charge. As influential as these operations were on the course of World War Two, more potentially decisive was Mussolini's planned aggression against the United States' mainland. Postponed only at the last moment when its conventional explosives were slated for substitution by a nuclear device, New York City escaped an atomic attack by margins more narrow than previously understood. It is now known that Italian scientists led the world in nuclear research in 1939, and a four-engine Piaggio heavy bomber was modified to carry an atomic bomb five years later. These and numerous other disclosures combine to debunk lingering propaganda stereotypes of inept, ineffectual Italian armed forces. That dated portrayal is rendered obsolete by a true-to-life account of the men and weapons of Mussolini's War.

[@kemballcook216]

Wow, I would love yo see a you tube channel from you to see through the misconception

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

Saw your comments after I posted some of the same above. This video is the typical Brit/PROPAGANDA.

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

@@kemballcook216 Saw HIS comments after I posted some of the same above, please read and if you want more info I have it.

[@writtwoodson6879]

The KZbin video was directed toward the 1941 military struggle to regain Ethiopian independence. That independence served the interests of both the Ethiopians and the British Empire. Bellissimo's comments were not directed specifically toward that military struggle at all. Why were the Ethiopians able to dislodge the Italian forces so quickly with British assistance? I have one answer, which does not address the prowess of Italian forces. That answer is the reality that the Italians never did take control of all of Ethiopia. Ethiopian insurgency never ceased to undermine Italian hegemony. Bellissimo may be correct that Italian military effectiveness has been underestimated in general. This particular matter has more to do, however, with the size of British colonial forces and the supply of weapons to Ethiopian insurgents, than with Italian submarines.

[@RinoBellissimo]

A great book on this subject to read is Marek Sobski's, "East Africa 1940-1941 (land campaign) The Italian Army Defends The Empire in The Horn of Africa".

[@simoneantonini5181]

This video lacks information about major battles such as the Battle of Keren and the Battle of Amba-Alagi. Amba-Alagi in particular is remembered as one of the fiercest battles of the war, with the Italians (led by Duke Amedeo) entrenched in the mountains fighting hand-to-hand against Commonwealth (mainly Indian) forces. The duke and the garrison were given war honors by the British following their capture. Still funny video but a little too simplified (it would have been more interesting to see a focus on the courageous Ethiopian resistance which is a topic often forgotten by KZbin historians)

[@scarletcrusade77]

I liked this video it was really well done. Could you do a video on the Dodecanese campaign? Thats another threater that gets often ignored and not talked about.

[@Spudpotato08]

a lot of australian fronts are also forgotten like in papa new guinea and around that area of the world.

[@motormikeb1047]

Was stationed there early 70's. Two books of the era.. Under the Red Sea Sun... Project 19, A Mission Most Secret. I toured the country twice by m/cycle down to Kenya ... Discovered many old forts, road check points..motor pools... Asmara had a large Italian presence ... but with the change of Govt nearly all fled the country. We brought home old Moto Guzzi motorcycles and a Ducati.

[@BeerHero667]

Ethiopia was in the end colonized, and Liberia was basically an US dump colony. So no, Africa was 100% defeated and colonized, no wakanda in this timeline.

[@ThePanEthiopian]

Italy had barely controlled most of the country side. The resistance fighers held lands comparable to southern Italy for 5 years until the British came. I suggest that you watch the video second ethio italian war everyday

[@BeerHero667]

@@ThePanEthiopian that’s what African lesser education maybe teaching. It is documented that Italy conquered the major regions of Ethiopia, expropriated land and filled it with Italian colonists (textbook colonization). You don’t say that because Myanmar had resistance in the jungle against the UK then it was never colonized. No wakanda in this timeline, deal with it.

[@jstevinik3261]

Hey, pal. I came across your video because I could not find any videos on this campaign beyond TIK history mentioning what occurred in British Somaliland and corps command Alan Cunningham becoming first general of the 8th Army in North Africa. I would like to add a few minor elaborations, context, and corrections. 1:38 Some of the Ethiopians had contemporary equipment in rifles and artillery, even depicted in the iconic painting you displayed, that were mostly supplied by the Russian Empire because Abyssinia was Eastern Orthodox Christian. 2:08 The League of Nations never ignored the issue. It did impose soft economic sanctions against Italy, but they did not sanction coal and oil (which Italy lacked to the point British blockade around Gibraltar caused the Italians to limit the fuel to transport supplies for North Africa). 2:24 You could make a joke, similar to KZbinr Potential History, in which he would use a text-to-speech program in respective language to play the pronunciation, i.e. Amharic. 3:59 Another to add is that Mussolini planned 1943 because there were non-written expectation for Germany to not go to war (though Germany inaccurately assumed the UK's "balance of power" geo-politics only applied internationally and not Europe, but I am not sure Italy was aware of the probability of the UK getting involved because of German aggression). Italy only got into when German ran over Western Europe in June 1940 and presumed the UK would sue for peace, in which Italy would have to get involved if they wanted British Egypt, Sudan, Malta, etc. This explains why Mussolini gave no clear objectives beyond just start engaging with the British (no goal of seizing Suez or Khartoum). 5:13 I could only find info about only two Indian divisions (4th taken away from Operation Compass in North Africa and 5th) and one south African Division (1st), along with two colonial African divisions, during the 1941 offensives but it is not quite the same in the scenario you described. I am just a little skeptical since I could not find much info beyond the units that were deployed on the offensives. 6:51 Addis Ababa was taken by troops from Aden and most the southern force. Saalessi was to the left of Col. Winget who led special forces (including Ethiopian exiles) into western Ethiopia, so he developed special operations units in Burma. 7:31 Wavell was let go primarily because the British were defeated in Greece and North Africa (when Rommel began offensives and could not be counter-attacked when most British forces were deployed to Greece) with anti-British coup occurring in Iraq that he had to suppress. Thus, Churchill thought he was not up to the job, though the issues were beyond him. 8:49 Hence, why there are tons of archived Pathe newsreel propaganda on the campaign, though Operation Compass occurred first and the Italians were not isolated. 10:24 The campaign was interesting because 4th Indian and 1st South African division were deployed to North Africa for Operation Crusader while colonial African troops were eventually sent to Burma. I hope I did not come off as too pedantic, but nice to see someone to approach this topic.

[@Historical_events]

Impeccable!!!

[@sirspuds]

4:52 did that guy just get thrown aside?

[@arthursandomine5464]

This really makes me want to boot up Hoi4 and play as my favurite country and change history!

[@CZ350tuner]

The Italian-Abyssinian war started in 1935, not 1936. The Italians resorted to using Mustard gas after losing a major battle at the end of December 1935. At the time of the Italian invasion, Abyssinian had the 4th largest regular army in the world, which was reasonably equipped with what were then modern weapons. The Abyssinian primary anti-tank guns were the SEMAG L 20mm. autocannon and 20 German 37mm. PaK.35 anti-tank guns (with a good supply of PzGr.18 APHE ammunition, that was donated by Hitler (along with 10,000 Mauser rifles, 10,000,000 rounds of Mauser 7.92mm. cartridges and modern radio communications equipment). The Abyssinian army consisted of the Imperial Guard & the regular army. This was equipped with Chevrolet 30 CWT trucks, Mauser rifles, FN BAR rifles, Czech Zb.26 LMG, Hotchkiss MMG and Vickers MMG. The Abyssinian officer corps was trained by the Belgian army and were up to date with European military tactics in 1935. Facing them was the overconfident, outnumbered, inappropriately equipped, logistically challenged and mostly inept Italian invasion forces.

[@charliesargent6225]

MORE/BS "history" The Italians lost NO major battle, they were only slowed down for a few weeks and the mustard gas was used later to discourage Ethiopians from fighting for the resistance. Plus Germany prolonged the war by aiding the Ethiopians just as in the 1st war the Russians aided Ethiopia and the ONLY Italian loss was ONE battle. Adawa, the decisive one, where the Italians were outnumbered 10-1. Aside from that the Ethiopians were easily defeated and it was 5 years later that the ALLIES, not the Ethiopians defeated the Italians. So even with help from Europeans, the Italians won and this after Italy had been fighting continuous wars since 1911, while Germany was busy rearming itself for 20 years. There was no ineptness, only a delayed victory since the impatient over confident Mussolini always wanted immediate victories as in Greece where he inadequately supplied his forces. And Greece was an ITALIAN victory, NOT German, as Hitler admitted in a speech to the Reichstag.

[@BountyFlamor]

The battles for the French colonies in Africa are another ignored theatre. Such as the battle for Gabon or the naval battle of Dakar.

[@drained_yayo]

Bro's majestic

[@BobHooker]

That pith hat is from Vietnam right?

[@micheleturco6430]

worth noting that in Adwa the ethiopians outnumbered the italians and they were also supplied with modern russian rifles, sent by the tsar in reason of their mutual orthodox faith

[@shoominati23]

I was just taking an intermission from watching Lion of the Desert and I come across this video.. Jinx

[@josefoglio9250]

Completely biased against the Italians (including the stupid spaghetti figure) At the battle of keren that lasted 60 days see in Wikipedia where it indicates that the total casualties in british side were 526 dead plus 3228 wounded (that the author do not mention ) against 3000 killed and 4000 wounded Italians. The difference in killed was mainly due to the fact that British Artillery was superior in an attrition battle and had the double range compared to the Italian. For the full battle of keren see : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Keren

[@RinoBellissimo]

Read "East Africa 1940-1941" by Marek Sobski. The Italians and their colonial troops which made up of 75% of the fighting force were grossly out gunned and yet they won many battles during the campaign against all odds. British propaganda lives on.

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

Read my new comments and I have plenty more, this video is 90% PROPAGANDA and yes 100% biased.

[@dilloncrowe1018]

I wish i could find the casualties of the Italian Resistance Movement In Ethiopia, I'd like to know how much damage they really did.

[@quinvos57]

Some of your numbers are a bit off. For instance you say UK lost only 536 soldiers to the Italians 12.000 at Keren. I guess you got that number from Wikipedia, however tha’s incomplete. 536 are only the British casualties in the battle, but doesn’t include, for instance, the number of Indian commonwealth forces who died in the battle, who numbered about 3-4000 deaths. Overall the Allies lost almost 100.000 troops in these campaign counting dead and wounded. Italians’ losses were comparable. It wasn’t an easy fight for the Allies overall

[@arthursandomine5464]

Why did the Italians conquer Br. Somali Land? Only to get more land? Because in a game like hoi4 there is no real reason to do it and I'm guessing it would be the same irl . Did Mussolini think More land=good?

[@mathewkelly9968]

In HoI when I go Italy I pull everything out of east Africa as soon as Ethiopia is conquered

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

Without America, Commonwealths, India, the French who saved you at Dunkirk (look up the video How the French saved the British army at Dunkirk) , you Brits would have LOST: Q: Why does every piece of British military equipment come with a phone? A: So they can call America and their allies to come save them "Over 87,000 Indian troops, and 3 million civilians died in World War II.[2][3] Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, former Commander-in-Chief, India, stated that Britain "couldn't have come through both wars [World War I and II] if they hadn't had the Indian Army."[4][5]"

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

Since you so enjoyed yourself spreading propaganda about Italian forces, I had to include this which is but an excerpt of this article: According to Dr Fennell, the situation of cowardliness and low morale among the rank and file of the British soldier and infantryman leading to an unwillingness to fight and a distinct tendency to surrender, that General Auchinleck, “with the unanimous agreement of his army commanders, forwarded to the War Office a recommendation for the reintroduction of the death penalty for ‘desertion in the field’ and for ‘misbehaving in the face of the enemy in such a manner as to show cowardice’.” The situation was so bad, that Auchinleck could not wait for a reply from the War Office to his request that he issued a general order to his senior officers that they were to ‘take the strongest possible action against any individual of whatever rank who refused to conform to orders. If necessary, in order to stop panic, there must be no hesitation in resorting to extreme measures, such as shooting an individual who cannot otherwise be stopped’.”

[@kalamataman9902]

The Greek victory over Italy was the first victory against the Axis.

[@fredferd965]

It's actually Adowa. The Italian alphabet has less letters than other languages. Adwa is the Italian spelling.

[@alessiocataldi2434]

Cant believe even scottish & new Zealanders joined the fight

[@lostonearth7856]

Dont you love it when your deception works so well, it actually backfire spectacularly in the most stupidest way ever?

[@georgekenney8121]

yes but he was overthrown in 1974

[@jdee8407]

Gondar needs aid, and Rohan, excusee I mean Roma will... eh... eata da pizza! Gooda luck!

[@NoName-hg6cc]

Wanna talk about English (and their servants) poor showing in Asia? LOL

[@dennisgauss7644]

In the first defeat all the Italian prisoners were castrated and sent back home !!

[@stigdagerman2556]

In the end Italians were defeated due to British naval and technological superiority and colonial experience; however all these references you make to spaghetti, pizza, far from being funny, are largely unprofessional and bothering, not to say racist.

[@whyismyricewet1986]

Italians aren't so sensitive to get offended by mentioning foods that they are proud of

[@normalplayer7377]

As an Italian, go suck a lemon

[@normalplayer7377]

​@@whyismyricewet1986 Ayyyyy, Now this guy gets it.

[@neddyladdy]

Why are you illustrating fighting between British and Italian forces with film of US troops ? The US had not even entered the war.,. Very misleading in my eyes, in many others' too I would think. That might be why it is forgotten, the greatest self promoting army of all time wasn't there.

[@frarevo]

Why you dont talk about the indians losses 4000-5000? Ah yes, they arent commonwealth, they only died for themself. Where is the gratitude for these indians who died for British empire...????

[@spaniardsrmoors6817]

See my comments above one which includes India, it's typical British propaganda claiming they achieved it all.

[@extremathule982]

Nice Brit propaganda, bravo.

[@SisyphusMMA]

Fr