Air War East Africa 1940-41: The RAF Versus the Italian Air Force by Jon Sutherland & Diane Canwell

Author:Jon Sutherland & Diane Canwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Aviation
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2009-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Collapse

A small force arrived in Berbera in British Somaliland from Aden on 16 March 1941. Wavell had agreed at Cunningham’s request to improvise a force to take it. The line of the River Juba had been broken, Mogadishu captured and the British were now thrusting towards Harar.

The Duke of Aosta had flown down to Harar at the end of February to instruct Generale De Simone to deny Harar to the enemy and to make a stand to the north of Jijiga. At his disposal would be 26,000 colonial troops and 5,000 Italian troops. The Italians were a mixed bag – two Blackshirt battalions, East African police, armed customs officials and a unit of armed drivers. Occupying British Somaliland was the 70th Colonial Brigade, which was supposed to be a good formation. But it was to be an enormous disappointment.

HMS Glasgow, HMS Caledon, HMS Kandahar and HMS Kingston appeared off Berbera at dawn on 16 March. They bombarded the port and then landed two Punjabi battalions to seize the former British capital. They found that the 70th Brigade had in fact disbanded itself. A colonel and sixty men in parade dress were waiting to surrender.

Meanwhile the 23rd Nigerian Brigade had reached Jijiga and had sent some armoured cars, along with the 3rd Nigerian Regiment, to cut off the Italian retreat. The capture of Jijiga was a real coup, as it provided an ideal base for the South African Air Force units. Up until this point they had had to try to refuel on their way to and back from bombing missions around Harar and Diredawa. It also meant that the capture of Berbera would allow supplies to come in for the rest of Cunningham’s forces. By 22 March the 2nd South African Brigade had landed at Berbera after a six-day voyage from Mombasa.

The way out of the area and towards Harar and Addis Ababa was through the Marda Pass. The Italians had fortified the pass and the hills on either side of it with minefields, entrenchments and barbed wire. The approach to the pass was over five and a half miles of open ground, with no cover. The British believed that it was held by four battalions and a group of irregulars.

On 18 March 12 SAAF Squadron had launched Ju86s to attack the Marda Pass and strafe Italian transport on the Harar road. On 19 March South African bombers were moved up to Jijiga. This included the Ju86s and the Fairey Battles. They could now strike at Diredawa and Addis Ababa with impunity. On 20 March the Harar Diredawa road was attacked by three Ju86s and a Hurricane. They encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire and then a pair of CR.32s. Capt Theron managed to shoot up one of the Italian aircraft.

On 21 March Hartebeests of 41 SAAF Squadron struck the Marda Pass once again. This was in conjunction with a two-brigade attack that was being launched against the pass. It was clear by 20 March that the Italians were happy to slip away if it appeared that a determined push might be made to take the pass.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.