Dolo is located in the upper reaches of the Juba River, where the Dawa River, which originates from the Ethiopian plateau, intersects with the Canaledoria River. The intersection of the two rivers makes the land and water here relatively good, so the Saha who live here
The Bu tribe (a small Somali tribe) cultivates the small flat land in the river valley and still has a considerable harvest.
Since this place is not bad, then of course as the commander of the Italian Expeditionary Force, Colonel Crowley would not let such a place go. This is why he took the main force of the expeditionary force, 1,500 people, to occupy Dollo.
But he didn't know that his move to occupy Doro made Vanis Vasquez, Duke of Alaaba, feel threatened.
This ruler ruled most of the Bakool region (now most of Ethiopia's Somali Province). Although he remained neutral during the Abyssinian Civil War, in the face of the Italian invasion, the Duke lost his good temper.
After sending envoys to demand that Italy withdraw from Dolo but being rejected, the Duke of Ala'aba took most of his troops along the Canaledoria Valley and pressed against Dolo.
How many troops did the Duke of Ala'aba bring?
Its directly affiliated troops numbered 21,000, equipped with some front-loading guns and a small number of breech-loading guns. The tribe's mobilized troops reached 24,000, mainly bows, arrows, javelins and spears, and a small number of front-loading guns.
These 45,000 troops are not a small number for the Italian army stationed in Dolo. Colonel Crowley, who served as the commander for this purpose, has many times thought of withdrawing from Dolo to avoid its edge.
.However, considering the impact this would have on my career future, I held back.
However, although he temporarily resisted the idea of retreating, Colonel Crowley did not intend to rely on this small force to block the incoming enemy. He sent three waves of messengers in succession, asking Luge, Garbahare, Bulbore and others to be in the rear.
The Italian garrison in the area mobilized troops to support Dolo.
It seems that he was negligent. Since he had been successful in the past and had always faced tribes that were not too big, the expedition force he led gradually reduced from 3,500 people at the beginning to 1,500 people. After all, it was so big.
In certain places, troops need to be stationed to declare sovereignty. If two hundred are left in this place and three hundred in that place, the number of troops will naturally be much smaller.
In addition, they were invaders, and Duke Ala'aba was a local snake, so when the spies reported that the enemy was incoming, Duke Ala'aba's army was already less than 150 kilometers away from them. This distance was less than one
It will arrive in a week.
At this time, Colonel Crowley could only get support from the nearest Lugar garrison. Its commander, Captain Cooney, transferred 100 men from his own 200 men for emergency support.
Faced with such meager support, Colonel Crowley also knew that the captain had tried his best. You must know that Luger was his retreat. If someone cut off his escape, there would be nowhere to run. After all, there is desert everywhere, except for
Apart from the Juba Valley where we can march, there is no water source anywhere else.
"Are you sure the enemy has arrived at Reawa?"
"Yes, sir, I can confirm that the enemy has arrived at Leava. There are huge crowds of people there, all of them are the troops of Vanis Vasquez, Duke of Alaaba."
The person being questioned by Colonel Crowley was Mensah, who was originally the most successful businessman in Kismayo and now used his advantage to become Colonel Crowley's intelligence spy.
He recruited several locals under his command, all of whom were familiar with the local terrain, so they could provide intelligence to Colonel Crowley. And the Reawa he was talking about was a small river called Weib 20 kilometers away from Doro.
, at its confluence with the Canaledoria River.
"Okay, thank you for your information, it's very important to us."
After dismissing Mensah with two words, Colonel Crowley called the orderly. "Call Major Tovani. I have something to see him."
We will not mention the conversation between the two Italian officers.
The next day, Doro's Italian army was already in a tight formation, because a large number of troops appeared in front of them. Although half of these black indigenous troops were armed with cold weapons, the other half were armed with muzzleloaders and rifles produced in Europe.
A small number of breech-loading guns.
There were even natives pushing 6 front-loaded bronze cannons. The style was definitely Napoleon cannon, 2 were 6-pounder cannons, and 4 were 12-pounder cannons.
Colonel Crowley put down his telescope, and his face became ugly. "Damn it, these British people are so shameless. What other church people dare to give anything just for the sake of proselytizing?"
Well, Colonel Crowley was right. The two 6-pound cannons were bought by the Catholic Church who were eager to preach and were given to the Duke of Alaaba. The remaining four 12-pound cannons were bought by the Duke from the British.
Bought.
As for the muskets, a small half were gifted by the British, most of which were purchased by the Duke, and some of them were purchased from Italian businessmen.
But now faced with such a situation, fortunately, the Italian army also had artillery on its position. 12 breech-loading rifled guns were enough to let the Duke of Alaaba know that he could not take advantage of the artillery.
Throughout the morning, the Italian army watched the duke's troops arrive at the gates of Dolo. As the saying goes, if there are more than 10,000 people, there is no limit. This army of nearly 50,000 must have put a lot of pressure on the 1,600 soldiers stationed there.
big.
The enemy's attitude of attracting and refusing to respond put double the pressure on every Italian officer and soldier.
Fortunately, in the afternoon, these indigenous troops finally took action. About three thousand indigenous black people armed with cold weapons were seen approaching Doluo City.
When the enemy was still 300 meters away from the position, Colonel Crowley, who was in charge of commanding the battle, immediately issued an order. "Fire."
The Italian soldiers immediately used the Vitri M1870 rifles in their hands to let these indigenous people armed with cold weapons know what modern warfare is.
"Bang, bang, bang~"
After a burst of gunfire, nearly a hundred natives fell on the land.
Of course, the natives were not without the ability to fight back. After being hit by three waves of Italian fire, they had already rushed to a distance of 100 meters. At this time, the musketeers hidden behind immediately took the Minie muzzleloader and rushed to the front row to fire.
Afterwards, several Italian soldiers were hit. This let the soldiers in the position know that the other side also had weapons that could threaten them.
However, the indigenous soldiers who fired this volley suffered greater losses. Their upright posture became a good target, and half of them fell in front of the Italian position.
Of course, it was unrealistic for 3,000 men to capture the Italian army's entrenched Dolo. After a short while, they were defeated and left behind hundreds of corpses, and the attack was considered over.
Of course, the commanders of both sides knew that this was just a test, so no one took the offensive seriously.
Subsequently, the Duke of Araaba launched several probing attacks, but Colonel Crowley blocked them one by one.
Perhaps considering that his army had just arrived, the indigenous army did not attack again. Instead, they began to set up camp and prepare for a long battle.
Faced with the opponent's actions, Colonel Crowley was very happy to see it. This at least gave him one more day to wait for reinforcements.
Neither side made any move to harass the enemy at night, but Colonel Crowley still did not dare to neglect, leaving nearly a battalion of troops to guard the area at night.
By the next day, Duke Alaaba's troops appeared on three sides of Dolo. This made Colonel Crowley's face heavy, because it meant that the enemy was about to launch a general attack. It seemed that their move to set up camp yesterday afternoon was just to confuse
You and your enemy are even more stupid and don't want to give you any time to delay.
However, he is not a vegetarian. He dares to defend Doluo with more than a thousand troops and block the enemy's nearly 50,000 troops. He also has his own trump card.
"Push those six Maxims up."
Yes, as the terminator of Zhennanguan, this machine gun purchased by Italy also appeared in Somalia, a primitive land in Africa.
Regarding the use of machine guns, the Italian army has already figured out cross-fire shooting. Therefore, there is no need to worry about its use. The only thing that worries him is that his machine gun carries a total of 250,000 rounds of ammunition. It cannot be sustained.
until the enemy collapses.
Without letting him wait any longer, Duke Alaaba's army launched an offensive from three sides.
Each army of tens of thousands of people charged with great momentum. Compared with the hundreds of Italian officers and soldiers stationed in the position, they were like a giant wave against a stubborn rock. A single wave could submerge them.
At this time, the position commander no longer cared about the optimal shooting range. After entering the effective shooting range, he immediately ordered to fire.
"Bah, bah, bah~"
Bursts of gunfire caused the charging indigenous soldiers to fall down, but the others still bravely continued to charge towards the position.
"Machine gun fire."
Seeing that the enemy was not afraid of firepower, the position commander immediately brought out a powerful weapon.
"Da da da..."
The obviously different sounds of continuous shooting finally calmed down the heroic Ethiopian soldiers. Entire soldiers fell down, finally causing fear in their hearts, and their offensive was stopped.
Seeing that the offensive was blocked and his soldiers fell one after another, Duke Alaaba's heart was bleeding. Because the leading troops were all his soldiers. In order to avoid Italian reinforcements, he was able to attack Doro in one go.
, that’s why he deployed his troops like this. He didn’t expect that the enemy actually had such a continuous-firing weapon. Its super-high rate of fire made it impossible for the warriors to rush forward.
"Return it all, return it all."
His order was issued a little late, causing at least 5,000 soldiers to fall in front of the Italian army's positions.
After counting the losses, he found that such casualty figures were unacceptable to him. He could bear such huge losses without even touching the enemy.
And these are his elite troops, how can they not make people feel distressed. This is his capital related to his status, and he must not lose it all here.
However, he would never be willing to retreat like this. Not to mention losing troops and generals, such a big move of mobilizing troops and mobilizing troops must have some results, otherwise his rule will be unstable in the future.
So after resting for a while, he was unwilling to choose to test attacks one after another. He would never dare to use such a large-scale group charge again.
Since it is a small-scale battle, it is not easier to deal with. With equipment far superior to that of the opponent, there is only a huge gap in military strength. Now that the enemy has given up his advantage, it is even more impossible to attack with short attacks.
Therefore, the Duke used night raids, harassments, sneak attacks and other means subsequently. From this aspect, the Duke of Araaba is also a battle-hardened person. However, these are all battles between him and other people in the country.
It seems that he has not experienced much battle in the modern army.
After four days, the Duke could do nothing against the defenders of Dolo, and only added more than 2,000 kills to Colonel Crowley.
On the fifth day, the Duke left in despair with his army. Because if he didn't leave, another defeat might be coming.
Because his spies came to report that an Italian army was coming, and the number should be around 1,200. The spies' report made Duke Alaaba want to ambush, but considering that in case this army also has that
If you use a continuous fire weapon, you might lose the battle with an advantage.
After careful consideration, the Duke decided to be more cautious. In fact, he did not need to be so, because the supporting Italian army only carried two Maxims. As long as the Duke ambushed enough people, it would be enough to break through the blockade. It is impossible for the Maxim to
Just like a rifle, you fire when you say it, but the Duke doesn't know it.
The conflict in Dolo is not an isolated case. When Italy conquered the Somali region, it encountered various forces in Abyssinia. Because it has always been a country with a long history in East Africa, it has a greater impact on surrounding tribes.
Big (not the tributary system of foreign states like China, just influence).
When these tribes were invaded by the Italian army, they naturally thought of the empire around them. Although its civil war was still going on, it was much stronger than these tribes.
In the face of these tribes' requests for help, some gave support, while others ignored their requests for help in view of Italy's strength.
Therefore, this also caused Italy to encounter several waves of resistance in succession when it occupied the Greater Somalia region. Like the Duke of Ara Aba, he started fighting at the slightest disagreement. However, in general, the Italian army had most of the advantages.
However, there are exceptions. In Eritrea, an army of 500 people was attacked by the army of Emperor Johannes IV of Abyssinia in Adi Kwara. Only two people escaped from the battle.
Such a result shocked Major General Balt, who was in charge of command in Eritrea. On the one hand, he reported to Rome, and on the other hand, he immediately organized an army and rushed to Adiquala. However, when he arrived with his army, there was no Abiy.
Xinians.
Faced with this situation, Major General Bart could only sigh in despair. Because the military gave them strict orders not to attack Abyssinia. And with the 3,000 men in his hands, it would be difficult to attack the East African Plateau.
Too weak to do anything.
As for the next steps, we need to listen to Rome's decision.
