Italy's defeat in the North African battlefield accelerated their disintegration throughout Africa.
Having eliminated the Italian army in North Africa, Wavell was free to support the numerically inferior British army in East Africa.
Although even if the British troops in North Africa and East Africa were to join forces, their strength would still not be half that of the Italian troops in East Africa. But at this time, no one dared to pat their chests and guarantee that the Italian troops would win.
After receiving the support of the North African army, Wavell's troops in East Africa reached almost 100,000.
Looking at the strategic map, Wavell smiled and said to many generals in his headquarters: "In recent months, in order to win the war in North Africa, we have been bullied by the Italians in East Africa. Now it is finally time to fight back. It is time to fight back. Let’s give them some color.”
I saw Wavell using a telescopic pole to circle an area on the map beside the wall, and couldn't laugh.
"Ethiopia!" The generals who responded quickly had already guessed Wavell's intention.
There are actually many reasons why General Wavell decided to start his counterattack plan against Italy from Ethiopia.
On the one hand, Ethiopia's strategic geographical location is extremely important. The reason why Italy has long tried to annex Ethiopia is to connect it with Eritrea and Italian Somalia, and then penetrate into Sudan and then connect with Libya. Established the Italian colonial empire in Africa.
In this way, Italy can gain access to the East without passing through the Suez Canal, and it can also jeopardize Britain's access to the East through the Suez Canal, as well as their colonies in Africa.
Although the Ethiopian people made great efforts to resist Italian aggression, they still did not escape the fate of being colonized.
On the other hand, the excessive use of poison gas by the Italian army during the conquest process also made the Ethiopian people hate the Italians, thinking that one day they must avenge them. This provided a basis for public opinion for Wewel to rebel against the local people. .
Wavell took advantage of this mentality of the Ethiopian people and came up with the strategy of using the Ethiopian uprising to contain the Italian East African army.
"The task of contacting the Ethiopian guerrillas is left to you, Colonel Harrell. Tell them to concentrate all available manpower to create chaos in Ethiopia, and our British Empire troops will cooperate with them on the frontline battlefield to fight against the Italian army. Carry out a large-scale frontal attack." General Wavell said to his direct descendant, Colonel Harrell.
Although Britain is a Western colonizer and invader like Italy, at least Britain has not tortured Ethiopian officers and soldiers with poison gas. In the eyes of Ethiopians, the British obviously need to be kinder, and the British are not here to take over Italy's colony, but to help Ethiopia regain its independence.
Therefore, when it comes to the choice between Britain and Italy, the Ethiopian people will undoubtedly side with Britain.
It’s not that the British gave up their colonialist ideas and suddenly wanted to change their evil ways and become good people out of compassion.
The reason why Wavell decided to help Ethiopia become independent instead of taking over the colony was because the current British Empire really did not have the energy to expand its colonies and could not be distracted from managing new colonies. Even its original colonies were It's showing signs of falling apart.
Another point is that after all, Wavell's military strength is still at a disadvantage. Although he has concentrated the troops transferred back from North Africa, if he wants to win more securely, he must try his best to win over the Ethiopian uprising.
Only in this way can the rear of the Italian East African army be contained, so that it can't finish the battle, thereby reducing the risk of fighting with it.
And since we want to win over Ethiopia, it is natural to help it become independent, which is more tempting than continuing to colonize them.
Sure enough, the day after Colonel Harrell went to Ethiopia, news came back: "Colonel Harrell has now negotiated with the top commander of the Ethiopian guerrilla forces. He conveyed General Wavell's wishes, and the Ethiopian guerrilla forces also
Said that they are willing to cooperate with the British army in this operation."
"Please convey to Commander Wavell that our army can unite the people to launch an armed uprising in Ethiopia within the designated time. In due course, our army will capture the government, hospitals, warehouses and police stations as well as the power supply in large and medium-sized cities in our country.
I am here to cooperate with your army’s actions.” Laika, the leader of the Ethiopian guerrilla forces, assured Harrell, the representative of the British army.
After receiving the news that the Ethiopian guerrilla forces agreed to cooperate vigorously, Wavell happily laughed loudly in the headquarters and said: "God-given opportunity! East Africa will be liberated in my hands!"
You must know that the Ethiopian guerrilla force is not an ordinary militia organization. Its predecessor is the Ethiopian government armed forces.
Ethiopia was the first sovereign African country recognized by European powers, and the Ethiopian military also developed rapidly and even had an air force called the Royal Ethiopian Air Force.
The Ethiopian Air Force was established in 1924. At the beginning, there were only a few French aircraft. But just 11 years later, in 1935, this air force was completely destroyed due to the Italian invasion. That’s why Ethiopians hate the Italians so much.
It was they who destroyed Ethiopia's air force dream.
As for the Ethiopian Army, it was reorganized into a guerrilla force and was nominally disbanded at the request of the Kingdom of Italy, but in fact it has always existed in the country and caused riots from time to time.
With this powerful guerrilla force as internal support, Wavell finally ordered the East African counterattack after a week of preparation.
He first ordered the British 4th and 5th Divisions to launch a fierce attack on the Italian troops in Kassala, and captured the Italian troops that failed to withdraw the next day, creating a first-hand advantage.
At the same time, an armed uprising with the support of the British army broke out in Ethiopia. This uprising greatly affected the supply and stability of the Italian army's rear areas, and disrupted the morale of the Italian army in East Africa.
Three days later, the British army entered Kismayo without resistance. Seven days later, the British army occupied Mogadishu and seized supplies including 400,000 gallons of gasoline. By the 11th day, Italian Somalia had
All were captured by the British army.
In Karen, Ethiopia, although the British army encountered strong resistance from the Italian Blackshirts' elite force, due to the flanking attack of the local guerrillas, the British army finally captured Karen at the cost of 3,000 casualties.
The prisoners, including the Blackshirts, totaled more than 10,000 Italian officers and soldiers.
At the same time, another assault force composed of Australian and British troops captured the Duke of Aosta and his 50,000 soldiers in an assault at the cost of 135 deaths.
Afterwards, when Wavell asked Churchill about the results of the victory, he vividly said the classic line: "There were too many captured Italian troops. It was impossible to count them all at the moment. They probably captured 5 acres of officers and 200 acres of land."
soldiers."
Wavell's line was also printed on the headlines of the British Times and was widely distributed.
In this battle, not only did Italy lose all its colonies in East Africa, but it also gave the already discouraged British people new hope of victory and the courage to continue to fight against the Allies.