Prelude Northern front, East Africa, 1940

1 prelude

1.1 anglo-egyptian sudan
1.2 kassala
1.3 italian preparations

prelude
anglo-egyptian sudan

in 1940, british had 3 infantry battalions in sudan , sdf, had 4,500 men in 21 companies, best-equipped being motor machine-gun companies, light machine-guns mounted in vans, lorries , few locally made armoured cars; sudan horse converting 3.7-inch mountain howitzer battery. platt held khartoum 2nd battalion, west yorkshire regiment, 1st battalion, essex regiment @ atbara , 1st battalion, worcestershire regiment @ gebeit , port sudan. sdf garrisoned frontier provincial police , motley of irregular scouts watch, harass , delay italians. should italians invade, units converge against attackers, exploit distance, inadequate roads , supply difficulties, impede advance. royal air force (raf) had 3 bomber squadrons, k flight, 112 squadron, 6 gladiator fighters @ port sudan , 430 flight, 47 squadron army co-operation. aircraft convenient port sudan , red sea far kassala , gedaref. in august, 203 group raf formed @ khartoum, guard eastern end of takoradi air route gold coast (ghana), 1 (fighter) squadron, south african air force (saaf), equipped gladiators.

kassala

in 1940, kassala provincial town of around 25,000 inhabitants, 20 mi (32 km) frontier on mareb river/gash river , sudan railway looped eastwards towards border ethiopia. river rose in eritrea , flowed, full of silt, 3 months each year, created extremely fertile land cotton growing; crop being exported railway station outside kassala. italian via imperiale ran asmara, capital of eritrea; after italians dammed river @ tessenei create rival cotton growing industry , extended road asmara eritrea–sudan border transport cotton crop, road became obvious route offensive in either direction. in july, british found italian troops assembling near tessenei 12 mi (19 km) inside eritrean border. british planned attack on 3 july wireless failure led postponement. @ kassala, british had no. 5 motor machine-gun company, no. 6 mounted infantry company of eastern arab corps, mounted infantry company of western arab corps darfur 1,000 mi (1,600 km) away , local police. (no. 3 motor machine-gun company butana arrived @ noon on 4 july.) after hostilities began on 10 june, regia aeronautica flew reconnaissance sorties on sudan , bombed kassala, port sudan, atbara, kurmuk , gedaref. small arms defence against air attack , civilian morale suffered bombing caused no military damage. sdf patrolled , raided across sudan–ethiopia border around kassala , gallabat, causing casualties , taking several prisoners. italian forces in aoi remained passive in june during july prepared attack karora, kassala, gallabat , kurmuk.

italian preparations

before italian declaration of war, mussolini intended defensive strategy in aoi, tactical offensives protect eritrea attacking french somaliland (djibouti) , conducting limited attacks on sudan. italian army in aoi had 1 metropolitan division, equivalent of 2 more european divisions, short of heavy weapons , transport , 7 understrength colonial divisions. army organised in 4 commands, northern sector in vicinity of asmara, eritrea (lieutenant-general luigi frusci, comando truppe dell eritrea of regio corpo truppe coloniali d eritrea, governor of eritrea governorate , amhara governorate), southern sector in galla-sidamo governorate (general pietro gazzera), eastern sector on border french somaliland , british somaliland (general guglielmo nasi) , giuba sector (lieutenant-general carlo de simone) covering southern somalia near kismayo, italian somaliland. regia aeronautica had 325 aircraft in aoi, 142 of in reserve (not operational) little prospect of more supplies of fuel, ammunition , spare parts. force concentrated near sudan border attack on kassala, comprising 2 colonial brigades, 4 squadrons of cavalry, approximately 24 light tanks, medium tanks , armoured cars , ten batteries of artillery.

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