The Italians attack on the 3rd of August 1940. Italian Lieutenant-General Nasi has 3 Italian
battalions, 23 colonial battalions, four field howitzer batteries, a squadron of light tanks,
half a company of medium tanks, some armoured cars and five bands of irregular colonial
troops. And this force is split into three different columns. The Centre Column is lead
by Major-General De Simone, who’s tasked with taking Hargeisa before advancing to Berbera.
On his right, Brigadier General Bertello’s Eastern Column of irregulars is to move to
Odweina and join Simone if needed. And Lieutenant-General Bertoldi’s Left Column is to take Zeila,
seal off French Somaliland and then send parts of his force to the east to assist the others.
Brigadier Chater, Royal Marine, and commanding officer of the Somaliland Defensive Force,
is tasked with stopping the Italians. He has under his command the 1st Battalion Northern
Rhodesia Regiment, 2nd Battalion King’s African Rifles, 2nd Battalion The Black Watch,
1st East African Light Battery (of four 3.7-inch howitzers) from Kenya, two Punjab Regiments,
and the lightly armed “Camel Corps”. So the Somaliland Defense Force consists of four
distinct racial groups, without a central headquarters unit, has no transport, and very
little signals equipment. And yet, Churchill demands that Wavell defend British Somaliland
to the last!
The Camel Corps, along with the Northern Rhodesia Regiment, hold Simone’s Centre Column for
two days, before on August 5th the Italians commit their light tanks to the battle. The
Camel Corps and the Northern Rhodesia Regiment are forced to fall back, relinquishing control
of the Hargeisa area. Despite being harassed by land sea and air, Bertoldi’s column takes
Zeila on the 5th and pushes eastward. Bertello occupies Odweina on the 6th before turning
towards Adadle to potentially join the centre column once more. The British dig in at the
Tug Argan gap - which was essentially the last position the British could hold before
Berbera without threat of being outflanked.
After waiting for a couple days, the advance of the Centre Column continued on the 8th,
with Italian medium tanks first making contact in the Tug Argan area. Despite an appalling
lack of anti-tank weaponry, Wavell decides to fight and orders a general to take command
of the Somaliland defence force. Up to this point, Chater had been in charge of a division’s
worth of troops, but he had only just been promoted to Brigadier. So on the 11th, Major-General
Godwin-Austen arrives and assumes command that evening.
Early in day, the 11th, the battle for Tug Argan begins. The hills in the area are manned
by British machine gun positions and some barbed wire obstacles. However, the British
have no anti-tank guns and no artillery to support their units. And the British units
are too spread out to fully man the gaps between their positions. Italian artillery pounds
the Assa hills - nicknamed Punjab Ridge because 3/15th Punjab Regiment held it. The Italians
force the Regiment off the ridge and resist a determined counter-attack. But attacks on
Mill Hill and Knobbly hill were repulsed successfully by British forces.
On the 12th, the Italians attack all the British positions and Mill Hill is lost, with 1st
East African Light Battery losing two of its precious howitzers. The Italians also secure
themselves fully on the Assa Hills and are able to dominate the southern part of the
gap by the 13th. On the 13th Knobbly Hill suffers another attack, which is forced back
by the British. Italian units also began to move down from the Mirgo Pass, threatening
to cut British supplies from the rear.
On the 14th, Castle Hill and Observation Hill suffer from heavy bombing and shelling, but
the British forces still managed to hold against yet another Italian attack. The British send
in two companies of 2nd King’s African Rifles towards the Mirgo pass to stop the Italians
from cutting off their one and only supply line. This fails and the British are pushed
back.
General Godwin-Austen is now faced with a choice. He knows that he hasn’t the strength
to keep his units supply route protected, let alone defeat the Italians. He could continue
to hold and let the Italians wipe his force out in its entirety, or withdraw and possibly
save around 70% of his force. He sends a request for orders on the 15th and receives a reply
at noon. The order is to evacuate.
Fighting a rearguard action at Barkasan on the 17th against the slow Italian advance,
the Black Watch resist the Italians so effectively that Godwin-Austen can concentrate on and
is able to speed up the British withdrawal. British forces are able to pull out fully
of Somaliland by the morning of the 19th, with the Italians marching into Berbera that
evening.
260 casualties are sustained by the British, mainly borne by the North Rhodesia Regiment
and the Camel Corps. They also lose some stores of equipment to the Italians, who badly need
them. However, the main blow to the British is that of morale. Public opinion is shocked
by the loss of British Somaliland, and Churchill flies into a rage. Wavell defends Godwin-Austen
though, saying that he was right to evacuate under the circumstances. No one can deny that
this was a great Italian victory. The Italians however have lost 2,052 casualties and a loss
of material they can’t afford in East Africa. Despite taking Berbera, they’re still cut
off from Italy and have no lines of communication back to their homeland. If only the Italian
Invasion of Egypt in September could defeat the British in North Africa, take Egypt and
unite with Italian East Africa. If only, Marshal Graziani could somehow succeed and not get
defeated during Operation Compass. If only. Then Italy would be victorious... somehow!
This video is Battlestorm Lite - click the links in the description and go watch my main
Battlestorm videos which are of much better quality. Videos like Operation Compass or
Rommel’s first battle in the North African Desert campaign. Go on, you know you want too.
And if you like this video, please comment below and let me know.
I may do more in the future. Thanks for watching, bye for now.