East Africa and the Red Sea: June 1940-November 1941 

Because of the negligible strength of British forces in East Africa, the four months following 
Italy's declaration of war saw a number of Italian successes. In the Sudan, Italian troops occupied 
the frontier towns of Kassala and Gallabat on July 4, 1940, and in Kenya they captured Moyale on 
July 15. Then, between August 5 and August 19, they occupied British Somaliland.

By November 1940, the British were able to adopt a more aggressive attitude, though still on a 
limited scale, and by February 1941 they were in a position to mount a large-scale offensive. The 
situation was also greatly improved by the growth of a considerable patriot movement in Ethiopia, 
where native forces organized by Maj. (later Maj. Gen.) Orde C. Wingate and other British officers 
were increasing rapidly in strength and efficiency. At the time the offensive started, the Indian 
4th and 5th divisions were stationed in the Sudan. In Kenya the units were more diversely organized 
and of more varied composition. Of the 77,000 troops in the area, 27,000 were European South 
Africans; 6,000, Europeans serving in East and West African forces; 33,000, East Africans; 9,000, 
West Africans; and 2,000, of various nationalities.

The British plan called for an advance eastward from the Sudan through northern Ethiopia to Eritrea 
and the Red Sea, together with an approximately simultaneous advance northward from Kenya through 
southern Ethiopia to the capital, Addis Ababa, and also eastward from Kenya to Italian Somaliland. 
The terrain in many parts of this area affords a striking contrast to the Western Desert. Much of 
Ethiopia is mountainous with wide and torrential rivers. The country favors highly trained troops, 
and it also gave the Ethiopian guerrillas full scope.

The British offensive started early in February. Progress was rapid, and the various columns 
inflicted heavy losses on the Italian troops and took large numbers of prisoners. By February 25, 
forces from Kenya had captured most of Italian Somaliland, including the ports of Kismayu and 
Mogadishu. A force from Aden, escorted by warships, landed at Berbera on the coast of British 
Somaliland (Somaliland Protectorate) on March 16. On April 6, Addis Ababa was occupied. Meanwhile, 
forces from the Sudan captured Keren, Eritrea, on March 27, and by April 4 the area between Lake 
Tana and Addis Ababa had been occupied. Massawa was occupied on April 8. On May 16, after stubborn 
fighting, the duke of Aosta surrendered at Amba Alagi (the formal surrender took place on May 20). 
Organized resistance ended, but isolated detachments continued to fight for some months, and it was 
not until November 27 that Gondar, the last place to hold out, surrendered.

The two most important battles of the East African campaign were those fought at Keren and 
Amba Alagi. The British land forces were well supported by the air force. Typical of this assistance 
were the attacks made by the South African Air Force on the airfield at Addis Ababa on April 4, 5, 
and 6, when about 30 Italian aircraft were destroyed.

All of the Italian forces, white and native, who had not been killed or who had not deserted 
(as many of the native troops had) became prisoners of war. Total Italian losses were estimated at 
289,000. There had at times been serious fighting, but it is true to say that, from the British 
point of view, the East African campaign was a struggle against the climate and disease rather 
than against the Italian enemy. Between June 1940 and May 1941, British Commonwealth troops suffered 
only 1,154 battle casualties but 74,550 cases of sickness or accident, of which about 10,000 were 
due to dysentery and 10,000 to malaria; 744 of these died.

In East Africa as in other campaigns, Italian arms had not prospered. The campaigns in Africa, 
as well as that against the Greeks in Albania, had shown Italian troops to be poorly led and 
trained. They were badly equipped, especially in tanks, and logistically ill found. In Africa they 
had been completely defeated in two campaigns by British Commonwealth forces of greatly inferior 
strength. Not less than 420,000 Italians (including Italian-trained native troops) had been killed 
or captured, as compared with approximately 3,100 British Commonwealth battle casualties. The 
Italians also lost hundreds of tanks, guns, trucks, and aircraft and vast quantities of other 
equipment and stores. The collapse in East Africa was Italy's third serious defeat since entering 
the war. By early February 1941, she had been decisively beaten in Cyrenaica. By mid-March, her 
last effort to defeat the Greeks without German aid had failed. For the British the campaign in 
East Africa was the last of the easy victories. Thereafter they were to meet Germans, who were well 
led, well trained, and well equipped.