hello everyone, i've been working on a book on the east african theater in world war ii, and this board was the closest fit for the subject! i'm covering stuff like the italian invasion of british somaliland and raids into other british territories, the ethiopian resistance since 1936, the british counterattack in 1941 (especially the fighting at keren) that dismantled italian east africa, and the subsequent italian guerrilla fighting until the 1943 armistice. there's not very much in english written on this subject (compounding this, my meager knowledge of italian can not even be called primitive or elementary - and i don't know any official languages currently spoken in east africa!). despite this i've gotten a few sources together. mainly books, and hyperwar has also been a big help. if anyone can point me in the direction of books on the subject they've found useful, as well as other resources (unit diaries, individual accounts of the campaign, etc) i would be very grateful.
Needs Barrie Pitts' "Crucible of war " has a couple of chapters on the subject of the East Africa Campaign which I found useful Volume one that is ... Cheers
Two that spring to mind are: An Improvised War by Michael Glover about Abyssinia The Official History of the Indian Armed Forces: East African Campaign (recently reprinted by Pentagon Press) I'd need to check which volume(s) of the British official histories cover this campaign.
You can download for free from The National Archives the SAAF Northern Narrative. This is the detailed narrative of the Air War of East Africa compiled by the South African Air Force, but including ground and air operations from other involved nations. Covers the period 10th June 1940 to 30 Nov 1941 so should give you quite a bit of bedtime reading. AIR54/8 AIR54/9 AIR54/10 AIR54/11 AIR54/12 AIR54/13 AIR54/14 AIR54/15 Ross
many thanks to the three of you! i've put my orders in for the books and expect them any day now... should anything else come to mind please let me know.
This one is a good read. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Charlie-Company-Service-Highlanders-1940-1944/dp/1862273650 as well as 4th Indian Div history.
5th Indian Division's history 'Ball of Fire' is online here: http://www.ourstory.info/library/4-ww2/Ball/fireTC.html
Stone and Stone, the WW2 books website has a brief essay and extensive bibliography on the conflict: http://stonebooks.com/archives/981115.shtml Other titles not listed in the above are: The Two Thousand Mile War by W E Crosskill http://www.amazon.com/2000-Mile-War-W-E-Crosskill/dp/070918591X The War of a Hundred Days: Springboks in Somalia and Abyssinia 1940-41 (South Africans at War Series) by John Ambrose Brown http://www.amazon.com/War-Hundred-Days-Springboks-Abyssinia/dp/1874800103/ref=sr_1_38?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432782344&sr=1-38&keywords=East+africa The War in East Africa 1939-1943: From the Campaign Against Italy in British Somaliland to Operation Ironclad, the Invasion of Madagascar (Despatches from the Front) http://www.amazon.co.uk/War-East-Africa-1939-1943-Somaliland/dp/178346223X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432782465&sr=1-1&keywords=eaST+AFRICA and for a look at the Italian side of things: Amedeo: A True Story of Love and War in Abyssinia by Sebastian O'Kelly http://www.amazon.com/Amedeo-True-Story-Love-Abyssinia/dp/0002572192/ref=sr_1_58?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432782249&sr=1-58&keywords=East+africa and the Ethiopian The Ethiopian Patriots (Spellmount Military Studies) by Andrew Hilton http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ethiopian-Patriots-Spellmount-Military-Studies/dp/1862274444/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432782780&sr=1-1&keywords=patriots+ethiopian
idler and owen - many thanks...had previously read of the gallabat debacle in slim's own memoirs terrific stuff... i have read and highly recommend the last two books; amedeo guillet's tale is one of astounding bravery and ingenuity. a shame it may be the only translated account of the war in east africa from the italian perspective. i found a memoir a while back by one of the troops who made the last stand at gondar but sadly it was, and to my knowledge still remains, only in italian. the compilation of oral interviews with ethiopian veterans and partisans is simultaneously amazing and heartbreaking, courageous men, armed with old rifles and often barefoot, against tanks, planes, and gas.
Hi needs-sleep I can recommend an old paperback pamphlet, published by His Majesty's Stationery Office in 1942, entitled 'The Abyssian Campaigns - the official history of the conquest of Italian East Africa'. It is occasionally available from sellers of secondhand military books and is invariable tatty (read falling apart). Unfortunately for you, I think it unlikely that this will be easily available in 2015, even within UK. I have to confess that there is more detail on the Gallabat action in the thread above than there is in my pamphlet (even if it does run to 144 pages), though it does tell me that 3 tanks were damaged by mines and the other six by track problems due to the boulders hidden by the long grass. Chris
“The Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry in the Second World War” by Lt Col T B Davis recounts the stories of 98 and 144 Field Regiments RA. 144 were in East Africa from December 1940 to June 1941 and took part in the Battle of Keren.
Can anyone make recommendations on the books that describe escape and evasion stories in east Africa? Mission 101 eludes to some evasion events after attacks and therein returning to friendly lines. Can anyone help with the books in this thread that describe similar events?
