North Road is commanded by Commander debono, with a total force of 250,000 people in this direction. South Road was commanded by R graziani, and in this direction, two campaign clusters were concentrated, with about 1 10000 people. There are 1 campaign clusters along the east road, with about 1.7 million people.
The number of Ethiopian troops participating in the war is about 370,000 ~ 470,000. Except for the Royal Guards (30,000 people) and the Central Army, most of them are militia organizations from various provinces and tribes. They are backward in equipment and lack of training. With such a disparity in strength, Ethiopians were not intimidated by powerful enemies. They are determined to defend their motherland and homeland.
The supreme commander of the Ethiopian army is Emperor Haile Selassie. The anti-Japanese war plan of the Egyptian army high command is to carry out mobile defensive operations in mountainous areas to create conditions for the subsequent counterattack. There are military clusters of Duke Seum, Guksa and Murugeta in the north, with about1.5 ~ 200,000 people. In the south, there is an army cluster composed of two dukes, Nesib and Desta, with about 65,438+00 ~ 65,438+05,000 people. There are 6,543,800 Ethiopian troops in the east; The reserve consists of the guard and some local troops, with nearly 1 10000 people.
1935 10 year 10 3, the Italian army invaded on a large scale. With the cooperation of 580 tanks and 65,438+020 aircraft, the Italian North Road Army under the command of debono invaded Egypt and made a major assault in the direction of Desai and Addis Ababa. With the cooperation of 70 tanks and 38 planes, the South Italian Army under the command of graziani invaded the Eogaden region from Somali, Italy, and attacked in the direction of Gorahe and harald, trying to cut off the Kyrgyzstan-Djibouti-Asia (Addis Ababa) railway and contain as many troops as possible. On the east road, the Italian army tried to attack Desi through Assab, which belongs to Eritrea, in the Nakir desert, and curbed the action of the Ethiopian army.
On the North Road, the Italian army attacked Adu Oichi in two ways. Because Italy did not declare war, the Italian army did not meet with resistance at first. On October 4th, 65438+ year/KLOC-0, Italian troops attacked Dalotake Mountain Highway with heavy artillery fire, and advanced to Xishan Highway in Silad. The terrain here is dangerous, only 10 km away from the city of Adua. The Egyptian army was in danger, and the Italian and Egyptian armies fought fiercely here. On the 5th, the Italian army dispatched planes for indiscriminate bombing, Ethiopian military camps and many facilities were shot and destroyed, and the Ethiopian army gradually lost its strength. On the 6th, Italian troops captured the Xishan Highway in szilard. The Egyptian army stubbornly resisted and started hand-to-hand combat with the Italian army, but the mountain road was occupied by the Italian army on 6 10.
Italian left-wing and right-wing armies joined forces and headed straight for Aldao. Duke Sam led the army to fight bravely. However, planes bombed and strafed the Italian army, tanks fought with infantry, and reinforcements kept coming. Although the Egyptian army fought bloody battles, it finally had to give up the city and retreat to Makare, the capital of Tigray province.
Makare city is 3040 meters above sea level, and the situation is extremely dangerous. In order to attack the city, Italy actually used 6.5438+0.2 million troops. 165438+1October 6, an Italian army once invaded the city, but was forced to retreat again under the heroic counterattack of the Egyptian army. Later, due to the defection of the Emperor's in-laws Duke Gusak, Macale was occupied by the Italian army on June 8th 165438.
The Italian army on the south road met with stubborn resistance from the Egyptian army. In the Ogaden region, the Egyptian army repeatedly attacked with a small number of troops, winning by surprise and defeating the powerful automatic motorcade of the Italian army. In mid-June, 5438+10, General leiria led an Egyptian army to fight fiercely with the Italian army near the city of Anara in Ogaden, and won four Italian tanks, six armored vehicles and six Italian junior officers.
Gorahei is the transportation hub of Vojidan province and the main target of Italian army's attack. Although the Italian army bombed the town crazily for several days, the Egyptian army persisted. Although the town fell into the hands of the Italian army on June 5438+065438+1October 8, the Italian army also paid a huge price for it.
The Italian army on the East Road also met with heroic resistance from the Egyptian army. Egyptian soldiers often take the form of night activities and attack the enemy by surprise. When they retreat, they carry away grain, fill wells, or put salt in wells. Italian troops are often forced to withdraw from the places they occupy because they have no food to eat and no water to drink. Therefore, the Italian army on the eastern route has not made any progress.
After the battles of Makare and Gorahe, the heroic Ethiopian people quickly stopped the Italian army's attack. 165438+1On October 23rd, Ethiopian troops in the south road recovered Gorahe in one fell swoop, and Ethiopian troops in the north road also dealt a heavy blow to the invaders in the Tigray mountain area. At this time, the morale of the whole country is high and the enthusiasm for resisting the enemy is unprecedented. The military and civilians of the whole country unanimously expressed their determination to carry out the war to the end and drive the invaders out of their own land. However, under the strong attack of the Egyptian people, the invading army's morale was low, its discipline was slack, its supply was insufficient, and its difficulties became more and more serious.
On June 1935 165438+ 10/6, Mussolini decided to replace debono as commander-in-chief of the invading Italian army. However, this change in wartime command did not help the invaders. 65438+In mid-February, a military cluster composed of two dukes, illum and Eyouelu, launched a surprise attack on the occupying forces in aksum, destroying many tanks. 19361In late October, Italy and Egypt fought fiercely in Tampis. After 10 days of fierce fighting, the Egyptian army seized 65438 tanks, 33 field guns, 720 machine guns and 3654 rifles, killed more than 8000 Italian troops and liberated the border town of Addis Ababa. In the counterattack of the Egyptian army, some groups of the Italian army fell into encirclement and suffered serious losses.
Since February 1936, the battlefield situation has changed greatly. By virtue of its air superiority, the Italian army bombed the Egyptian army indiscriminately, causing a large number of Egyptian troops to be killed and injured, and peaceful residential areas became ruins. The Italian army also wantonly trampled on public international law; During the war, a large number of soldiers and civilians were poisoned by poisonous gas, which greatly affected the combat effectiveness of the Egyptian army.
Under the new offensive of the Italian army, the Egyptian army lost one after another. On March 3 1 day, Emperor Haile Selassie led an army to stop the Italian army from approaching the capital at Meiqiu near Lake Ashanji. Although the officers and men of the Egyptian army fought bravely, after all, they could not withstand the dive bombing and gas attack of enemy planes, and the whole line collapsed a few days later. The battle dealt a fatal blow to Egypt's main forces, but the Italian army opened the way to the Egyptian capital.
On April 15, Desai Town, the gateway of the capital, was forced to give up. On April 26th, the Italian South Road Army broke through the defense line of Barna, Welissa Gonzaga, and reached Gila. At the end of April, Italian troops approached Addis Ababa. On May 3rd, Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile; On the 5th, Italian troops occupied Addis Ababa. On the 9th, Mussolini announced the annexation. The Italian king loved Mannur and proclaimed himself emperor, and Badorio was appointed as the plenipotentiary governor. Subsequently, Eritrea and Italy and Somalia merged into Italy and East Africa.