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MY FIRST SANDBOX:Italian invasion of French Somaliland
The Italian invasion of French Somalia is a tentative of occupation of French Somaliland, that happened in the first months of Italy's declaration of war in WWII against the Allies.
Background
[edit]Mussolini since late 1937 has requested from France the possession of French Somaliland, together with Tunisia in Africa.
Indeed in January 1938 an Italian force moved down onto the plain of Hanlé (in the south of the Danakil Desert of Djibouti) inside the French territory and encamped there. Italy claimed that this territory lay on the Ethiopian side of the border, as per the Franco-Ethiopian treaty of 1897.[1]. On 30 November, after anti-French protests in Rome, the Italian foreign minister, Galeazzo Ciano, demanded the cession of French Somaliland to Italy. On 18 December there was a counter-protest in Djibouti: the Italians, however, created a group of small fortifications (Abba, Dagguirou, Gouma, etc.) inside the western border of French Somalia, claiming at the end of 1939 that the territory was inside their colonial area.[2]
The 1940 invasion
[edit]Italy's declaration of war on France and Great Britain came on 10 June 1940 and in the next week here was some skirmishing between the French and Italians over the railroad at Ali-Sabieh.[3] On 17 June some Italian Meridionali Ro.37bis aircraft undertook a reconnaissance of Djibouti, noting five or six warships in the port and about twenty aircraft at a nearby aerodrome.[4] On 21 June eleven Caproni Ca.133s bombed Djibouti in the largest raid of the colony's brief war. Anti-aircraft fire was intense and two Italian aircraft failed to return, but fires and explosions were seen in Djibouti.[5] Overnight, several waves of Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers attacked the port facilities. On 22 June the Italians suspected the British might try to establish a forward base at Djibouti, and five Ro.37bis, four CR.42 and one CR.32 aircraft strafed the airfield there.[6] Some French Potez 25 TOE reconnaissance aircraft bombed Italian installations at Dewele in retaliation.[7]
On June 18 in Djibouti, the capital of French Somaliland, the General Officer Commanding French Somalia -Paul Legentilhomme- condemned the French armistice with the Axis and declared his intention to continue the war with the British Empire. He declared this in his "General Order Number 4".
On 25 June the Armistice of Villa Incisa came into effect, ending officially the war between Italy and France. It called for the demilitarisation of Somaliland "for the duration of hostilities between Italy and the British Empire," and granted Italy "full and constant right to use the port of Djibouti with all its equipment, together with the French section of the Djibouti–Addis Ababa railway, for all kinds of transport" (article 3). The location for the surrender of "all movable arms and ammunition, together with those to be given up to the troops effecting the evacuation of the territory ... within 15 days" (article 5), the procedures for demobilisation and disarmament of French forces (article 9) and the conditions of wireless communication between France and the colonies (article 19) were left to an Italian Armistice Control Commission.[8]. The same armistice (previously written and done on June 24) requested the "forced demilitarisation of Gibuti", according to articles 3, 5 and 9 [9].
However Legentilhomme procrastinated in carrying out the armistice terms, claiming that he had lost contact with the government in France. On 28 June, when the Italians demanded that he fulfill certain clauses, he denied all knowledge of any such clauses.[10]
As a consequence between 1 and 10 July several clashes with the Italians took place on the plain of Hanlé, at Ali-Sabieh and along the railroad.[11] The border area of western French Somalia was occupied by Italian troops, who withdrew from Hanlé in October 1940 and only in March 1941 from Dagguirou.[12]
When, on 10 July, the French government learned that the armistice was not yet put into effect in Somaliland, President Philippe Pétain sent General Gaëtan Germain as his personal representative to rectify the situation. Germain arrived at Asmara on 14 July.[13] On 19 July the local conseil d'administration (administrative council) in Djibouti voted unanimously (with the exception of Legentilhomme) to remain loyal to Pétain's collaborationist government at Vichy.[11] Germain then negotiated the resignation of Legentilhomme and convinced the armistice commission then being set up that it was inadvisable and impractical to demilitarise French Somaliland, in which approximately 8,000 soldiers (with tanks and airplanes) thus remained on guard.[11] French troops in British Somaliland were withdrawn.[13] On 23 July he succeeded Legentilhomme as commander-in-chief of French forces. Germain entered Djibouti on 25 July.[13] On 2 August Legentilhomme and two officers refused the offer of repatriation on an Italian airplane and defected to the British.[11].
Meanwhile, as a consequence of the problems about Legentilhomme withdrawal, the Italians reinforced their garrisons in Hanlé and Daggirou.
During the period of uncertainty in Djibouti, the Italian viceroy of East Africa, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, urged an attack on British Somaliland in order to cut off the French colony from British support. Benito Mussolini approved the campaign on 19 July, but the situation in Djibouti changed rapidly in Italy's favour after that (with the new Vichy government). Nonetheless, in August Italy conquered British Somaliland in a swift assault, encircling Djibouti.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Thompson & Adloff 1968, p. 14.
- ^ Imbert-Vier 2008, p. 171: map titled "Postes français et italiens fin 1939".
- ^ Thompson & Adloff 1968, p. 16.
- ^ Shores 1996, p. 23.
- ^ Shores 1996, p. 26.
- ^ Shores 1996, p. 27.
- ^ Ferry 2005, p. 148.
- ^ Franco-Italian Armistice & 25 June 1940.
- ^ Treccani: armistice in Gibuti (in Italian)
- ^ Shores 1996, p. 30.
- ^ a b c d Thompson & Adloff 1968, p. 17.
- ^ Imbert-Vier 2008.
- ^ a b c Knox 1982, p. 152.
Bibliography
[edit]- "The Franco-Italian Armistice". Bulletin of International News. 17 (14): 852–54. 13 July 1940.
- Cornil-Frerrot, Sylvain (2012). "Le ralliement de la Côte française des Somalis à la France combattante" (PDF). Revue de la Fondation de la France libre. 46: 6–7.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Ebsworth, W. A. (1953). "Jibouti and Madagascar in the 1939–45 War". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. 98 (592): 564–68. doi:10.1080/03071845309422199.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Ferry, Vital (2005). Croix de Lorraine et Croix du Sud, 1940–1942: aviateurs belges et de la France Libre en Afrique. Éditions du Gerfaut. ISBN 2-914622-92-9.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Imbert-Vier, Simon (2008). Frontières et limites à Djibouti durant la période coloniale (1884–1977) (PhD thesis). Université de Provence–Aix-Marseille I.
- Knox, MacGregor (1982). Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Cambridge University Press.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Moyse-Bartlett, H. (2012). The King's African Rifles, Volume 2. Andrews UK Limited. ISBN 978-1781506639. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Shores, Christopher (1996). Dust Clouds in the Middle East: Air War for East Africa, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Madagascar, 1940–42. London: Grub Street.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Thompson, Virginia McLean; Adloff, Richard (1968). Djibouti and the Horn of Africa. Stanford University Press.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)