The sun never sets

Down with the invaders. When the speech reached a passionate point, Selassie shouted, "For the independence of Ethiopia, I will not hesitate to shed my blood!"

It has to be said that the emperor's speech deeply inspired the Ethiopian people. People gathered at the recruitment office set up by the emperor, and even those who could not join the army voluntarily contributed their saved food to support the Egyptian army's war of resistance against the country.

Soon after, the emperor was able to successfully recruit an army totaling about 35 to 45 people. Of course, except for the Emperor's Guard and the Central Army, the organization, military equipment and training level of these troops were very limited.

Sun Chuanfang and the alliance's military advisory group helped Ethiopia to train ten infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, one cavalry battalion and one engineering battalion, which had just completed preliminary training. They were not elite troops, but as long as they were under the command of the officer advisory group, these troops could play a major role in defense.

According to the plan of the military advisory group, this unit would not be sent to the battlefield immediately, but would be used as a training team. With such a unit, the speed of training new recruits would become faster. Nagata Tetsuzan, Obata Toshishiro and others selected a lot of non-commissioned officers from the new recruits and prepared to train 20 or 30 battalions of troops.

However, the premature outbreak of war disrupted Sun Chuanfang's plans.

"The Italians used mustard gas on the front lines, and our troops suffered heavy casualties!"

The officer who came to contact us looked sad and said, "We don't have time to continue training."

Belgian and other Western military instructors trained the Imperial Guard and the Central Army, and taught the Ethiopians how to dig trenches and fight positional warfare, but they were unable to equip the Ethiopians with anti-gas equipment.

Gas masks can provide a certain degree of protection against poison gases, but there is no good way to protect against poison gases such as mustard gas, sarin and soman that can penetrate into the human body through the skin, unless the entire body is wrapped in protective clothing.

The Italians wanted to win quickly, so they mobilized 400,000 Italian troops and 200,000 to 300,000 colonial troops. They used poison gas bombs right after the war started, hoping to secure victory as quickly as possible to avoid any further complications.

The troops deployed on the front line by Emperor Haile Selassie were all temporarily recruited troops. They had no basic understanding of poison gas bombs. After being attacked by poison gas by the Italians, their morale collapsed quickly.

Fortunately, the Russian-made weapons that the alliance sold or gave away were of good quality, and there was sufficient ammunition. Many Italians were killed and wounded, so the battle could continue.

The Ethiopians suffered greatly from poison gas bombs on the front battlefield, but they gained a lot in guerrilla warfare, and the exchange ratio was quite good.

Sun Chuanfang was very clear about the situation on the front line, but he still disagreed to transfer all the newly trained troops to the front line. "These are all seeds, and they cannot be consumed on the battlefield... I want to see His Majesty the Emperor, please make arrangements for me."

Emperor Haile * Sailassie also wanted to talk to Sun Chuanfang. The fighting power of the Italian army was beyond his expectations. The tactics that worked well forty years ago were no longer effective. He did not condemn the Italian army's use of poison gas bombs. Bows and arrows can kill people, guns and cannons can kill people, and poison gas can also kill people. In the eyes of His Majesty, these things are no different.

Soon, Sun Chuanfang met Emperor Haier who was in an anxious state.

"Sun, I need you to train more troops!"

The weapons sold by the alliance were cheap and easy to use, and played a big role in the war. Although the Belgians and other Western instructors often boasted that their own weapons were the best, only those who had used them knew whether they were good or not.

Ethiopia is a poor country. Apart from the gold mined from the gold mines, it seems that there is nothing worth mentioning. If the alliance had not provided a loan of 10 billion yuan, Ethiopia would not have been able to train more than a dozen battalions of modern troops.

The troops trained by the Alliance Military Advisory Group have all been armed, plus the update of the weapons and equipment of the Emperor's Guard and the Central Army, as well as some necessary weapons and ammunition reserves, which cost just over 7000 million yuan. The real big part was spent on machinery and equipment and initial investment in various factories.

"The scale of recruit training must be tripled, and we also need to buy fighter jets."

In fact, Ethiopia also has a small air force of about 12 aircraft, but since the pilots are basically volunteers recruited from foreign countries, their quality is uneven, and most of the aircraft are old models that are about to be eliminated. Therefore, when the war broke out, this tiny air force played almost no role.

The Italian army had control of the air, and the Ethiopians were often bombed and strafed by Italian planes, which made the German troops on the front line miserable. Emperor Haile Selassie then remembered Sun Chuanfang's previous suggestion.

Chapter 877 Changes

Military instructors from Belgium and other Western countries taught the Ethiopians how to fight positional warfare, which played an important role in the fight against the Italians. However, Ethiopia was too weak, and there were too few regular troops capable of fighting under the heavy artillery fire and poison gas bombs. The battle lasted less than half a month, and more than half of the elite troops under Emperor Haile Selassie were killed or wounded.

Such a large number of casualties was something that Emperor Haier had not anticipated. These were not just temporary conscripts of tribesmen, but the best of his own.

Sharp troops.

The [Human Reform League], Germany and the Syndicalists don't need to care too much about Italy, but it is a great power after all. Even if it is the last among the great powers, it is still a great power and cannot be resisted by an agricultural country like Ethiopia.

Emperor Haile Selassie finally came to his senses after being beaten by the Italian army. Since Ethiopia could not defeat Italy, it could only cling to the People's Revolutionary League. He also heard about the flood in the Yangtze River Basin of the Alliance and was very worried that the flood would affect the People's Revolutionary League's aid to Ethiopia.

Sun Chuanfang, however, had no such worries. "Your Majesty, please rest assured that Chairman Lin has been paying close attention to the war in Ethiopia."

Emperor Haile Selassie's beard twitched, and a look of delight appeared on his face. "Really?"

"it is true."

Sun Chuanfang said that the People's Revolutionary League would not abandon its friends, but that the Ethiopians also needed to make efforts. Finally, he said: "Adwa and Makare in the north have been lost, and Aksum cannot be lost again. Your Majesty should send the trained troops to the strategic areas around Aksum to block the Italian attack. The gap between our army and the Italian army is too big, so we should focus on defense for the time being."

Emperor Haile Selassie was somewhat surprised. Wasn't this the same strategy as the "keep the enemy out of the country" specified by the Belgian officers? He thought that after Sun Chuanfang gained partial military command, he would use the "mountain guerrilla warfare" approach.

"If guerrilla warfare is to work better, the front battlefield must be able to hold up." Sun Chuanfang said: "I will urge the relevant departments to send weapons and equipment as soon as possible. Once the second batch of recruits of our army have completed their training and are able to block the enemy's attack at the front, it will not be too late to launch a counterattack."

[People's Revolutionary League] is currently busy with flood relief and rescue work, and is indeed not paying much attention to foreign affairs for the time being, but this does not include the war in Ethiopia.

This is not only due to the strategic needs of the Human Innovation Alliance, but also due to Lin Yongchang's personal feelings. Africa is now the sphere of influence of Germany, National France and Italy. If the Alliance wants to gain a foothold in Africa, it will inevitably conflict with one or more of these three.

The alliance had previously put a lot of effort into Ethiopia, but Emperor Haile Selassie had deep concerns about the alliance. If the Italian army had not come to attack, the People's Revolutionary League would not have had the opportunity to carry out more extensive cooperation with Ethiopia.

From a personal perspective, Lin Yongchang hated Mussolini and the fascists, and had some sympathy for the Ethiopians who had suffered from the invasion.

It is true that Ethiopia has some bad things, such as slavery, but this is not a reason for the Italians to kill civilians with poison gas bombs. There are war correspondents from the Alliance who are active on the front line and took pictures of the Italians shelling towns with poison gas bombs.

The Ethiopian government was pushing forward the liberation of slaves and had banned slavery and the slave trade in many places, so there was no need for the Italians to liberate the slaves.

When Emperor Haile Selassie decided to side with the People's Revolutionary League, the Middle East Military Region of the League immediately transported the weapons and equipment stored on the north bank of the Gulf of Aden to the south bank. The first batch of rifles shipped to Ethiopia had 7, all of which were weapons from the World War.

Although they are all bolt-action rifles, they are well maintained and suitable for use in Ethiopia. There are few railways and few decent roads here, and supplies need to be transported by camels, mules and horses. Bolt-action rifles are more suitable for places with inconvenient transportation.

7 rifles are just the beginning. There are nearly Mosin-Nagant rifles in the alliance’s warehouses. They have all been shipped to the Middle East Military Region and can be shipped to Ethiopia at any time.

In addition to the Mosin-Nagant rifles, the Alliance also sold captured American 75mm howitzers, German 37mm anti-tank guns, and a large number of assault guns, field guns and mortars to the Ethiopians.

The Alliance previously gave the Ethiopian government a loan of 10 billion RMB, all of which was lying in the bank and could only be used to purchase various materials from the Alliance. Now that the Alliance's materials are pouring into Ethiopia, the deposits in the bank account are constantly decreasing, and soon, there is less than a quarter left.

Following the advice of the Alliance's military advisory group, the Ethiopians not only bought infantry weapons and light artillery, but also purchased more than 100 aircraft from the Alliance, nearly half of which were fighters and destroyers used to gain air superiority, and the rest were trainers, reconnaissance aircraft and light bombers.

Because Ethiopia has no qualified pilots at the moment, these planes are operated by pilots from the alliance. In order to make full use of these planes, the alliance also brought in 20 radar systems to initially monitor the Ethiopian sky.

As a result, the war in Ethiopia suddenly became fierce.

The commander of the Italian army in the north, De Bono, encountered stubborn resistance from the Ethiopian army in Aksum. Dozens of tanks, which the Italian army was proud of, were destroyed in the urban street fighting, and many fighter planes were also shot down.

De Bono was a veteran of three Italian dynasties. He had fought in the First Italo-Ethiopian War and later in the World War, rising through the ranks.

It can be said that as a veteran of three dynasties, De Bono had a lot of prestige and combat experience, but it was precisely because he still had fresh memories of the First Italo-Egyptian War that this veteran adopted a rather steady style.

It had no effect, but for Mussolini and Italy, if the war against Ethiopia could not be won quickly, it would be difficult for anyone to foresee the direction of the subsequent international situation.

For this reason, Mussolini repeatedly urged De Bono to speed up the attack, and even promoted De Bono to marshal on September 9 as an incentive. However, no matter how Mussolini used carrots and sticks, De Bono was unwilling to go further.

De Bono found that the Ethiopians had many modern weapons, including gas masks, anti-tank guns and aircraft, and their combat effectiveness was several times stronger than before. The Italian Air Force barely reached the world's first-class level, and the pilots were well-trained elite, but in the air battle, the exchange ratio was 11:27, which made the Italian Air Force very painful.

[People's Revolutionary League] The planes given to Ethiopia are all outdated, while Italy uses the latest fighter jets.

In addition, a large number of Italian tanks were destroyed and poison gas bombs were no longer as effective as before, which made De Bono very vigilant.

Therefore, after hitting a wall at Axum, De Bono adjusted his formation. He refused to follow Mussolini's order to continue the attack, but instead suspended the offensive in an attempt to win the favor of the locals by posing as a liberator who abolished serfdom.

Chapter 878: The Destruction of Egypt in March

The traffic conditions in Ethiopia were terrible. Italian cars could transport supplies in the plains and deserts, but they could not drive into the mountains. After entering Ethiopia, the Italian army's supply lines were frequently harassed, which made the already insufficient supplies even worse.

By October 10, the war was underway and the Italian army on the northern front was still fighting at a leisurely pace. Mussolini, fed up with this, dismissed De Bono from his post as commander of the Italian East African Army and replaced him with the bold and reckless Badoglio.

Even Badoglio, who was known for his recklessness, had to do the same thing as De Bono after arriving at the northern Italian front due to the lack of soldiers and food. General Badoglio did not want to charge forward bravely, but the Italian troops under his command were not strong enough to defeat or completely eliminate the enemy. The terrain of Aksum restricted the mobility of the Italian troops, so he could only continue to "fight a stupid battle" with the Ethiopians.

"Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip..."

In the tent, the telegraph operator translated the telegram he had just received. An Italian officer came out with the telegram and said to Badoglio who was enjoying breakfast: "General, a telegram from Rome!"

Badoglio sat at the dining table, a white scarf wrapped around his chest, stirring the spaghetti with a fork. He couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. He picked up the wine glass and drank the red wine. "Are you asking me to speed up my attack again?"

"Yes!"

"When will the special ammunition arrive?"

"Two more days."

"Call the leader back and tell him I will launch a general attack in two days!"

The so-called special ammunition is "poison gas bomb". In this era, there was no League of Nations and no convention prohibiting the use of poison gas bombs. The Italian army could use poison gas bombs without scruples.

Moreover, the Ethiopians did not have the ability to produce poison gas bombs, so the Italian army did not have to worry about retaliation.

Two days later, special ammunition with a skull and crossbones logo on the box arrived, and Badoglio led his troops to launch a large-scale offensive towards Axum.

The poison gas bombs landed on the positions of the defenders in the city, but there was no explosion, no flames, no air waves, only the yellow-green gas that changed from light to thick. This weapon, which Africans called "the devil's weapon", once killed more than 2000 Ethiopian soldiers at one time.

Seeing that the Italian army had fired another gas bomb, a strangely accented shout soon rang out from the ruins of the city, "Put on your masks and retreat immediately!"

The use of poison gas bombs has very demanding conditions, and can only work best when the light and wind direction are right. Badoglio originally wanted to wait for the most suitable time, but Mussolini urged him to move forward three times a day. Badoglio did not want to be dismissed like his predecessor, so he had to launch the attack as quickly as possible.

The Ethiopian army in Aksum had held out for a month and a half, blocking the Italians at the cost of more than 20,000 casualties. After discovering that the Italians had used poison gas bombs again, the defenders retreated first, and only turned back to fight after the Italian army rushed into the city.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

"boom!"

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

Explosions and dense gunfire rang out in the city. The Italian army thought that the enemy would be mostly wiped out by poison gas bombs as before, and even if there were some survivors, they would not be able to continue fighting. Therefore, they were very arrogant and rushed forward without any reconnaissance.

Then, the Italians were killed by machine guns and mortars. Many infantrymen following the tanks were knocked down, and the Italian infantrymen immediately lay on the ground and fought back, firing rifles and grenades at the surrounding enemies.

The Italian light tank was advancing, firing its onboard machine gun, but before it could get out of the alley, it was hit by an anti-tank shell and stopped immediately. Another Molotov cocktail was thrown at it, and the Italian tank turned into a burning torch.

Several light tanks were destroyed one after another, and the remaining tanks hurriedly reversed, trying to escape from this hell of fire.

"what!"

"Kill him!"

Taking advantage of the Italian army's panic, the defenders launched a counterattack. Some Japanese officers led Africans to put bayonets on their rifles, then came out of the trenches and bunkers and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Italian army.

A few minutes later, the Italians who had rushed into the city retreated backwards. The defenders chased them for more than a hundred meters, and the officers shouted in their not-so-fluent Amharic: "Don't chase, retreat!"

The Ethiopians, who were blinded by killing, didn't care about all that. They continued to chase and kill, panting heavily, until more than a dozen of them were knocked down by the heavy machine guns deployed by the Italians in the rear, and then they retreated.

Badoglio saw the miserable state of his own troops and was dissatisfied with the Italian-made tanks. In front of the defenders' anti-tank guns, the Italian-made light tanks were destroyed one by one.

Cursing those unreliable arms dealers in his heart, Badoglio could not stop, and could only let the troops continue to attack according to the original battle plan. If they encountered an enemy defense, they would bombard them with poison gas bombs.

This type of fighting method inevitably resulted in a lot of accidental injuries. Some Italian soldiers died from inhaling poison gas or from the poison gas seeping into their skin. Some did not die, but their conditions were extremely miserable.

Relying on poison gas bombs to clear the way, the Italian army on the northern front made great progress. The Ethiopians gradually could not hold on and had to withdraw from Aksum after suffering more than 10,000 casualties.

Badoglio finally defeated the enemy. He was unwilling to let the Ethiopians regroup and wanted to destroy the enemy in pursuit, but the retreating Ethiopian army left behind elite troops to cover their retreat.

On the rugged roads in the mountains, the Italian army's thin tanks were hit one after another, and the cavalry was knocked down by dense bullets, and soon more than a hundred people were killed or wounded. The remaining Italian troops did not dare to pursue and had to return to Aksum.

Although the important cities of Ethiopia were captured, Mussolini was not happy at all. At the beginning of the war, Mussolini shouted the slogan "Ethiopia will be destroyed in three months".

Now more than 80 days have passed, and there is only one week left before the three-month deadline. Everyone can see that the Italian army cannot defeat Ethiopia within a week.

The flood peak in the Yangtze River Basin of the Alliance has passed, and the water level of the Yangtze River has gradually returned to normal levels. The People's Revolutionary League has ended its flood prevention and rescue work this year and has turned its attention back to the international situation. The Italians have lost the best opportunity.

Chapter 879 Good Idea

By the standards of the World War, the Italian army was an elite force, especially the Blackshirts, who had high morale and good technical and tactical levels, but it was already 1935.

The Alliance Military Advisory Group's evaluation of the Italian Army is fair. If the Italian Army had advanced weapons and equipment and sufficient logistical supplies, it should have very good combat effectiveness, but they do not.

Italy's tanks, aircraft and artillery are only acceptable and usable, but they are no longer in line with the world trend. However, Italy's mountain infantry is very strong, and Italy's light artillery and mountain artillery are of good quality. Those light tanks can also demonstrate their mobility in mountain warfare.

In order to curb the activities of Italian mountain troops, the League's military advisory group carefully selected generals, officers and soldiers to form mountain guerrilla forces specifically to deal with Italian mountain infantry.

Axum fell, but the battle was not over. Ethiopian guerrillas appeared from time to time in the mountain forests. Ningji Okamura was ordered to lead the mountain guerrillas to attack the Italian mountain infantry. He formulated a strict training plan and combat plan based on the terrain in northern Ethiopia and the characteristics of the weapons and equipment of both sides. He made many gains in the battle with the Italian army, thus becoming famous.

On the front battlefield, the number of technical weapons was increased, including a large number of light artillery and a squadron of fighter aircraft. In the Battle of Aksum, the Ethiopians suffered nearly 30,000 casualties and lost a large number of technical weapons. If the Alliance did not continue to provide assistance, it would be difficult for Ethiopian resistance to recover.

Since the alliance imported a large amount of weapons and equipment into Ethiopia, the casualties of the Italian army have increased exponentially. Mussolini has discovered that if the Ethiopians' sea transportation lines are not cut off, Italy will pay double the price.

The Italian Navy cruised back and forth in the Gulf of Aden, trying to stop the transport fleet of the People's Revolutionary League. The Gulf of Aden is not very wide, and no matter how tight the Italian Navy's blockade is, it can still find gaps and smuggle weapons to the south bank using speedboats and small boats.

But why bother? The People's Revolutionary League has a better way to deal with it.

After the Italian Navy blocked the Gulf of Aden, the Union Indian Ocean Fleet sent a squadron consisting of a battleship and two heavy cruisers. In the face of the giant ships and cannons, the Italian cruisers and destroyers could not hold out for long.

After driving away the Italian fleet, the Alliance's transport ships accelerated the speed of transporting weapons and equipment. Hearing the rudeness of the Alliance Navy, Mussolini felt that his lungs were about to explode. At the cabinet meeting, he slammed the table and roared, vowing to send the capital ships to Africa to teach the Alliance a lesson.

Don’t think that you can do whatever you want just because you are the world’s most powerful country!

Italy is the authentic successor of the Roman Empire. There is a civil war in New Rome, and they, the descendants of the Roman Empire, want to revive the true Roman Empire!

Mussolini was very ambitious, or rather, he was timid, when he said he would send the main naval fleet to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, but the senior members of the Navy had different opinions.

The Italian Navy is indeed a very strong armed force. In the Mediterranean bathtub, whether it is a battleship or a light warship, the Italian Navy has performed quite well.

But the reason was the same: Italy was not strong enough, and its steel production and production license income were not enough to support a large navy. Italian naval engineers designed the most advanced super-dreadnought battleships, but they had no way to build them. They could only cut down on various parameters for the purpose of saving money. Whether it was armor or firepower, Italian battleships were a little bit worse.