Battle of Amba Aradam

TheBattle of Amba Aradam(also known as theBattle of Enderta) was fought on the northern front of what was known as theSecond Italo-Abyssinian War. This battle consisted of attacks and counter-attacks byItalianforces underMarshal of ItalyPietro BadoglioandEthiopianforces underRasMulugeta Yeggazu. This battle was primarily fought in the area aroundAmba Aradamwhich included most ofEnderta Province.
On 3 October 1935, GeneralEmilio De Bonoadvanced intoEthiopiafromEritreawithout adeclaration of war. De Bono had a force of approximately 100,000 Italian soldiers, and 25,000 Eritrean soldiers to advance towardsAddis Ababa. In December, after a brief period of inactivity and minor setbacks for the Italians, De Bono was replaced by Badoglio.
Haile Selassielaunched theChristmas Offensivelate in the year to test Badoglio. By mid-January 1936, Badoglio was ready to renew the Italian advance on the Ethiopian capital. Badoglio ultimately overwhelmed the armies of ill-armed and uncoordinated Ethiopian warriors withmustard gas,tankettes, and heavyartillery.
In early January 1936, the Ethiopian forces were in the hills overlooking the Italian positions and attacking them regularly. Italian dictatorBenito Mussoliniwas impatient for an Italian offensive to get underway and for the Ethiopians to be swept from the field.
The Ethiopians facing the Italians were in three groupings. In the centre, nearAbbi Addiand along the Beles River in the Tembien, wereRasKassa Haile Dargewith approximately 40,000 men andRasSeyoum Mangashawith about 30,000 men. On the Ethiopian right wasRasMulugeta and his army of approximately 80,000 men in positions atopAmba Aradam.RasImru Haile Selassiewith approximately 40,000 men was on the Ethiopian left in the area aroundSeleh Lehain Shire Province.
Badoglio had five army corps at his disposal. On his right, he had theIV Army Corpsand theII Army CorpsfacingRasImru in the Shire. In the Italian centre was the Eritrean Corps facingRasKassa andRasSeyoum in the Tembien. FacingRasMulugeta atop Amba Aradam was theI Army Corpsand theIII Army Corps.
Initially, Badoglio saw the destruction ofRasMulugeta's army as his first priority. Mulugeta's force would have to be dislodged from its strong positions on Amba Aradam in order for the Italians to continue the advance towards Addis Ababa. ButRasKassa andRasSeyoum were exerting such pressure from the Tembien that Badoglio decided that he would have to deal with them first. If the Ethiopian centre was successful, the I Army Corps and III Army Corps facing Mulugeta would be cut off from reinforcement and resupply.
From 20 to 24 January, theFirst Battle of Tembienwas fought. The outcome of this battle was inconclusive, but the threatRasKassa posed to the I Army Corps and III Army Corps was neutralized.
On 9 February, MarshalBadoglioheld a press conference at his headquarters and announced that the mighty obstacle that blocked the road to Addis Ababa was about to be liquidated. Badoglio was talking of course aboutRasMulugeta and his army dug in atop Amba Aradam.The mountain was of two parts. There was a jagged ridge known to the Italians as "The Herringbone" and, on the extreme right, a flat-topped peak called "The Priest's Hat." The land around the base of the mountain was known as theEnderta. An article in a then-current issue ofTimemagazine indicated that the correspondents on the Italian side were provided with a high-powered telescope to watch the progress of the battle.
While their forces were roughly equal, Badoglio held an overwhelming material advantage over Mulugeta. The Italians attacking Amba Aradam had more than 5,000 machine guns, 280 pieces of artillery, and 170 airplanes. By contrast, the Ethiopians had about 400 machine guns, 18 old field pieces of medium calibre, a small number of anti-aircraft guns, and no planes. Mulugeta's one advantage was the steep slopes of Amba Aradam.
At 8:00 am on 10 February, Badoglio launched the Battle of Amba Aradam.Royal Italian ArmyandBlackshirtsled the Italian advance. NativeAskaris, on which De Bono had leaned so heavily, formed the reserve.The Italian I Army Corps and III Army Corps advanced across the Kalamino Plain. By nightfall, both corps were established on the banks of theMay GabatRiver.
Badoglio was an artilleryman first and last. As a result, he fought a gunner's battle. His headquarters was also the Italian artillery observation post and about every five minutes scout planes of theRegia Aeronauticawent out to circle the front. The planes identified the locations of Ethiopian forces for the Italian gunners. But the Ethiopians fighting forRasMulugeta were regular drilled and uniformed troops. They had artillery too and knew how to use it.
The Italian scout planes also mapped out the area around Amba Aradam and discovered a weakness inRasMulugeta's defences. Air photographs showed that an attack from the Plain ofHintaloto the south of Amba Aradam should be uncontested. As a result of this discovery, Badoglio planned to encircle Amba Aradam and attack Mulugeta from the rear after his forces linked up at Hintalo.
On 11 February, the4th CC.NN. Division "3 Gennaio"and the5th Alpine Division "Pusteria"of the I Army Corps advanced fromMay Gabatmoving towards and around the west side of Amba Aradam. At the same time, the III Army Corps moved towards and around the east side of Amba Aradam. Too lateRasMulugeta realized the Italian plan to encircle his positions.
On the afternoon of 12 February, a large Ethiopian force streamed down the western slopes of Amba Aradam andattackedthe3rd CC.NN. Division "21 Aprile". The Blackshirts were held up, but the Pusteria Division continued its advance towards Hintalo. The near-continuous and persistent air and artillery bombardment of the Ethiopian positions had sapped the Ethiopians of much of their will to resist.
On the evening of 14 February, the Italian pincers were about to snap shut. As the encircling forces reached specified positions, they formed up, re-grouped, and positioned their artillery for the final assault.
By the morning of 15 February, under cover of darkness and dense cloud, the Italians completed the encirclement of Amba Aradam. When daylight came and the clouds lifted, the Ethiopians were reinvigorated by the sight of their predicament. They swarmed down the western slopes of Amba Aradam towards Addi Kolo. The Ethiopians attacked the Italians at the western base of Amba Aradam again and again. But the Italian artillery and air power negated the fury of the Ethiopian assault. By darkness, the battle was practically over.
RasMulugeta guessed that the Italians would take Amba Aradam by first attacking "The Priest's Hat". He guessed wrong. The Italians attacked and secured the lightly held Ethiopian positions on "The Herringbone" which made defence of the "Priest's Hat" untenable.For political reasons, the1st CC.NN. Division "23 Marzo"was given the honour of hoisting the Italian flag atop Amba Aradam.
The Ethiopians had managed to create a break in the Italian line around Addi Kolo. Through this break, the army ofRasMulugeta made its escape as it fell back towardsAmba Alagiand Sokota.Mulugeta planned to reassemble his forces around Amba Alagi.
Badoglio unleashed the full power of the Italian Air Force on the fleeing army ofRasMulugeta. For four consecutive days, forty tons ofmustard gaswas dropped on the hapless fugitives. In addition to this, the localAzebu Gallawere bribed by the Italians to attack the Ethiopian stragglers.
Tadessa Mulugeta,RasMulugeta's son, was theasmachon Amba Aradam. He was killed in an action against a party of Galla and his body was mutilated by them. WhenRasMulugeta received news of this outrage, he turned back and was killed by a strafing plane. Attacked from both above and from the ground, what was left of the army ofRasMulugeta dissolved.
Badoglio now turned his attention from the Ethiopian right back to the Ethiopian centre andRasKassa andRasSeyoum. It was time to finish what had been started at the First Battle of Tembien. The result was theSecond Battle of Tembien.
The corrupted formambaradànentered Italian language with the meaning of 'messy, complex situation'.
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