HOI III (Their Finest Hour) AAR - Going it alone

[undercovergeek]

..........he swallowed audibly, so much so that the Foreign Minister glanced at him. It had been a long silence and was still stretching out. He reached for the jug and poured himself some water, his hand was shaking. Doctor Rossi was angry with himself, he was an eminent psychologist, a leader of his field, he should not be nervous or shaking but the intensity of the man opposite literally radiated out of him. He looked over at Minister Ciano and raised his eyebrows questioningly, Ciano shrugged. Rossi inhaled to ask a question, a breath hardly audible over the sound of the crackling fire nearby, but loud enough for Ciano to slowly shake his head and raise a hand.

On the table between the three of them was a dossier. A file of information people had died to collect and more had died getting it into the hands of the Italian Intelligence services. Here it lay now between Ciano, the Foreign Minister, Rossi, the leading clinical psychologist in not just Italy, but maybe the whole of Europe, and Mussolini. Its contents both medical and military in nature, the dossier contained a detailed analysis of the philosophies, goals and capabilities of Adolph Hitler. The conclusion of the report was that Hitler would, within the next 2 to 4 years, initiate an international crisis leading to the eventual outbreak of a European land war that would involve Poland, France, The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

Mussolini sat very still, alternatively pursing his lips and narrowing his eyes as he considered the contents of the report. The sobering prospects of another war in Europe were not entirely unwelcome, Mussolini was eager to enhance Italy's power and prestige. However, Italy was woefully unprepared, she had the raw manpower, but simply did not have the ground forces to contend with Germany or Russia or even France. Italy had an active military research industry, but not one that could keep up with the other major powers in all of the various disciplines of war. Difficult decisions would need to be made, and made immediately...........

Mussolini sighed and rubbed his brow, 'Bring me Pariani'



General Alberto Pariani - Chief of the Army

[undercovergeek]

Rossi began to think they'd forgotten he was still in the room.

It had started well enough, General Pariani arrived, laid out his maps and began his brief on Abyssinia. However, without the slightest understanding of military operations even Rossi was taken aback by the numbers mentioned and the lack of progress, Mussolini was horrified. Up until now he'd left the campaign in the hands of the General Staff, this had clearly been a mistake. Rossi flinched at every insult and disparagement that Mussolini heaped upon the General, listened as Mussolini threatened to withdraw the entire front and leave the provinces there to the wild, uncultured savages. To his credit Pariani countered that to make such a rash decision would humiliate Italy's fragile martial reputation, that Mussloni's first military adventure must not result in a defeat at the hands of cattle herders and primitive tribesmen. Mussolini saw the merit in this and ordered that the attack on Abyssinia would continue. However, he wanted to personally review the order of battle and the plans of attack.

Rossi wondered how long Pariani would keep his job

[undercovergeek]

The militia brigades march back to Ed to be shipped home to Italy and trained properly in the art of war

It was as bad as Mussolini had feared - his review shocked and distressed him. His forces stuck out on that remote corner of the African continent consisted of no less than 16 infantry brigades, 2 of his elite mountain brigades, and 29 poorly trained militia brigades. He was outraged, Abyssinia was a backwards sparsely populated wasteland. This huge mass of men and firepower would be more of a burden than an asset to the General staff in Africa. The campaign required focused, cleverly planned small operations where the forces were no larger than necessary, cutting down on the supply lines and strain on logistics. After careful consideration Mussolini decided to reduce the forces to one army of two corps, consisting of four divisions each, with 2 brigades in each division. The 14 professional infantry brigades and two elite mountaineer brigades would be spread across these 8 divisions. The remainder of the forces, 2 infantry and 29 militia brigades and various headquarters staff would all be returned to Italy immediately for retraining and refitting for the anticipated European land war.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I wish there was a "create proper command structure" button.  The most tedious part of my France campaign was breaking apart the army structure and re-organizing it.

[undercovergeek]

I wish there was a "create proper command structure" button.  The most tedious part of my France campaign was breaking apart the army structure and re-organizing it.

lol, tell me about it - in a few posts if the 'new army' plan - thats taken some sorting!

[undercovergeek]

Despite been chosen originally for his defensive skills and organisational ability, Mussolini decides to stick with General Marinetti to command the Armata dell'A.O.I. His 2 corps are commanded by Lisi and Zingales. Mussolini had Zingales flown in from Northern Italy on his own plane to command the 2nd Corps. He was currently looking for a new breed of officer for the new Italian forces and Zingales fit the bill perfectly, offensively minded and with good command ability. He hoped to build an elite shock force around men like these.




High command structure of Armata dell'A.O.I

The eight divisions advanced in two columns through Aduwa and Makale and further into enemy territory towards Gondar and Tandaho. Contact with the enemy was first made in Gondar with a brief firefight on February 3rd, 1936 leading to a promising first Italian victory with a casualty ratio of greater than 3 to 1.



Elite Alpine troops of the 5th Alpine Division exchange fire with the tribesmen of the Abbysinian Imperial Guard

Around this time the untrained militia forces and excess headquarters staff were arriving in Ed and boarding transport ships to Taranto. Here they would meet up with advisors and officers from the 1st Alpine Division and undergo intense mountain troop training to form the back bone of Mussolini's new elite army




The 190th Pisa Legion Militia brigade leaves Ed

In Mussolini's mind, the main purpose of the East African campaign now was to give his troops as much combat experience as possible, to harden the soldiers, and to get them the experience they so sadly lacked for later operations in Europe. He wanted the same for the Regia Aeronautica too. The only 2 Italian tactical bomber wings were flown in to Ed and given a small chance to have an impact on this small war and were given orders to carry out ground attacks on the troops ahead of the advancing divisions.

The two Corps continued their march into the heart of Abyssinia, brushing aside the tribesmen with ease. General Zingales' corps advanced steadily through Debra Tabor and Debra Markos. Then he divided his forces, two divisions each, and advanced into Dibra and Nakamti. The two divisions at Dibra halted their advance short of Adis Abeba to allow the divisions from Nakamti to maneuver through Jima and Nejo southwest of Adis Abeba.




2nd Corps advance on Debra Markos

Meanwhile General Lisi's 1st Corps split up from Tandaho with two divisions attacking through the mountains of Dessye to the outskirts of Adis Abeba, and two further divisions advanced through Harar to Goba and stopped South East of Addis Ababa, all that was now necessary to complete the encirclement of the capital was to capture Diredawa. On May 12, 1936, General Nicolosi and his 26th Division attacked from the northwest out of Dessye and captured the beleaguered city - the capital was now surrounded.




Troops from the 29th Infantry Regiment of the 26th Division attack Diredawa

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Heh.  Zingales looks like Benny Hill.

[undercovergeek]

Heh.  Zingales looks like Benny Hill.

you wait all day for some constructive criticism and encouragement...................

:P

[Martok]

Am I just imagining it, or are you having an easier time in Ethiopia this time around?  Seems like the war has gone very smoothly so far. 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

It's always easier when you have Yakkety Sax accompaniment.

[undercovergeek]

Am I just imagining it, or are you having an easier time in Ethiopia this time around?  Seems like the war has gone very smoothly so far.

Definitely, i can only think it was the removal of the militia brigades who were dragging down the proper fighters. The 2 hotspots were unintentionally withdrawing from battle (i didnt realise the troops were fighting at the time of gave them a movement order) this causes a retreat, and secondly as the fighting started proper all the enemy forces on the border of Somalia headed into that land straight towards Mogadishu which would have cut off my supply, this coincided with withdrawing all my forces from Somalia but as i cut deeper into Ethopia they all withdrew to support that fight - phew

[Staggerwing]

This is a great AAR Geek! Or should that be a DAR (during action report :D)? Using all the added media really brings out the evolving story, as such.

[undercovergeek]

With the war in East Africa proceeding better than planned Mussolini turned his attention to putting his European forces in order. War was coming to Europe, and he wanted to be an actor on the stage. Italy's army had been designed around smaller divisions made up of two infantry brigades, unlike the three brigade divisions used by most of the other European powers. Italy's generals offered that they liked the greater flexibility of force, but it was always a poor excuse. Mussolini wanted to project Italian power, superior skill in arms, and for each Italian division to be able to hold its own in the line against any division fielded by any other nation.

Having been hounded for months about the poor state of the Italian armed forces, and after an exhausting number of projects and reports, Pariani came to Mussolini with his final solution. Along with Armament Minister Guido Jung the two suggested a massive investment in field artillery, their vision was to eventually match each two infantry brigades in a division with two artillery support brigades. This would increase the manpower of such a division from 6000 men to 8000, but the artillery backed division would have as much, if not more firepower than a standard European triangular 9000 man, three brigade division. The Ansaldo armament factory, overflowing with government contracts went into overdrive.



The Ansaldo armaments factory, Genoa


It would be mid July before the militia brigades passed their full training for Alpine troops - Their prior training had just been basic, but with better equipment, strenuous exercise of both body and the mind, this manpower could be transformed into an elite fighting force.



Troops of the 4th Libyan Militia Brigade undergoing intense mountaineer training


Next Mussolini would need to turn his attention to his armoured forces, Navy and Air

[undercovergeek]

This is a great AAR Geek! Or should that be a DAR (during action report :D)? Using all the added media really brings out the evolving story, as such.

thanks SW

[Martok]

I agree, it adds a nice touch.