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Battle Of Agordat (1941)
The Battle of Agordat was fought near Agordat in Eritrea from 26 to 31 January 1941, by the Italian army and Royal Corps of Colonial Troops against British, Commonwealth and Indian forces, during the East African Campaign of the Second World War. The British had the advantage of breaking Italian codes and cyphers before the offensive and received copious amounts of information from Italian sources on the order of battle and plans of the (Italian Royal Air Force) and the Italian army. After the garrison of Italian and colonial troops at Kassala in Sudan was ordered to withdraw in mid-January, the British offensive into Eritrea due in February 1941 began in mid-January instead. Agordat was an excellent defensive position and the British advance was slowed by delaying actions and mined roads but the attack began on 28 January on the left (northern) flank, which was repulsed. Determined fighting took place on the hills and plain below until 31 January, when the British attacked behin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Corps Of Colonial Troops
The Royal Corps of Colonial Troops ( it, Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali or RCTC) was a corps of the Italian Armed Forces, in which all the Italian colonial troops were grouped until the end of World War II in Africa. History Many of the Askaris in Eritrea were drawn from local Nilotic populations, including Hamid Idris Awate, who reputedly had some Nara ancestry. Of these troops, the first Eritrean battalions were raised in 1888 from Muslim and Christian volunteers, replacing an earlier Bashi-bazouk corps of irregulars. The four ''Indigeni'' battalions in existence by 1891 were incorporated into the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops that year. Expanded to eight battalions, the Eritrean Ascaris fought with distinction at Serobeti, Agordat, Kassala, Coatit and Adwa and subsequently served in Libya and Ethiopia. These troops were deployed on all fronts in Africa from the First Italo-Ethiopian War, the Italian-Turkish war, the conquest of Ethiopia, until World War II. The colonial soldi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pietro Gazzera
Pietro Gazzera (11 December 1879 – 30 June 1953) was an officer in the Italian Royal Army during World War II, as well as a prewar Italian politician. Gazzera was born in Bene Vagienna, he joined the Italian Army and fought in the Italo-Turkish War and World War I. He was one of the signatories of the Armistice of Villa Giusti, which ended the war with Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front. In 1928, starting as the Under-Secretary in the Ministry of War, Gazzera was the Minister of War from 1929 to 1933.Time MagazineRetort/ref> From 1 August 1938 to 6 July 1941, Gazzera was the Governor of Galla-Sidamo in Italian East Africa. General Gazzera commanded forces in the "Southern Sector" (the Galla and Sidamo area around Jimma) during the East African Campaign. Following the fall of Amba Alagi in May 1941, Gazzera succeeded Amedeo, Duke of Aosta as the acting Governor-General of Italian East Africa. After Jimma fell on 21 June, Gazzera staged a mobile defense and held out in Gal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' encompassed all the unrated combat vessels, including the very small gun-brigs and cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fireships were classed as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the sloop role when not carrying out their specialised functions. In World War I and World War II, the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialised convoy-defence vessels, including the of World War I and the highly successful of World War II, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capability. They performed similar duties to the American destroyer escort class ships, and also performed similar duties to the smaller corvettes of the Royal Navy. Rigging A sloop-of-war was quite different from a civilian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Umbria
SS ''Umbria'' (formerly SS ''Bahia Blanca'') was a cargo ship built in 1912 in Hamburg, Germany, which plied the routes between Europe and Argentina. In 1918 the ship was acquired by the Argentinean Government and transported various goods (notably coal and agriculture products) across the Atlantic until 1934. In 1935 she was purchased by the Italian Government and renamed ''Umbria''. On 3 June 1940 she arrived at Port Said, Egypt which was controlled by the British. She was secretly carrying 6,000 tons of bombs, 600 cases of detonators, 100 tons of various weapons, over 2,000 tons of cement and three Fiat 1100 cars. Although expected to enter the war, Italy was still technically neutral, so on 6 June ''Umbria'' was allowed to continue her way. On 9 June the British warships and HMS ''Leander'' forced ''Umbria'' to anchor at Wingate reef near Port Sudan, Sudan on the pretext for searching for contraband. Shortly after that ''Umbria''s captain, Lorenzo Muiesan, heard on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in the roles of reconnaissance, screening, and skirmishing in many armies, or as heavy cavalry for decisive shock attacks in other armies. An individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations depending on era and tactics, such as cavalryman, horseman, trooper, cataphract, knight, hussar, uhlan, mamluk, cuirassier, lancer, dragoon, or horse archer. The designation of ''cavalry'' was not usually given to any military forces that used other animals for mounts, such as camels or elephants. Infantry who moved on horseback, but dismounted to fight on foot, were known in the early 17th to the early 18th century as '' dragoons'', a class of mounted infantry which in most armies later evolved into standard cavalry while ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy to represent the monarch of a personal union in any sovereign state over which the monarch does not normally reign in person. Governors-general have also previously been appointed in respect of major colonial states or other territories held by either a monarchy or republic, such as Japan in Korea and List of Governors-General of French Indochina, France in French Indochina, Indochina. Current uses In modern usage, in the context of governor-generals and former British colonies, the term ''governor-general'' originated in those British colonies that became self-governing within the British Empire. Before World War I, the title was used only in federated colonies in which its constituents had had ''governors'' prior to federating, namely C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "king". He has also been styled the king's lieutenant. A viceroy's territory may be called a viceroyalty, though this term is not always applied. The adjective form is ''viceregal'', less often ''viceroyal''. The term ''vicereine'' is sometimes used to indicate a female viceroy ''suo jure'', although ''viceroy'' can serve as a gender-neutral term. Vicereine is more commonly used to indicate a viceroy's wife. The term has occasionally been applied to the governors-general of the Commonwealth realms, who are ''viceregal'' representatives of the monarch. ''Viceroy'' is a form of royal appointment rather than noble rank. An individual viceroy often also held a noble title, however, such as Bernardo de Gálvez, 1st Viscount of Galveston, who was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Keren
The Battle of Keren ( it, Battaglia di Cheren) took place from 3 February to 27 March 1941. Keren was attacked by the British during the East African Campaign of the Second World War. A force of Italian regular and colonial troops defended the position against British troops (mostly from Sudan and British India) and Free French forces. The town of Keren, in the colony of Italian East Africa, was of tactical importance to both sides. The road and railway through Keren were the main routes to the colonial capital of Italian Eritrea at Asmara and the Red Sea port of Massawa, which surrendered to the British after the battle. Background Eritrea Colonised by the Italians in 1885, Italian Eritrea was used as a staging ground for Italian invasions of the Ethiopian Empire in the First and Second Italo-Abyssinian Wars. The second invasion began in 1935 and Ethiopia fell in 1936. Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea were combined to form Italian East Africa (''Africa Orientale I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiat M11/39
The Carro Armato M11/39 was an Italian medium tank first produced prior to World War II. The M11/39 saw service in Africa and Italy (1939–1944). The official Italian designation was Carro Armato (armoured vehicle) M11/39. The designation for the M11/39 is as follows: "M" for ''Medio'' ("medium"), followed by the weight in tonnes (11) and the year of adoption (1939). Development The M11/39 was developed as a "breakthrough tank" (). The design of the M11/39 was influenced by the British Vickers 6-Ton. This influence is reflected particularly in the track and suspension design. A novelty of the design was the placement of the final reduction gears inside the front-mounted drive sprockets, eliminating the need for enlarged final drive housings in the bow armour. Service use of the M11/39 was short due to several deficiencies in its design, particularly the placement of the main 37 mm gun in the hull. The design concept was to use the main gun against other tanks and to defend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Carrier
The Universal Carrier, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier and sometimes simply the Bren Carrier from the light machine gun armament, is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and other companies. The first carriers – the Bren Carrier and the Scout Carrier with specific roles – entered service before the war, but a single improved design that could replace these, the Universal, was introduced in 1940. The vehicle was used widely by British Commonwealth forces during the Second World War. Universal Carriers were usually used for transporting personnel and equipment, mostly support weapons, or as machine gun platforms. Design and development The origins of the Universal Carrier family can be traced back generally to the Carden Loyd tankettes family, which was developed in the 1920s, and specifically the Mk VI tankette. In 1934, Vickers-Armstrongs produced, as a commercial venture, a light tracked vehicle that could ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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