Map in a newspaper reporting on British progress in the war against
Italian forces in North and East Africa. Brigades of Black African soldiers including
Nigerians, Ghanaians and Kenyans fought in these battles, particularly in the
East African theatre. Source: The Salt Lake Tribune, Thursday, February 27th,
1941.
The war waged
by Britain in East Africa which had the objective of dislodging the army of
Fascist Italy from Ethiopia and Somaliland during the Second World War was a
multinational effort with a strong input from West Africa.
While Orde
Wingate’s Gideon Force aided Ethiopians to reclaim their land from Italian
occupiers, it was a grand coalition of British Commonwealth forces which
liberated these areas. There were distinct brigades within the Royal West
African Frontier Force (RWAFF) composed of different nationalities most notably
of those who originated from the colonial territories of Nigeria and the Gold
Coast, which was later renamed Ghana. They were commanded by British officers.
How many are
aware of the role of Nigerian soldiers, who in March 1941 pulled off the
fastest military pursuit in history up to that point in time?
The Nigerian
Army is claimed to have chased Italian forces like “cheetahs hunt a bull” while
advancing from the southern part of Italian Somaliland up to Degehabur in the
Somali region of Ethiopia, during which time they covered 930km in under 10
days!
© Adeyinka
Makinde (2020).
Adeyinka
Makinde has an interest in military history.
No comments:
Post a Comment