Armed Forces of Italian Empire in "Africa Orientale italiana"
Translated from  :it:Forze armate dell'Africa Orientale Italiana

The Armed Forces of Italian Empire in "Africa Orientale italiana" were the Italian & colonial troops in Italian East Africa, abbreviated FF.AA. "A.O.I.".

History

The Armed Forces of Italian East Africa were established on 12 September 1936, following the creation of the Empire of Italian East Africa, by the Italian Council of Ministers which approved the related regulations. The backbone of the corps was the union between the Royal Colonial Troops Corps of Eritrea and the Royal Colonial Troops Corps of Italian Somalia, in addition to the AOI's Italian departments forces. The Armed Forces "A.O.I." were dissolved at the end of 1941, following the Italian East African Campaign which led to the British occupation of Italian possessions in the Horn of Africa.

Change in composition 1937-1940 

1937

At the end of 1937 it was composed as follows:

Staff on which the inspectorates of artillery, engineers, black shirts and the superior director of services depend.
troop command of the governorate of Addis Ababa, reporting directly to the viceroy;
5 troop commands of the governments of Eritrea (Asmara), Amara (Gondar), Galla and Sidamo (Gimma), Harar (Harar) and Somalia (Mogadishu);
troops of Africa (metropolitan), dependent either on the viceroy or on the governors;
colonial (indigenous) troops.

The troops of the governorate of Addis Ababa included: 1 "Granatieri di Savoia" division (2 infantry regiments, 1 artillery regiment), 1 Black Shirts special unit, 1 engineer regiment.

The troops deployed in the five governments were in total: 5 Blackshirt legions, 7 artillery companies (garrison in the various fortified centres), 4 motorized artillery groups, 2 Blackshirt batteries for coastal defense (Somalia and Eritrea), units of the genius, 16 indigenous brigades, services. The battalions that made up the blackshirt legions were motorized (2 truck companies, 1 armored car company and 1 fast tank company).

The indigenous brigade was made up of 4 battalions (3 rifle companies and a machine gun company), 1 battery of 65/17 and 2 mortar batteries of 81, 1 engineer company; in some brigades one of the battalions was replaced by a cavalry group on two squadrons.

In total the land forces of Italian East Africa amounted to: 2500 officers, 1600 NCOs, 21,000 nationals and 43,000 natives (nearly 70,000 as a total)

1940

At the outbreak of the Second World War it could count on two divisions, the 65th Infantry Division "Granatieri di Savoia" with the 10th and 11th regiments, and the "Cacciatori d'Africa" Infantry Division, with the infantry regiments 210th "Bisagno" and 211th "Pescara". To these were added twenty-five battalions of Black Shirts for a total of 26,000 men, various groups of autonomous national and colonial artillery, 24 M11/39 medium tanks, 39 CV33 light tanks, six squadrons of Lancia 1ZM armored cars and one of Fiat 611 armored cars and thirty-five Colonial Brigades.

After the conquest of the empire in 1936, the first regulation of 1937 provided for 16 brigades (from 1 to 14 in Eritrea and Ethiopia, 91 and 92 in Somalia), located 3 in Eritrea, 4 in Amhara, 4 in Galla and Sidama, 3 in Harar, 2 in Somalia.

These first 16 Brigades comprised 58 Infantry Battalions and 5 Cavalry Squadron Groups, in practice 10 of them consisted of 4 Infantry Battalions, 5 of them consisted of 3 Infantry Battalions and 1 Squadron Group, 1 of them consisting of only 3 Infantry battalions.

In 1938 the brigades were brought to 22 (from 1 to 20 in Eritrea and Ethiopia, 91 and 92 in Somalia) and were dislocated 5 in Scioa, 4 in Eritrea, 4 in Amhara, 4 in Galla and Sidama, 3 in Harar, 2 in Somalia.

In 1939 the brigades were increased to 23 (from 1 to 21 in Eritrea and Ethiopia, 91 and 92 in Somalia) and were dislocated 5 in Scioa, 4 in Eritrea, 5 in Amhara, 4 in Galla and Sidama, 3 in Harar, 2 in Somalia.

At the beginning of 1940 the brigades were brought to 25 (from 1 to 23 in Eritrea and Ethiopia, 91 and 92 in Somalia) and were located as follows: 5 in Scioa, 4 in Eritrea, 6 in Amhara, 5 in Galla and Sidama, 3 in Harar, 2 in Somalia.

Due to the outbreak of the world conflict, with the subsequent mobilization another 10 were obtained: 25, 41–45, 61, 70, 85-86 (25, 41-45 mobilized in Eritrea, 61 mobilized in Shoa, 70 mobilized in Harar, 85-86 mobilized in Galla Sidama).

The mobilization gave a total of 42 Battalions, of which 19 mobilized in Eritrea, 3 in Harar, 3 in Scioa, 10 in Galla and Sidama, 7 in Somalia.

In total there were nearly 6,000 officers, 68,000 national troops and 188,000 local troops (nearly 270,000 as a total)

Order of Battle on June 1940

When Italy entered WW2 in June 1940 it had in AOI the following military forces:

1) ARMY with:
 91,203 Italian troops
 199,913 Colonial troops
 24 Medium tanks + 39 Light tanks

2) AIR FORCE with:
 84 Caproni 133
 42 Savoia Marchetti S 81
 12 Savoia Marchetti S 79
 9  Ro 37 

3) NAVY with:
 8 submarines
 7 cruisers
 5 MAS + 2 torpedo ships + 2 gunships + 1 colonial ship

Additionally, there were special troops, like the "Border Militia", "Port Militia", "Forestry Militia", "Maritime Artillery Militia". Furthermore, the  "Colonial Police Militia" (or "Polizia Africa Italiana") had 	90 Italian officers, 349 NCOs, 1,341 Italians, 4,601 colonials for a total of 6,381 police personnel.

Casualties

After the conquest of British Somalia and some bordering areas of Sudan (Kassala) & Kenya (Moyale), the Italian Armed Forces were forced to a defensive war mainly because of complete lack of military supplies. So, since the start of the British counter-offensive at the end of 1940, for another year the Italians fought a war without hope of victory, losing nearly all their armaments until their last battles in November 1941 (when they were reduced to fight with "makeshift armored tractors"). 

However since December 1941 the last 7,000 Italians fought a desperate guerrilla war until October 1943 in the mountains of Ethiopia. Their casualties from June 1940 to October 1943, according to historians Tripodi and Antonicelli, were nearly 30,000 deaths and 100,000 wounded (including the colonials).

Notes

Bibliography

 Antonicelli, Franco. Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945. Mondadori Editore. Torino, 1961.
 
 Brian R. Sullivan, Comando Supremo, in The Oxford Guide to World War II, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 1966
 Calchi Novati, Gianpaolo. L'Africa d'Italia Carrocci ed. Roma, 2011
 Mehtidis, Alexis. Italian Ground Forces in Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), May 1939 to November 1941. PART I 1939 to beginning July 1940. Academia, 2022
 Ruggeri, Raffaele. Le Guerre Coloniali Italiane 1885/1900, Editrice Militare Italiana, Milano, 1988.
 Stefani, Filippo. La storia della dottrina e degli ordinamenti dell'Esercito italiano in "Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito", vol. 1, 1984, pp. 541–543.

See also
 Italian Empire
 Italian East Africa

Military units and formations of Italy
Italian East Africa
Italian Empire