Post by Diarist on Dec 25, 2015 8:05:43 GMT 1
In the early morning Emperor Haile Selassie was informed that Britain and France have declared war on Italy and that their forces will be attacking targets in Eritrea and Italian Somali. In order to avoid it is recommended that the Ethiopian Air Force only attack the Italian Army and airfields within the borders of Abyssinia. An exception is Dolo where British and Kenyan forces are operating. On the southern front aircraft will concentrate on attacking their columns heading towards Kelafo and Shilabo. It is anticipated that British and French operations will cause the Italians to halt their attacks anyway forcing them to go on the defensive. It is important to maintain the pressure on the Italian forces in Abyssinia.
Northern Front
Just after midnight the 6th Battalion, Black Watch Regiment entered Eritrea advancing towards Tesseney from the north-west. At the same time the Karora battlegroup crossed the border advancing south parallel to the coast. At 04:30 the bulk of 154th Infantry Brigade commenced their advance along the main road from Kassala, Sudan towards Tesseney. There was an airborne assault to capture the airfield at Tesseney allowing a company of the 6th Black Watch to be flown in. By 06:30 Tesseney was in British hands. The 154th Brigade arrived shortly later and a company of the 6th Black Watch with a SDF battalion headed to south to intercept an Eritrean column heading north from Humera. The remainder of 154th Brigade headed north-east towards Agordat to link up with the battlegroup coming from Karora. Agordat is about 140 km NNE of Tesseney and 100 km west of Asmara, the Eritrean capital.
At 04:30 infantry from the 4th Black Watch came quietly ashore near the small village of Emberemi which is 20 km north of Assawa and 10 km NE of the main Asmara airfield. During the next hour the remainder of the 153rd Infantry Brigade disembarked without alerting the enemy. One freighter had beached itself where a small creek entered the Red Sea enabling heavier equipment to be offloaded. At 06:30 a destroyer which had run ashore near the navy port exploded. The blast triggered secondary explosions and fires then two battleships of the Royal Navy opened fire. 15" shells from 16 guns of the HMS Malaya and HMS Valiant rained in on Massawa. Aircraft from HMS Glorious strafed and bombed the Massawa airfield which the 4th Black Watch captured after receiving additional support from naval gunfire.
The remainder of the 153rd Brigade stormed Massawa from the north and by 11:00 the port was in British hands. The two battleships had broken the Italian resistance and the defenders showed little will to fight. The transports arrived in port and began disembarking 152nd Brigade and 51st Highland Division's support battalions.
Further south at the port of Assab HMS Hawkins from the 5th Heavy Cruiser Squadron bombarded the port facilities and garrison supporting French forces advancing from French Somaliland. The 3rd Foreign Legion Infantry Regiment with a battalion from the Tirailleurs sénégalais regiment and a company of FT-17 tanks. The remainder of the Tirailleurs sénégalais regiment operated on the left flank advancing towards the Eritrean forces which had been attacking Abyssinian forces. Assab was in French hands at midday. The Eritreans are retreating northwards not knowing that Massawa has also fallen. Huge stocks of supplies have been captured including chemical weapons at Massawa.
Southern Front
A fireship exploded in Mogadishu port at 06:30 but caused little damage because the destroyer had drifted too far to the north. HMS Raleigh from the 3rd Heavy Cruiser Squadron opened fire on port facilities and other military targets. After one hour the Raleigh plus 2 light cruisers and 5 destroyers headed south to support the 4th Indian Division's advance on Kismayu. Two brigades of the KAR were attacking Dolo from the west and south-east while a third brigade was blocking the road between Dolo and Kismayu. At midday Abyssinian ground forces had made contact and were attacking Dolo from the north.
Advanced units of the 7th Indian Brigade were in the southern outskirts of Kismayu encountering little resistance. To the north of the port the 2nd Battalion, 5th Mahratta Light Infantry, 11th Indian Brigade, had landed cutting the communications between Mogadishu and Kismayu. Naval gunfire from ships of the 3rd Heavy Cruiser Squadron discouraged Italian forces from Mogadishu venturing south. The Italian 7th Bomber Wing had ceased to exist.
To the north-west, in Abyssinian the Italian probes towards Kelafo and Shilabo were under constant air attack and started retiring back to Beledweyne hotly followed by Abyssinian forces.