Battle of Keren
In Keren in Eritrea fought from February 2nd to March 27, 1941 troops of the British Empire against Italian units. It was one of the most significant battles in the East Africa campaign of World War II .
background
In 1940 Italy conquered British Somaliland and some areas on the borders with Kenya and Sudan , including the strategically important city of Kassala . In the course of the British counterattack, the British recaptured this city near the Eritrean border and launched an invasion of the Italian colony of Eritrea from there. By taking the port city of Massaua , u. a. the Italian naval base there will also be switched off. The Italian leadership wanted to counter the British advance on the Red Sea near the strategically important city of Keren , where the more favorable terrain for defense could also be exploited.
Course of the battle
A reinforced Italian division occupied the mountain ranges around the access road to Keren, while six brigades were kept in reserve. On February 2, British armored formations attempted to penetrate the ravines, but failed because of Italian mine barriers. On February 3, the 4th Indian Division tried to take some of the mountains, which failed after four days of heavy fighting. On February 7th, the 5th Indian Brigade began a night raid on the Italian right wing. Some peaks were taken (Aqua Col), but the Italians threw the Indian troops back in the course of the battle. On February 10th, the brigade started another attack on Aqua Col, but had to withdraw again with heavy losses (for which they were awarded the Victoria Cross ). After that, the British temporarily suspended their attacks and brought in reinforcements, including a British and an Indian battalion and a Free French brigade.
A major Allied attack began in mid-March. The 4th Indian Division attacked on the left flank, while the 5th on the right was supposed to take Dologorodoc and then advance on Falestoh and Zeban. The 7th Indian Brigade, only 12 km from Keren, was supposed to conduct a diversionary attack.
On March 15, after an air strike and artillery preparation, the two Indian divisions stormed the mountain ranges and achieved all their targets. Three peaks were lost again after an Italian counterattack. On March 16, the further advance on Dologorodoc got stuck in the Italian defensive fire. The following day the British threw their reserves into battle, but made little progress due to constant Italian counter-attacks. This heavy fighting lasted another five days, with both sides suffering significant losses. The Italians alone had lost 2/3 of their troops. On the evening of March 26th, Indian pioneers succeeded in breaking a breach under heavy Italian mortar and artillery fire , through which the tanks of the Royal Tank Regiment rolled towards Keren on the morning of March 27th . After this breakthrough, the Italian units withdrew in an orderly manner and evacuated Keren before the British tanks arrived.
consequences
After several weeks of fighting, the Allies had 536 dead and 3,299 wounded, more than 3,000 soldiers died on the Italian side and almost everyone else was wounded.
The Italian units, which had stopped the British advance in Keren for two months, withdrew to Abyssinia . On April 1, the British reached Asmara and marched on from there to Massaua . The Italian commander there, Admiral Bonetti, rejected a British request to lay down arms and surrender the Italian warships. The five Italian destroyers stationed in Massaua set out for an attack on Port Sudan on April 2 , but were discovered by British reconnaissance planes. British torpedo planes sank four of the destroyer, the fifth was badly damaged, then placed himself The little Italian. Submarine - Squadron drove around the Cape of Good Hope to Bordeaux and joined there one in the Atlantic operating Italian submarine union .
Two Indian brigades and the Free French brigade marched on towards Massaua. On April 8, they captured the Eritrean port city with British air support. Italian East Africa had been conquered and the threat to British connections to India and the Pacific removed. The Allied troops were then gradually transferred to North Africa, where they continued to fight against Rommel's German and Italian troops.
Web links
- The Rise and Fall of Italian East Africa and the Battle of Keren on comandosupremo.com