Italian Invasion of Ethiopia Scenarios

[The Graeme]

Greetings all! If you go to GJK's excellent The Proving Grounds site you'll find my first CMAK scenario posted: 'IEwar - Starace's Column'.

'IEwar' stands for Italian/Ethiopian War, namely the Italian Invasion of Ethiopia circa 1935/1936.

Of course, have to make certain compromises. No Ethiopians in the East Africa setup, so I make do with South African and British units as standins. Also set the CMAK date as early as possible so that the weapons are at least roughly comparable with what was actually used.

'Starace's Column' is about the motorized Blackshirt Column which Achille Starace, the brutal Secretary of The Italian Fascist Party, commanded in March of 1936 as it raced down the road to Gondar, the ancient Imperial capital of Ethiopia, only to be confronted by elements of the Ethiopian Army of the North led by Ras Imru and the Dejaz Ayalew Birru.

Historical, in that Birru & Imru actually planned to halt Starace's advance at the village of Dabat. Fictional, in that what actually happened was that the warriors of the Army of the North, having been beaten in an earlier battle, ran off into the mountains rather than combat Starace's column. The premise of this scenario is that the Army of the North instead chose to make its last stand at Dabat.

I plan a whole series of scenarios to do with this little known but fascinating war. My primary source is Anthony Mockler's excellent book: 'Haile Selassie's War - The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935-1941'.

Cheers!

[Romulus]

Thanks for your efforts.

I will download and play your scenarios for sure.

Peppe

[luke23]

Hi,

very interesting, can you tell me exactly the address of the web site where I can download such scenario ? I do not know the one you are talking about.

Thanks

Luke

[kingofthehill]

Originally posted by luke23:

Hi,

very interesting, can you tell me exactly the address of the web site where I can download such scenario ? I do not know the one you are talking about.

Thanks

Luke

Idem

KotH

[GJK]

The Proving Grounds: www.the-proving-grounds.com

It does require either a quick registration (just use your nickname from these boards and a password and email address) or if you want to be included in the opponent finding, provide a player profile.

There is a discussions area set up for The Graemes scenario already, so join him there with your comments on the gameplay.

Hope to see you all there!

[GoofyStance]

Originally posted by The Graeme:

'Starace's Column' is about the motorized Blackshirt Column which Achille Starace, the brutal Secretary of The Italian Fascist Party, commanded in March of 1936

Cheers!

Wasn't Starace the one whom partisans executed along with Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacchi (sp?) in April 1945, and strung up alongside the others at a service station in Milan?

[Romulus]

Yeah, you're right. It's the same person.

Peppe

[The Graeme]

Greetings all! Just posted my second Italian / Ethiopian scenario 'IEwar - Last Stand Ad Termaber' at The Proving Grounds. (See link above in GJK's posting)

April 1936 - 116 Ethiopian Army Cadets under a Swedish Army Officer plus 200 peasant conscripts defend the last pass between Addis Ababa, the Imperial Capital, and the approaching Italians.