Italian Somaliland - Italian East Africa

Italian East Africa

In October 1935, the southern front of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War was launched into Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland. Italian General Rodolfo Graziani commanded the invasion forces in the south.

In June 1936, after the war ended, Italian Somaliland became part of Italian East Africa. The new colony of the Italian Empire also included Ethiopia and Eritrea and was called Africa Orientale Italiana.

From 1936 to 1940, new roads (like the one called "Imperial Road", from Mogadishu to Addis Abeba) were constructed in the region, as well as new railways (114 km from Mogadishu to Jowhar) and many schools, hospitals, ports, bridges, etc.

Since the start of the colony, many Somali troops fought in the so-called Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali. The soldiers were enrolled as Dubats, Zaptié and Bande irregolari. During World War II, these troops were regarded as a wing of the Italian Army's Infantry Division, as was the case in Libya and Eritrea. The Zaptié were considered the best: they provided a ceremonial escort for the Italian Viceroy (Governor) as well as the territorial police. There were already more than one thousand such soldiers in 1922. In 1941, in Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia, 2,186 Zaptìé plus an additional 500 recruits under training officially constituted a part of the Carabinieri. They were organised into a battalion commanded by Major Alfredo Serranti that defended Culqualber (Ethiopia) for three months until this military unit was destroyed by the Allies. After heavy fighting, all the Italian Carabinieri, including the Somali troops, received full military honors from the British.

In the first half of 1940, there were 22,000 Italians living in Somalia and the colony was one of the most developed in Africa in terms of the standard of living of the colonists and of the Somalis, mainly in the urban areas. More than 10,000 Italians were living in Mogadishu, an administrative capital of the Africa Orientale Italiana, and new buildings were erected in the Italian architectural tradition. By 1940, the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi (or "Villabruzzi") had a population of 12,000 people, of whom nearly 3,000 were Italian Somalis, and enjoyed a notable level of development with a small manufacturing area with agricultural industries (sugar mills, etc.).

In the second half of 1940, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland and ejected the British. The Italians also occupied Kenyan areas bordering Jubaland around the villages of Moyale and Buna. In August 1940 Benito Mussolini boasted to a group of Somalis in Rome that with the conquest of British Somalia (that he annexed to Italian Somalia) nearly all the Somali people were united, fulfilling their dream of a union of all Somalis (Greater Somalia).

In the spring of 1941, Britain regained control of British Somaliland and conquered Italian Somaliland with the Ogaden. However, until the summer of 1943, there was an Italian guerrilla war in all the areas of the former Italian East Africa.