East Africa

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–  In Cheren the 412th colonial brigade attacked frontally by the Gazelle Force armoured cars, from the south by the 4th Indian Division and from the back by the 5th Indian Division, was forced to withdraw from Cherù on 20/1/41
– The 4th division on Agordat, attacked by enormous forces and aviation, folded the night of 31/01/41
– On 02/01/41, after 12 days of fierce fighting on Aicotà and Barentù, the 2nd division folds
– All units in withdrawal with few vehicles recovered, retreat on Cheren. Crown of mountains interrupted by the steep Dongolaas gorge between M. Dologorado and M. Sanchill
– On 01/02/41 the mines at the Dongolaas’ gorge blast. Huge boulders close the circle
– The English cannonade begins on 02/02/41
– It begins the battle of Cheren which lasts for 57 days, violent, harsh, pitiless, from the tip Zelalè to the plateau of Beit Gabru, on the positions of the Dologoradoc and the Sanchill, defended by the 11th Rgt Granatieri di Savoia; on the Amba there is the Btg alpini Uork Amba and a btg. in the hold. The 4th Indian division attacks the narrow corridor, the 5th instead Dologorodoc, supported by the Camerons. The Dologorodoc-Falestoch-Punta Zelalè system is defended by the second colonial Brigade commanded by General Lorenzini and by the btg. of the Grenadiers of Savoy. The Sanchill Alpines repel the furious attacks of the Camerons with the CCRR of Captain Levet. Consul Gresele’s CCNN reject the pressure from the Siks battalions against Samanna. But after repeated attacks of the 5th Indian division against the Dologorodoc, the rgt. Yorkshire manages to climb on its slopes and after useless counterattacks, the mountain is occupied by the 5th Indian division. At the same time there are other violent attacks against *illegible*, Sanchill and Zeban, without any result. Twenty days of struggle later, the enemy stops to reorganise and strengthen
– On 20/02/41 the bombings and attacks of the renewed Indian 4th and 5th divisions and Brig’s Force resume. Bombardments were harder and more violent than those in the Karst
– 21/02/41 it resumes the wild combat, hard, with serious losses. Twelve thousand men armed with 120 small and old weapons, on a 60 km front, against the 4th and 5th Indian divisions, Brig’s Force and battalions of the French Foreign Legion
– 15/03/41 it resumes the struggle for possession of the Dongolaas narrow corridor and the Dologorodoc. Resist the Fabiani Bersaglieri, the Granatieri di Corsi, the Alpini of Peruselli, the brigades, the 612 colonial of Oliveti, Ossoli, Bonelli, Giordano (fallen), Barzon and *illegible*
– Monte Tetri is lost and reconquered by the Levet CCRR. In a few hours, the three officers of the 2nd Bersaglieri company who succeed each other in command die. The BG Highlanders assaults the 3rd company CCRR, the Brigadier Basso, without an arm removed by a grenade, hit in the belly and wounded in the other arm, throws the last hand grenade along with the cry “Long live Italy! Until the Carabinieri are here, the enemy shall not pass “. The enemy has very serious losses immediately reintegrated
– Cheren’s belt, from Zelalè to M. Samanna and M. Enpahat is assaulted and resists. Resist the Alpini of the Uork Amba battalion. For three times the enemy reaches our positions and is thrown back
– On 16/03/41 we lose Dologorodoc
– 17/03/41 The gen. Lorenzini dies in defense of Dongolaas
– On 27/03/41 under a deluge of grenades, the enemies reach M. Zeban the Falestoch and M. Cannabai but do not find anyone, our troops withdrew to Teclesan in defense of Asmara, leaving to Cheren 1,300 casualties which were buried before leaving
– Our small rear guard could not withstand Teclesan for too long so that it was abandoned on 31/03/41
– On 31/03/41 the Radio of Asmara launches the last salute to SAR the viceroy Duca di Aosta, General Nasi and Admiral Bonetti commanding the square of Massaua for the next challenge. When it is occupied Massaua has 70 guns and 2,000 men. Twenty merchant ships have sunk
– On 02/04/41 the enemy intimates the surrender which is rejected
– On 03/04/41 the enemy starts to bomb, our batteries are neutralised. The struggle is terrible among the roars of the self-sunk steamers
– On 08/04/41 the lowered flag is burned and the rod is broken. The fighters, the Pantera, Tigre, Manin, Sauro, Battisti, who had been ordered to attack Porto Sudan and Suez are sighted and attacked. The sunken Sauro, the immobilized Manin, Pantera and Tigre scuttle in Jeddah
– Amedeo d’Aosta, white prince of the Sahara, azure unblemished knight of the Amba Alagi, where he resisted for thirty days to 40,000 English and 30,000 Abyssinians (1,300 dead), before dying he said “To my soldiers of land, of sea and of sky, comrades of arms in countless campaigns in Italy and Libya, to my prisoners of captivity and to all those who with indomitable value have followed me in this African epic, with my grateful goodbye I leave the legacy of carrying the tricolour on the ambe (???) where our waiting dead mount the guard ”
– The Italian flag that last waved on Addis Ababa was kept by our prisoners in an English concentration camp and covered by their signatures. Most were women and were placed in the Mantera women’s concentration camp