Chapter 174

By this time, the military strength of 20,000 was almost the same, reaching a balance.

Italy basically occupied the northern and eastern territories of Ethiopia. If Italy stopped at this time, Ethiopia would not dare to fight back.

However, the Italian native Emmanuel II and Prime Minister Luigi are too eager to win.

On April 8, 1863, when Italy occupied eastern Ethiopia and felt that the overall situation was settled, Emmanuel II announced in Milan that Italy had achieved a stage victory and announced that he would continue to increase his troops by 50,000. On April 30 recently set foot in Ethiopia.

And strive to complete the invasion of the entire Ethiopian territory in the first half of the year.

With the success of Italy's two sneak attacks in the south, Italy seems to have begun to take the initiative in the battle.

At this time, in the Ethiopian army, there were only 20,000 local troops under the command of Duke Kasa and Duke Saium, who were stationed in Fice, north of Addis Abel, to prevent the western front from attacking Addis Abel. .

As Dutch weapons slowly entered the Kenyan border in the south, they reached the most important city of Awasa in the south, and went straight to the Nazret front in the north.

In the case of inferior strength and weapons and equipment, the Ethiopian military and civilians fought heroically against the invaders before.

Although the casualties were heavy, it also made Italy difficult, and more than 200,000 corpses were buried in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian military strikes back as Dutch weapons complete

Especially close to the route of transportation with the Netherlands, in order to prevent this life artery from being disturbed, Ethiopia began to counterattack Acela.

This time Ethiopia invested 50,000 people.

Ethiopia sent a column of camel cavalry to support Awasa from the southern and western fronts of Jima to the east.

Through the vast desert area, it was shown that the eastward advance from Awasa quickly defeated 10,000 Italian troops including the wounded Italian soldiers who remained there.

Only when it was pushed to the north of Acera, the battle of Arcela that changed the pattern was carried out on April 13. The losses on both sides were heavy, and more than 20,000 Italians were killed in the battle.

Mainly killed by the intensive bullet fire of the Ethiopian army.

The Ethiopian army also killed more than 10,000 people, mainly due to the speed attack brought by the camels.

This battle reversed the situation between the Ethiopian army and the Italian army, and a situation that was completely beneficial to the Ethiopian army appeared.

Defense turned into offense. His Majesty King Tewodros II of Ethiopia was bold and careful. While choosing to stalemate with the Eastern Front, he sent a number of teams to the Western Front to fight back.

The Second Crown Prince Menelik personally led a team of 40,000 people, including a 10,000-strong Camel Army rapid reaction force, which advanced to the Ethiopian plateau, followed by 30,000 infantry troops.

Yoyo and the wise Crown Prince Menelik, so along the way, this force was able to absorb roadside people as they walked along the way. When they arrived at Efisson, south of Desai, the size of this force increased by 10,000 people. to 50,000 people.

At this time, the garrison of Desai was 25,000.

Because Ethiopia's urban construction is not as tall and strong as Europe's, so the city is not large, many even live in low-rise buildings, and it is said to be a big city, in fact, in Europe, the scale is also It's almost like a town with thousands of people.

Therefore, in the defense of the city, in fact, the geographical advantage occupied by the Italians is not very large.

In particular, the opponent of the Ethiopian army, who is very familiar with this place.

Therefore, the Battle of Desai has begun again. The stalemate on the Eastern Front, the defense and the offense, is destined to increase the importance of the Western Front virtually. At this time, the military strength of both sides has already been squeezed. This battle is very likely. It will have the greatest impact on the overall war situation in Ethiopia and Italy.

Because if Desai is recaptured by Ethiopia, Ethiopia will directly retake the western frontier without Italy's current reinforcements.

The Eastern Front will also be in a state of isolation and helplessness.

Fighting alone has always been a taboo in the military.

Therefore, in the Battle of Desai, if Italy fails, it is very likely that the Ethiopian army will descend to the southeast, cut off the retreat route of the Italian army on the eastern front, and catch a turtle in the urn, which is very likely to wipe out the entire Italian army.

It was precisely such a situation that the news that Italy would increase its troops by 50,000 came, which made Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora, the Italian Deputy Minister of the Army, who was stationed in Desai, even stronger.

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However, in the face of absolute strength, this word is just a word destined to fail, and the time is only sooner or later.

On April 29, when the 50,000 troops supported by Italy landed in Eritrea and were preparing to go south to enter the Western Front after a day of rest, a message reached Asmara on this day.

Ethiopian Crown Prince Menelik led 50,000 Ethiopian troops to defeat the Italian garrison in Desai in just two days, and shot and killed Alfonso Ferrero Lamar, the Italian Deputy Minister of the Army who had no time to retreat. Mora, this is shocking news to the Italian army throughout East Africa.

Since the start of the war, Ethiopia has not created a small number of high-level deaths, for example, there are several local dukes.

However, in Italy, there are generally majors and the like, only mid-level generals in the army.

But this time, it was the top Italian general who was killed in Ethiopia. This is definitely a huge loss for Italy.

Because, the deputy army minister who lost his life was once the prime minister of Italy.

"My father was about to support him again to run for Prime Minister of Italy in 1864, making him the candidate to be elected for the second time, so this Ethiopian campaign was the capital for him to build a military industry and win votes, but now he was killed in battle. in Ethiopia.

Alas, Italy has really lost too much this time."

Crown Prince Umberto became the leader of the 50,000-strong Italian support army this time, but he would not enter the battlefield, just in Asmara, Eritrea.

Originally, Emmanuel II was going to make him run a lap, and then after the success of gilding, he could establish greater prestige in the country. But as soon as he stepped into Ethiopia, bad news came, which made him embarrassed.

In the end, he left Eritrea with 50,000 people and settled in Mekele, the northernmost city in Ethiopia, and chose to stand still.

This naturally has his purpose. If he stays in Eritrea, it is naturally the safest. However, if this is passed back to China, it will be criticized by the Italian nationals, which will have a huge impact on his future succession to the Italian throne.

If he went south and went to war immediately, he believed that he did not have the ability of Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora, the Deputy Minister of the Army, both in terms of experience and actual combat ability.

So he gave up the idea of ​​a direct deal with Ethiopia.

In the end, he chose to enter Merkele among the two. One was to prove that he entered Ethiopia, became a soldier who had invaded Ethiopia, and won the support of the military.

At the same time, Merkele has a unique position. As long as you go north, you can reach Eritrea, but you can return to Asmara. Feel free to take a boat and run back to Italy.

Safe and able to achieve his purpose here, therefore, Merkle is the best choice.

However, the consequence was that the Western Front was almost completely recovered by the Ethiopian Crown Prince Menelik, except for Merkel in the north.

And the Ethiopian crown prince is still alive. He even stationed 30,000 troops in Maijou, a small town tens of kilometers away from Merkel.

In addition to the north-south route, there is also access to the port of Kipti from the east.

As a result, the Western Front formed a situation of 30,000 Egyptian troops from Crown Prince Menelik of Ethiopia against 50,000 Italian troops from Crown Prince Umberto of Italy, while the remaining 20,000 Egyptian troops attacked from Desai and hit the eastern ones respectively. Mi Lai, arrived in the west of Kipti.

Together with the north, the encirclement of the Jeepty is formed.

Putting this Italian eastern naval port in danger.

This disturbed the troops of the Eastern Front outside Nazret City.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, the army chief of staff, was even more frightened.

"Chief of Staff, we can't wait any longer, wait any longer, and after they take the jeepty~www.mtlnovel.com~ we'll have nowhere to go"

"Yeah, Crown Prince Umberto lacks military experience and will definitely not be Menelik's opponent. Now he has put pressure on the opponent in Merkel, and has done his best to make Menelik dare not attack Gipti. After all, Kipti also has 10,000 troops, Menelik is afraid that Crown Prince Umberto will attack from behind, but after a long time, they will see the truth of Crown Prince Umberto, and Gipty is in danger."

Just as Giuseppe Garibaldi hesitated, other generals in the army began to remind them one after another.

Unfortunately, he still has a general attack order from Prime Minister Luigi and Emmanuel II, ordering him to launch a general attack order, but this order was before the death of Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora. Published, now that the other party is dead and the situation has changed, does he still need to execute this order?

Although he resisted orders the first two times, the military's natural execution made him feel pressured.

He gritted his teeth and said, "The last time I launched an attack, if the attack was unsuccessful, everyone organized a retreat. As for where to retreat?"

Giuseppe Garibaldi looked around at the location on the map and said, "Let's retreat to Dikiel."

"Yes, Chief of Staff."

On May 10, 1863, after the Battle of Awasa and the Battle of Desai, the Italian army on the eastern front was in a weak situation, and the western front was obviously defeated by the Ethiopian Crown Prince Menelik, and finally in Ombe, Italy. After the arrival of the crown prince's reinforcements, the Egyptian army stopped.

The news came back to Europe, and for a while, all countries were shocked.

The cognition of Ethiopia's combat power has reached a new height