The Great War in Italian Africa

The struggle for Africa in World War I is a subject not widely known. Among those who are aware of it, most are familiar with the campaigns by the Allies to seize control of the German colonies in Africa; Togoland, Kamerun, German Southwest Africa and most especially German East Africa where a small band of German colonial troops held out until the end of the war, evading or defeating forces vastly superior to their own. Yet, these were not the only areas of Africa touched by the Great War and the focus on Germany diverts attention away from another of the Central Powers that had big plans for African expansion and that was, of course, the Ottoman Empire. If the Great War had gone in favor of the Central Powers the Ottoman Empire was anxious to reclaim control of North Africa and East Africa from Egypt-Sudan to the Horn of Africa. Although the British were successful in stopping the Turkish efforts to invade Egypt, the Turks were energetic in forging alliances with Islamic groups already in rebellion in northern and eastern Africa against the friends and armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy.

Even before war broke out in Europe, Italian colonial forces were engaged in North Africa, fighting against Sanussi rebels. Italy had gained the three north African provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan after defeating the Ottoman Empire in a war in 1911-1912 and ever since there had been periodic rebellions in the form of attacks on Italian settlements and Italian farmers mostly by members of the Sanussi sect, a tribe and religious order of the Sufi branch of Islam. The Sanussi had been fighting the French in Chad but moved to attack the Italians as soon as the three provinces were handed over to Italy by the Turks. Ultimately, of course, these three provinces would be grouped together by Italy and named Libya, restoring the old Roman title for the area. Since most know it as that, for the sake of simplicity this region will be henceforth referred to as Libya here even though it would not become the official name until 1934. In February of 1914 the Italians began an offensive against Sanussi camps and punitive raids continued until late in the year. However, the number of Italian colonial forces was limited and these were stretched over an immense area.

In August, an Italian column was attacked and defeated by Sanussi rebels at Bir al-Fatia. Subsequently, there was a massive uprising in Fezzan, home of the Sanussi holy city of Kufra. The “supreme leader” of the Sanussi was, at this time, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi and he would lead or direct his forces in attacks on the French, Italians and British throughout this period. The rebellion became so severe that the Italian forces had to withdraw to Tripolitania by early 1915. To make matters worse, the “Dervishes” of Italian Somaliland in East Africa were becoming increasingly aggressive and clashing with Italian or Italian-allied Somali forces in 1915. These so-called “Dervishes” were the followers of the “Mad Mullah” (who was actually not a mullah at all) Muhammad Abd Allah Hassan. Already, in 1914, he had caused considerable problems for the British in British Somaliland, defeating or at least bloodying British colonial forces in a number of clashes before moving across the border into Italian territory. Meanwhile, back in north Africa, a see-saw campaign, similar to what would later be seen in World War II was unfolding.

Early March, 1915 saw Italian troops defeat (or disperse without much actual combat) a large Sanussi force gathering in southern Tripolitania. Eager to follow this up, a large Italian column set out eastward in the hope of crushing the Sanussi rebellion in the area of Surt. However, on April 28-29 they were soundly defeated by a massive rebel attack at Abu Zinaf. The tide of war swung back in favor of the rebels and from May to June they had besieged Italian garrisons at Banu Walid and Tarhunah, preventing all relief efforts by other Italian forces. May also saw the formal entry of the Kingdom of Italy into the First World War on the Allied side. This had positive and negative effects for the war in Africa. While, Italy gained allies who were as equally threatened in the region, it also meant that Italian military strength would have to be concentrated almost entirely on the border with Austria with the result that the already hard-pressed troops in the colonies would be reduced to a bare minimum. In the summer, another attempt to relieve the siege of Banu Walid failed and when the garrison, driven to desperation, tried a breakout they were overwhelmed. Southern Tripolitania was abandoned  and by October all Italian forces in Cyrenaica as well were withdrawn to the coast.

Obviously, a major change had taken place and that was that the Ottoman Empire had begun to arm the rebels in the hope of eventually retaking their former provinces and reestablishing control of northern Africa. In spite of the fact that, at the time, Italy was only at war with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire was effectively waging a proxy war against the Italians and Germany was also helping them do it, using German U-boats to smuggle weapons to the Libyan insurgents. In retaliation, on August 21 the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire (Italy would not declare war on Germany until the following year). By the end of 1915, things looked bleak for the Italian position in north Africa. There had never been much of a real presence in Fezzan and Italian forces in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica had been forced to abandon their interior positions and concentrate their modest forces on the coast in the major towns and port cities. 1916, however, would open with another change in fortunes for the Italians in Libya. In the early months, alarmed by the radicalism of the rebels, the coastal population rallied to the side of the Italians in Tripolitania and Jabal Nafusah. Sanussi control was restricted to the area east of Wadi Zamzam. On February 1, 1916 the Italians were able to strike back for a change and wipe out a Sanussi rebel column.

Lij Jasu

As the year war on and the tide seemed to be turning in Libya, events were growing worse in East Africa. The “Mad Mullah” Muhammad Abd Allah Hassan formed an alliance in May with Emperor Lij Jasu of Ethiopia who had reportedly converted to Islam. Both hoped to achieve their goals of expansion across the Horn of Africa by allying with the Ottoman Empire, placing Ethiopia and Somalia under the spiritual authority of the Ottoman Sultan, the Caliph of Islam. The “Mad Mullah”, the Ethiopian Emperor and the Ottoman Turks formed an alliance to wage war against the British, French and Italian presence in the region. The Ottomans had already been smuggling weapons into the area from southern Arabia across the Gulf of Aden. However, neither of their two allies were in total control of any country or colony. Hassan was already a wanted man by both Britain and Italy and the flirtation with Islam by Lij Jasu did not go over well in Ethiopia. Forces opposed to him declared him deposed and Ethiopia descended into another civil war. Italy rushed reinforcements to Eritrea, the oldest Italian colony in the region, to maintain security and plans were drawn up for a more vigorous colonial strategy.

In May of 1916 Italian troops launched a counter-offensive in Libya with an amphibious landing at Ras al-Muraysah in Cyrenaica that results in the recapture of al-Bardi after which another Italian column, in a joint operation with the British, destroy a major Sanussi camp near Darnah. The British became involved since, with the outbreak of World War I, the Sanussi leader Ahmed Sharid as-Senussi had invaded Egypt, capturing Sallum and provoking the British to strike back and take the Sanussi threat more seriously. Now, however, the Allies were advancing and later that month Italian forces retook Zuwarah in Tripolitania. They were so successful that, by July, the Sanussi agreed to meet for talks with the British and Italians about making peace. Some decide to lay down their arms but others do not and in early 1917 the Italian forces resumed their offensive, clearing the rebels west of Tripoli and completely retaking southern Tripolitania. At the same time, in East Africa, the “Mad Mullah” attacks the Sultan Uthman of Obbia who is allied with Italy but the forces of the Sultan soundly defeat him.

Back in Libya, the Sanussi finally agree to come to terms with Italy and Great Britain, promising to recognize their authority and cease hostilities. However, some rebel groups simply denounce the Sanussi leadership that made the agreement and carrying on fighting anyway. Because of this, retaliation against these post-peace agreement rebels would often be quite severe. Throughout the rest of the year the restoration of Italian rule over Tripolitania continued at a steady pace while in East Africa the Sultan of Obbia launched his own counter-offensive against the “Mad Mullah”, winning another victory. 1918 saw an unbroken string of Italian victories across Libya with the rebels only managing to launch one major attack which was repelled by the colonial troops while taking heavy losses. In East Africa, the much vaunted threat of a Muslim takeover of the Horn of Africa came to nothing as local forces friendly to Italy proved capable of handling things on their own in Somalia while in Ethiopia, the deposed Emperor Lij Jasu ended up fighting for his own throne rather than waging a war of conquest against the French, British and Italian colonies.

Italian rule was restored and secured across the Italian African colonies. However, peace would not be permanent and it would take another major campaign before Libya was pacified in 1932. Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi left Libya in 1918 for the Ottoman Empire via Austria-Hungary, leaving the peace negotiations with his cousin Mohammad Idris who would, for a short time, become King of Libya after World War II. In Ethiopia, Lij Jasu (or Iyasu V) was deposed in favor of his aunt Empress Zewditu who kept him safe and tried to have him reconciled with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which had excommunicated him. However, Empress Zewditu was suppressed by Haile Selassie who made himself Emperor and finally had Lij Jasu killed during another war with Italy. The “Mad Mullah” took his fight back to British territory, was soundly defeated and died of influenza in 1920.

Early Unsung Success in Africa

Throughout World War II, the royal armed forces of Italy were always at a great disadvantage, fighting with undersupplied armies, outdated weapons and in areas that were rarely given top priority. However, in spite of all these difficulties, the courage and tenacity of the Italian soldiers, sailors and airmen were still able to upset the odds and win stunning victories. However, relatively few people (outside Italy at least) are often aware of these heroic battles. Sometimes they are left out of historical accounts altogether. For example, following the first Italian invasion of Egypt, when the British had broken the Italian forces (many of whom were colonial troops) and sweeping across Egypt most accounts state only that the British held back out of caution or stopped from sheer exhaustion and this allowed time for the arrival of the German Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel which then saved the day and turned the tide of battle. However, that is not the whole truth. The British were actually pushing on quite aggressively to destroy all that remained of the shattered Italian forces and completely crush the remaining Italian front in Cyrenaica. They did not succeed because of a stunning victory won by a totally outmatched group of Italian soldiers who did nothing less than save the Italian army from total disaster.

M11/39 medium tank

On December 9, 1940 the Italian Tummar posts destroyed fourteen British tanks, buying precious time for colonial forces in the area. When the British attacked with their armored forces, consisting of the heavily armored Matilda tanks, the Italian “Maletti Group” rushed in to stop them with totally outmatched M11/39 tanks dismissed by so many as practically useless. Yet, in spite of their deficiencies these Italian M11/39’s managed to destroy 35 of the 57 British Matildas. It was a spectacular feat of arms and due entirely to the courage and skill of the individual Italian tank crews and commanders.

Later, on January 24, 1941 the former commander of the Sirte Division, General Valentino Babini, rushed into service the newly organized Special Armored Brigade (“Brigata Corazzato Speciale”) which managed the seemingly impossible task of halting the British offensive, if only temporarily. The British were driving forward with an awesome attack force of some 177 tanks and the Italian Special Armored Brigade managed to totally destroy or disable 21 of them; a rather spectacular feat given how vastly outmatched the Italian forces were. The first year of the war had been a terrible one for the Italian forces in north Africa, without question, and yet, thanks to hard fought actions like these, the front in Cyrenaica was saved from total collapse. The 10th Army had been practically destroyed but because of the brave men who made huge sacrifices and stood down vastly superior enemy forces, the remaining troops were able to fall back to safety, reform, reorganize and before the British could achieve total victory the first units of the Afrika Korps had arrived and the initiative in the desert shifted to the Axis powers.

It is amazing what a handful of even outmatched M11 tanks can do with enough skill and courage driving them into battle.

Tripoli Becomes Italian

It was on this day in 1912 that the Kingdom of Italy officially took possession of Tripoli on the north African coast from the Turkish Ottoman Empire; securing the Italian "Fourth Shore".

Italian Libya

The relationship between Libya and Italy has known equal extremes of good and bad. Since the arrival, or more accurately the return, of Italian power to north Africa there was a period of small-scale but continuous guerilla warfare which was ended only by some fairly harsh measures (though certainly not unprecedented ones). Following that, however, Libya became a model colony with generally good relations between the Italian and non-Italian populations. Modern port facilities, infrastructure and cities were built up and advanced methods of agriculture introduced by Italian settlers improved the local economy. Libyan natives were recruited into the Italian military and even formed some very effective and elite units. After World War II, there would be another round of extreme hostility (though without actual bloodshed) followed by another period of reconciliation, albeit of a tense and often false variety. Although it is not a subject that is that well known, a great deal of what people think they know about it is not entirely accurate. Many have heard only one side of the story of Italian Libya or have seen simply the “Hollywood” version without knowing any of the actual facts. Few people, for instance, probably know that Libya itself was an Italian invention. Prior to the Italian colonial period there was no such country on any map.

Italian sailors landing in Tripoli

The area of northern Africa today known as Libya, which consisted of simply a few coastal cities, had been a part of the Roman Republic after the fall of Carthage and later the Roman Empire, which they joined by request. There is documentation of Christians living in Libia (as the Romans called it) as early as the reign of Emperor Claudius. In time though, the Roman Empire fell, the Arab Muslims swept out of the Arabian peninsula and across North Africa and the area eventually became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire as the three provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan. The Kingdom of Italy, for reasons of both history and geography, had long looked to the region as the national “fourth shore” of Italy and the French and British agreed that Italy should have a legitimate claim to the area in return for Italy voicing no objection to their gains in other parts of northern Africa. Yet, in the race for colonies Italy seemed to be left behind by the other European powers despite previous agreements and Italians were particularly outraged by the French seizure of Tunisia which had a very old Italian community and which Italy (and Piedmont-Sardinia before that) long had an interest in. Under the government of Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti the Kingdom of Italy decided to take action to secure the region before it could be taken by another power.

Italian troops entrenched near Tripoli

An ultimatum was delivered to the Ottoman Empire, which was refused of course, and the result was the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. The result was that the Ottoman Sultan ceded Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Fezzan in North Africa and the Dodecanese Islands off the Turkish coast to the Kingdom of Italy. The “Fourth Shore” had been secured, at least in legal terms. Italy did not have time to do much in the few years before the outbreak of World War I in which the Italian presence in north Africa was drastically reduced. In fact, after initially declaring war only on Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire because of their arming and support of Islamic rebels in north Africa (and east Africa for that matter) in an effort to regain their dominance in the region. This campaign included attacks on the French and British as well, mostly carried out by the Senussi Islamic sect but, though the Italian presence was reduced to a few coastal footholds, they were ultimately defeated and full Italian rule was restored across the colony.

Arms of Italian Libya, EF

However, trouble would arise again, mostly from the Senussi, with guerilla attacks on Italian forces and (more often) the killing of Italian settlers. This was the long small-scale war led by the now famous Omar Mukhtar, a figure who has since become probably the most iconic Libyan patriotic symbol. This was an irregular war and undoubtedly brutal but there are a few facts that should be kept in mind, but sadly seldom are. The first is that Libya was not a country that Italian forces just invaded and conquered, robbing the locals of their independence. There was no such country as Libya at all at the time and it had never been independent. There were three provinces which were ruled by the Turks until, after the war of 1911-12, they were legally signed over to Italy. It was not until 1934 (long after the war was over) that the three provinces were grouped together as one colony and named Libya which was the old Roman name for the region. The local people never had political independence for the Italians (or anyone else) to take away and, in fact, they even gained a great deal more personal freedom and civil rights than they had had previously under Italian rule (after the war was over of course). They had the same rights as the Italians at the time, though this was during the Fascist era. However, even the Fascist Party was open to Arabs, Muslims, Black Africans and all others, with even a special branch specifically for Muslim Fascists.

General Graziani inspecting Libyan troops

The war was never a major problem for Italy but it was a nuisance and ultimately harsh measures were taken by General Badoglio and General Graziani in ultimately breaking the resistance and ending the war successfully for Italy. This included the construction of a barbed wire frontier along the Egyptian border (which is still in use today) and, most controversially, the movement of local populations supporting guerilla activity into concentration camps where many died of disease. An unfortunate event to be sure but no different than what the British had done in South Africa to end a similar insurgency by the Boers. It is also often ignored that this was not done simply out of cruelty but in reaction to attacks on Italian farms and the murder of Italian settlers. It is also often ignored, particularly today, that many Libyans welcomed the Italians and the progress and modernization that came with Italian government. In fact, when the rebel leader Omar Mukhtar was finally taken into custody it was a unit of Libyan cavalry working with the Italians that did the job. The harsh measures employed may be frowned on today but they were taken as a last resort and they got the job done, ending the war and pacifying the colony by 1934.

Omar Mukhtar (left) and General Badoglio (center)

The camps were in operation only from 1931 to 1933 and the cash-strapped Italian government did the best it could for the people there, providing food and medical care as available. After they were closed and peace was restored, Libyans had freedom of religion, freedom of education, freedom to pursue any vocation including working for the government or military. When Air Marshal Italo Balbo was appointed Governor-General, Libya progressed rapidly with the new farming communities established, model villages, for both the Muslim natives and Italian settlers, new port facilities and vast infrastructure improvements in the way of roads, bridges and the first railroads and airports. Many of the buildings, bridges and highways still in use in Libya today were first built by the Italians. Tourism also became a major industry (probably the only time in Libyan history before or since that such has been the case) with people coming to see the archeological digs on the old Roman settlements and the new Tripoli Grand Prix which drew racing fans from all over the world.

The Marble Arch, later destroyed by Gaddafi

Immediately before and during World War II several divisions of Libyan volunteers were organized and put in the field for the first invasion of Egypt. Air Marshal Balbo even formed a special elite corps of Libyan paratroopers before his untimely death. The outbreak of war meant the end for the greatest period of progress and prosperity that Libya had known since, well, the last time it was governed from Rome in ancient times. In the aftermath of the Italo-German defeat in North Africa, Libya was mostly ruled by the British under whose sponsorship a new Kingdom of Libya was established under Idris as-Senussi, Emir of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica in 1951. He rule lasted until 1969 when he was overthrown in a military coup by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi who ruled Libya as a dictator until 2011 when he was overthrown and murdered in a popular uprising. Gaddafi had first been extremely hateful toward all Italians, expelling the thousands of Italians who still lived there and even threatening to destroy the bodies of the dead who had been killed fighting for Libya if Italy did not remove them. Later, however, the Italian government made a reconciliation, of sorts, with Gaddafi but it was a shameful affair, a total selling-out of national dignity and slavish pandering in exchange for Libyan oil and Libyan cooperation in stopping illegal immigration. This included servile apologies for past misdeeds and billions in “compensation” for the years of Italian rule, all of which is utterly disgraceful considering that Italian rule had been perfectly legal, agreed to by all the major powers and the former Turkish rulers of the region. In any event, despite the wealth generated by oil reserves discovered after the war, Libya has, as a matter of fact, never known such stability and beneficial development since independence as existed during the years of Italian rule.

Marshal of the Air Italo Balbo

Italo Balbo is, in many ways, evocative of the Italian story as a whole during the final decades of the Kingdom of Italy and the Fascist era. He started his life as a restless revolutionary and a radical republican; an early and rough Blackshirt beloved of Mussolini. At the peak of his career he became a zealous and talented empire-builder, a bringer of civilization and finally he became an ardent royalist, disillusioned with the Fascist regime and often at odds with Mussolini. Italo Balbo was born on June 6, 1896 in Ferrara and starting at a very young age was drawn to radical politics, nationalism and a life of adventure. He was only fourteen he went to Albania with a group of volunteers led by Ricciotti Garibaldi (son of Giuseppe Garibaldi) to fight in a rebellion against the rule of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. As a young man he supported Italian participation in World War I on the side of the Allies and when Italy did enter the war he enlisted in the Royal Army. Balbo first served as an officer candidate in the Alpini Battalion “Val Fella” before beginning training with the air service.

After the disastrous battle of Caporetto, Balbo returned to the front, serving in another Alpini Battalion where he took command of the assault platoon. He courage in the face of the enemy eventually earned him one bronze and two silver medals for military valor as well as promotion to captain before the war ended. He studied in Florence after the war and he wrote a paper on “the economic and social thought of Giuseppe Mazzini”. He was, obviously, a republican at this stage but came to detest the socialists and the labor and trade unions they controlled because of their disorder and disrupting of the Italian economy and society. He was working as a bank clerk back in his home town when, in 1921, he became one of the first members of the National Fascist Party. He rose to be secretary of the Ferrara branch of the Fascist party and soon organized his own squad of Blackshirts which he led in raids on local socialist and communist groups as well as helping to break up strikes and protests organized by Marxists in the area. Balbo soon became known as one of the most active and forceful leaders in the Fascist movement.

Balbo, second from left, with Fascist leaders

Like many of the early squadristi, Balbo had been a republican, saw himself as a revolutionary and envisioned a Fascist state in which local bosses like himself would hold more power rather than a central dictator. Obviously, this was not the vision of Mussolini who had started to move his party more to the right as the socialists and communists began to drive more support in their direction. This was also part of a deliberate effort by Mussolini to broaden his base of support beyond the radical fringe and become more than just republican revolutionaries who disagreed with the socialists almost only on their attachment to internationalism and denigration of patriotism. Unity was particularly sought with the older nationalists who were right-wing and staunchly monarchist. Yet, because Balbo had become such a star in the Fascist Party, he was chosen for a prominent leadership position. When Mussolini (from the safety of his office in Milan) planned the Blackshirt march on Rome in 1922, Italo Balbo was one of the “Quadrumvirs” chosen to lead it. However, he would serve alongside more conservative Fascists such as Cesare De Vecchi and General Emilio De Bono. The presence of Michele Bianchi, a socialist turned syndicalist, helped balance out the leadership and, Mussolini hoped, appeal to the widest array of Italians possible.

The march, of course, turned out to be little more than a parade as political maneuvering had already secured the premiership for Mussolini before his Blackshirts ever entered Rome, however, Italo Balbo had secured his place as one the leading members of the Fascist hierarchy and was appointed one of the first members of the Fascist Grand Council in 1923. The following year he was named commander of the Blackshirt militia and in 1925 was made Undersecretary for National Economy. His real significance, however, came in 1926 when he was made Secretary of State for Air. Mussolini wanted to put a renewed emphasis on Italian aviation and Balbo was the man who would be in charge of this project. Balbo learned how to fly himself and set to work organizing what became the Regia Aeronautica. By 1928 he had been promoted to General of the Air Force, later Minister of the Air Force and, eventually, Marshal of the Air. Aside from organizing the military air branch, Balbo also encouraged exploration and endurance flights that would generate publicity for the air force, encourage more Italians to take an interest in aviation and raise the profile of Italy in the skies. As part of this campaign, Balbo himself led a trans-Atlantic flight in 1930 from Italy to Brazil and in 1933 all the way to Chicago where he was received with great fanfare and media attention. President Roosevelt even decorated him with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Italo Balbo had risen to become an international celebrity and many in the Fascist ranks began to speak of him as the future successor of Benito Mussolini. However, Balbo and Mussolini did not always agree on everything and the issues they disagreed on seemed to be growing more numerous. When, in 1933, Balbo was appointed Governor-General of Libya many viewed it as an effort to “exile” him from Rome. It was also a formidable mission he was tasked with. Balbo came to Libya with the expectation that he would make it a model colony, demonstrating Fascist efficiency and truly turning the place into the “fourth shore” of Italy. Although many today would not like to admit it, Balbo did essentially that. Expansion and development increased to such an extent that Balbo became known as the “Father of Libya” and this was largely true inasmuch that Libya became modern and up-to-date for the first time in history. Mussolini, for a time, hoped that Italy might gain the remains of the former German colony of Cameroon for an Italian Cameroon that would be linked by a land bride to Libya and give Italy an Atlantic port. With the frenzy of new roads, buildings, settlements and harbor facilities going up in Libya, anything seemed possible.

When international tensions began growing over the threat of renewing the war in Abyssinia, Marshal Balbo began making plans for an invasion from his colony into Egypt-Sudan. If Britain decided to go to war with Italy over Abyssinia, or close the Suez Canal to Italian troop transports, Balbo wanted to lead the attack to force the vital chokepoint open. Ultimately, Britain did not intervene on behalf of Ethiopia but they did reinforce their military presence in the Mediterranean, however, there is reason to believe that had such a conflict occurred, Italy would have had a legitimate chance of success. At the height of the crisis, Balbo deployed his troops along the Egyptian border and due to the poor state of British military intelligence, they had no idea it happened and Balbo would have been in a perfect position to have launched an attack on Egypt and take the British forces completely by surprise. Britain only became aware of it all via Rome itself when Mussolini rejected the planned operation, which turned out to be unnecessary in any event.

Although it was hardly seen as a promotion, by being posted to Libya, Marshal Balbo actually had far greater autonomy than he would have otherwise enjoyed and used his position to circumvent the normal military bureaucracy to create his own elite unit of Libyan paratroopers. Balbo himself, along with his pilots, undertook reconnaissance flights over Egypt and the Sudan to familiarize themselves with the area in the event of war between Britain and Italy in north Africa. He was determined to be prepared for any eventuality. However, Balbo was also aware enough of the true state of affairs to oppose Italian involvement in World War II. In fact, he had come a long way from his days as a blackshirt leader and was increasingly conservative, realistic and even royalist. Balbo was the only leading member of the Fascist Party to openly oppose the racial laws aimed against the Jewish community and the only one to publicly denounce the Axis alliance with Adolf Hitler. As Italy moved closer and closer toward the prospect of world war alongside Nazi Germany, Balbo reversed his earlier republicanism and was grateful the monarchy had been preserved and hoped that the King would intervene to stop Mussolini from taking the country to war.

Unfortunately, while the increased attachment to the monarchy was laudable, this was an all too common response of many in the Fascist hierarchy; men who had previously opposed the King and helped Mussolini gain dictatorial power suddenly demanding that the King reassert himself, taking all the political risk, to bail them out of a situation of their own making and to take actions against Mussolini that they were unwilling to take themselves. Air Marshal Balbo, to his credit, did more than most in the Fascist ranks to express his displeasure (saying that the alliance would result in the Italians being totally subservient to the Germans) but nonetheless, acceded to the policies of the government and determined to do his duty as best he could. Part of this included an intricate plan for the elimination of British armored forces in Egypt through the use of diversionary attacks from the air and a fast moving motorized column. However, Balbo would not live to see any of his plans carried out. When Italy joined the war in 1940, Balbo became supreme military commander of Italian north African forces and began planning the invasion of Egypt. Unfortunately, while flying into Tobruk on June 28, just after a British air raid, his plane was mistakenly shot down by Italian anti-aircraft batteries.

Some, then and now, believe that Mussolini set up the whole thing to get rid of Air Marshal Balbo because of his opposition to Fascist policies. However, there is no evidence to back that up and it certainly would not have looked good for Mussolini as such an action would have contradicted his boast that “Mussolini is always right” considering that he had earlier considered Balbo to be his successor as Duce. Balbo was buried near Tripoli but his body was moved to Italy in 1970 after the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi threatened to desecrate the bodies of all Italians buried in Libyan soil.

Royals in the Colonies

Marshal of Italy Rodolfo Graziani

Marshal of Italy Rodolfo Graziani, 1^st Marquis of Neghelli, is possibly the most infamous Italian soldier of World War II. To a large extent, this is entirely justified for he ended his career as a traitor to his king, his country and a sell-out to the Nazi German puppet state of the Salò Republic of which Mussolini was the willing figurehead. Putting politics aside, the military reputation of General Graziani has been rather unjustly tarnished over the years, perhaps because of his politics. All too often General Graziani is portrayed as an ineffective and incompetent commander when, in reality, his record was one of almost total success with his poor reputation mostly being derived from a single failed campaign. It is also worth noting that it was a campaign Graziani opposed and expected to fail. In any event, he was a more complex figure than most realize and a far more talented military commander than he is often given credit for. The record should be set straight.

Graziani in World War I

Rodolfo Graziani was born on August 11, 1882 in Filettino in the province of Frosinone. His father was a doctor and his parents wanted to send him to study at a seminary but he decided to pursue a military career and joined the Royal Italian Army in 1903. Most of his military career would be spent in the colonies and that was where he was first posted, to the colony of Eritrea where, as a young lieutenant, he caught malaria and was badly hurt after being bitten by a venomous snake. Graziani learned Arabic and the language of the native Tigreans while in the colony. During the War with Ottoman Turkey he earned promotion to captain. As a young officer he then served with great distinction in World War I. It was during that conflict that he first saw service in the north African colony of Libya where the Turks and Germans were encouraging Senussi Muslim attacks on Italian outposts. Later he was transferred to the northern front against Austria where he was wounded twice and earned rapid promotion for his skill and bravery. By the time the conflict ended he had become the youngest colonel in the Italian army at age 36.

In the chaotic aftermath of World War I, Graziani was marked for death by the communists and he decided to retire to Parma until the political situation settled down. Going into private business, he became a merchant dealing in goods from the Far East but was not successful. He was recalled to service due to the worsening attacks by Muslim rebels on Italian farms and businesses in Libya. His colonial experience and knowledge of the Arabs recommended him for such an assignment and on January 11, 1930 he was chosen personally by Mussolini to be Governor of Cyrenaica. For the next two years he came to hold the primary command of the Italian forces fighting against the Senussi Muslim rebels under the guerilla leader Omar Mukhtar. Knowing that speed and mobility were the primary advantages of the Bedouin cavalry, Graziani worked to match them in these areas. He used light, fast-moving columns, made use of aircraft and, long before anyone had ever heard of such names as Rommel or Montgomery, he became the first to use tanks in the desert.

Graziani first took back control of the Tripoli plateau, then cut the rebels off from their supply lines from the south by marching across the desert to capture the Senussi stronghold of Kufra. Then, to deprive the rebels of their supplies and volunteers coming in from Egypt he built a ‘frontier of wire’ along the border, a massive barbed wire “wall” stretching some 271 kilometers from El Ramleh to Jaghbub, effectively covering the frontier from the Mediterranean to the impassable deep desert. A formidable obstruction, this frontier fence is still in existence today. All of this created a tightening noose around the rebels, cut them off from outside aid and robbed them of their mobility. Most controversial of all, however, was Graziani’s decision to cut the rebels off from their civilian base of support by adopting a tactic first used by the British in the Boer War. After identifying the villages that were the main sources of support for the rebels, Graziani had the local populations moved into large concentration camps where many died due to unsanitary conditions. It was because of this that the Bedouin rebels gave Graziani the nickname of “the Butcher of Fezzan”. However, it all worked. Muslim attacks on Italian farmers ceased, the rebels were cut off and defeated and Omar Mukhtar himself was finally captured by a troop of Libyan cavalry allied with the Italians.

Hailed in Rome as the “Pacifier of Libya”, General Graziani was replaced by Italo Balbo and transferred to the governorship of Italian Somaliland. He was still holding that post when the Second Italo-Abyssinian War broke out in 1935. Graziani was ordered to attack from Somaliland in the southeast while the main attack led by De Bono and later Badoglio would come from Italian Eritrea in the north. Nonetheless, although he commanded a secondary front, the overall victory could not have been achieved so quickly were it not for Graziani’s contribution. At the battle of Genale Doria he wiped out an entire Ethiopian army and later, at the battle of the Ogaden, Graziani successfully defeated the formidable Ethiopian defenses designed by the Turkish general Wehib Pasha known as the “Hindenburg Wall”. Within seven months the Italians had conquered an area larger than all of France, over the most rugged terrain imaginable and for his achievements Graziani was made Viceroy of Italian East Africa and promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy. However, controversy arose again when he ordered reprisals taken after an assassination attempt against him. The reprisals caused the Ethiopians to second his title of “butcher” and calm was not restored until Graziani was replaced as Viceroy by Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta whose rule was characterized by fairness and humanity.

When World War II broke out, Marshal Graziani was Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Army General Staff but, when Air Marshal Italo Balbo was accidentally killed Graziani was named to replace him as Governor-General of Libya. In that position, he commanded all Italian forces in North Africa and after British raids into the colony, Mussolini ordered him to launch an immediate invasion of Egypt to seize Alexandria and, it was hoped, break the back of the British position in the Mediterranean. Graziani had grave misgivings about such an invasion, knowing that his largely infantry force would be almost impossible to move across the desert. He had the British greatly outnumbered in terms of manpower, but the British had more and better of everything that mattered most in desert warfare, specifically tanks, trucks and artillery. Nonetheless, Mussolini was adamant that Graziani attack, regardless of the cost in human life. He had seen Graziani triumph in Libya and Abyssinia and was certain he could do the same again if he would only make the effort. However, the Marshal realized that the highly mechanized British imperial forces were nothing at all like the armies of Arab guerillas and Ethiopian tribesmen he had faced before. He had had all the tools he needed to defeat those enemies but against the British he needed weapons and transportation he did not have.

Marshal Graziani did advance with most of the Italian 10^th Army about sixty miles into Egypt and then halted and established a line of fortified camps while he called for more trucks, more tanks, more fuel and more air cover. Mussolini would promise, order him to continue the offensive and then little to nothing would show up. As it turned out, the north African front was being robbed of war materials that were instead being sent to Albania in preparation for the invasion of Greece. It remains a matter of dispute if Graziani was wise to stay on the defensive where he was or if he could have plowed ahead and conquered Egypt even at the expense of an inordinately high casualty rate. What might have been, we will never know. The British counter-attacked the Italian fortified camps, built too far apart to support each other, reducing them one by one until the Italian troops were driven out of Egypt and Libya was invaded by the British. It was the first real defeat Graziani had suffered during his career and he was replaced by General Italo Gariboldi and for the next two years took no part in the war. He had really been crushed by the defeat his forces had suffered and urgently called for Germany to send assistance to Africa. There was an inquiry into his conduct but no actions were ever taken as a result.

The failed invasion of Egypt was the biggest defeat in Graziani’s career and it is the campaign that has most marred his military record. The famous German Africa Corps was rushed in and quickly turned the situation around, driving the British out of Libya and back into Egypt. This has often led to unfavorable comparisons between Marshal Graziani and German Marshal Rommel. Graziani certainly made mistakes in the placement of his men after halting the offensive and he can be faulted for surrendering the initiative to the enemy. However, even if he had pushed forward, in all likelihood the 10^th Army would have been defeated anyway. The German and Italian forces which Rommel later led to a number of stunning victories were much better equipped and much better supplied than the force Graziani had at his disposal. If Mussolini had given him the support he later gave to his successors, it is at least possible that Graziani could have taken Egypt and brought the war in North Africa to an early conclusion.

As it was, the Marshal was sidelined as Mussolini was positively furious with him, particularly after Mussolini had been forced to turn to Hitler for help after having proudly refused any assistance previously. Nonetheless, Graziani did not seem to hold any anger against Mussolini. He had supported the Fascist regime throughout their time in power and had even supported the most reprehensible policies of Mussolini. In 1943 when Fascist Party leaders finally cooperated with HM King Vittorio Emanuele III in removing Mussolini from power, Rodolfo Graziani was the only Marshal of Italy who betrayed the King and remained supportive of Mussolini, following him north to serve the German puppet-stated named the “Italian Social Republic”. How could this have happened after such a long career in the royal army? Given certain aspects of his character, displayed at certain times throughout his career, Graziani may have been a “true believer”. It is also possible that the fact that Graziani and Marshal Pietro Badoglio were on such bad terms influenced his decision.

In any event, Graziani went north, betraying his King and his country to side with a puppet government of German manufacture. Despite his previous feelings about the Marshal, as the most senior soldier to take his side, Mussolini appointed Graziani his Minister of War. It was a useless and futile fight, doomed to inevitable failure and yet, even at that late date, Graziani again displayed some of his old military talent as commander of the German and Italian Army Group Liguria in which he halted the Allied offensive and pushed them back at the Battle of Garfagnana in December of 1944, the only successful action of the Axis forces at that stage in northern Italy. He surrendered to the U.S. Army and in 1948 was sentenced by a military tribunal to 19 years in prison for his collaboration with the Nazis. However, he was released after several months and remained totally unrepentant about his actions, writing such books as “I Defended the Homeland”, “North Africa 1940-41” and “Libya Redeemed” while in prison. He supported the Italian Social Movement in the last years of his life (a neo-Fascist party) and was named “Honorary President” of the group in 1953. He died in Rome on January 11, 1955, the most prominent and the most condemned Italian officer of World War II.

Re Vittorio Emanuele III in Libia con Italo Balbo

MM Movie Review: Lion of the Desert

Let me state right at the beginning that “Lion of the Desert” is not a film I agreed with. It is entertaining, has some excellent performances and I will watch it when I come across it but, to save everyone time and aggravation, if you really liked this movie or if Omar Mukhtar is a hero to you -stop reading this review right now. You will not like it, nothing will be accomplished besides upsetting you and you are certainly not going to change my mind on it so, for the sake of your own peace of mind, avoid frustration and quit now. For those of you not favorably inclined toward this movie or for those who have not seen it and can approach it with an open mind, we shall get to the review. “Lion of the Desert” is a love letter to the Libyan national hero Omar Mukhtar who led a (failed) guerilla war against the Italian colonial authorities from 1912 until 1931. The film was made in 1981 by Syrian-American director Moustapha Akkad (of “Halloween” fame) who in 1976 had made “Mohammad, Messenger of God”, a movie about the revered founding prophet of Islam which, in keeping with strict Muslims rules, never actually shows Mohammad. All of which is a pretty far cry from financing movies about naked American teenage girls getting their throats cut by a masked psychopath.

The movie was filmed in Libya and financed by the brutal dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and I have a big problem with this. Akkad never admitted to Gaddafi trying to influence the film in any way but he did not really need to. Gaddafi was eager to lift up Omar Mukhtar as a Libyan national hero and this was exactly the portrayal the film would make and what Akkad intended anyway. But, as the old saying goes, he who drinks the King’s wine must sing the King’s song and I doubt anyone would be kind to a director who accepted vast amounts of funding from someone like Hitler or, perhaps more to the point, Mussolini. Gaddafi loved the movie, which was filmed in English and Arabic language versions, and it became widely shown to young fanatics as part of their training to become Islamic terrorists, specifically because a hopeless fight unto death was being glorified in it. It also did not hurt their cause than an Islamic, desert people were portrayed so righteously heroic and Europeans were portrayed as villainous and cruel. It is no surprise that the movie was a flop considering that, especially in 1981, Europe and America were the biggest markets for the film though the people who love the film will still defend it by pointing to some positive reviews by critics. The fact remains that, regardless of what the critics said, most people did not like this movie.

The acting was fine throughout, even excellent in some cases. Anthony Quinn starred as Omar Mukhtar, Oliver Reed co-starred as his nemesis the Italian general Graziani. Other minor parts were filled by Irene Papas, Raf Vallone and Rod Steiger who played the part of Mussolini. Irene Papas and Anthony Quinn were both favorites of Akkad and had both starred in “Mohammad, Messenger of God”. Anthony Quinn played his part masterfully, though there was not much to the part as written, but it certainly shows the extent to which he loved the character and immersed himself in the role. Oliver Reed gave a show-stealing performance as Graziani and Raf Vallone did his usually good job at portraying one of the two “good” Italians in the whole movie. Rod Steiger was a great actor, I loved him in “Waterloo” and he has turned in some excellent performances in numerous movies and numerous great historical films. However, I just did not buy him as Mussolini. It is hard for me to put my finger on, perhaps that he is simply too refined a man to play a bombastic socialist revolutionary turned Fascist dictator. Again, I like Rod Steiger, I just didn’t like him in this. John Gielgud also makes an appearance as the token “bad” Libyan, a local prince who works with the Italians. Maybe I’m making too much of it but it just seemed rather funny that the one Libyan who is not portrayed in a heroically righteous way is played by an English actor.

The movie is pretty basic in its layout. From the start we see the Italians invade Libya, we see Italians executing Libyans, shooting them, hanging them but we are told that there is a guerilla war going on and the Italians are losing. So, Mussolini sends General Graziani, a really tough, brutal guy we are led to believe, to stamp out the rebellion so that, “the military logic of Fascism will not be compromised”. Whatever that means. Meanwhile, Omar Mukhtar is a peaceful, grandfatherly old school teacher instructing village children in the mercy of God (it is always God and never “Allah” in the movie) and the wisdom of “the book” (it is only referred to once as the Koran and that is by an Italian). However, when Graziani arrives his reputation has preceded him and Mukhtar takes action, ruining a welcome party for the general with news of another Italian defeat. Graziani sends one of his best officers out on a retaliatory strike, complete with mass executions, but Mukhtar outwits and defeats the man (Gastone Moschin who also played Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II). However, Mukhtar is merciful and stops his men from killing the last two Italians left alive and allows the young lieutenant to return to his general.

An incensed Graziani retaliates by putting Libyans into concentration camps. He is still defeated by Mukhtar. He then agrees to peace-talks with Mukhtar but only as a ruse so that he can land more reinforcements for an attack on the holy city of the Senussi Islamic sect at Kufra. Mukhtar still eludes and harasses him so he obtains the permission of Mussolini to “fence in Libya” to starve the rebels into submission. This finally begins to work and, after the Italians deploy poison gas, Mukhtar is separated from his men and stumbles into the Italian army which takes him prisoner. After a dramatic meeting with Graziani he is taken out and hanged with the film lingering on his words that, ‘We will never surrender. We win or we die, and don’t think it stops there. After this generation you will have the next to fight and after that the next, and so on.’ Despite all the alleged historical accuracy Akkad claimed in making the movie, the biggest problem it has is simply being so biased as to be unbelievable. The Italians are portrayed in the worst light possible, though, as Akkad said, he does not portray all Italians as being bad -he gives us a grand total of two “good” Italians, one of whom is murdered by his own people. What is most obvious though is the over-sanctification of the Libyan side. So hard is it hammered into the viewer that these are the “good guys” that it quickly becomes preposterous.

For example, the Libyans all fight on horseback armed only with old, single-shot rifles. The Italians have tanks, machine guns, armored cars, airplanes and, finally, chemical weapons. Yet, the Libyans win virtually every battle! That is simply not realistic. The only Italian victory shown is the capture of Kufra and, we are told ahead of time, this should not really count since Mukhtar was not even attempting to defend it. He basically let the Italians have it because it would have been impossible to defend. This makes it seem rather ridiculous and anti-climactic when Mukhtar is finally captured. How could he have lost the war when he won every battle? In fact, it staggers the imagination to think that this, as the film tells us, could have been going on for decades without Italy giving up Libya and going home. The truth, of course, is that this movie is not historically accurate in the least. It has become popular to criticize Italy for having forbid the movie to be shown in the country because it was an “insult to the Italian army” but, the movie is an insult to the Italian army. Sure, most of the dastardly deeds are done by the black-shirted Fascist militia rather than the regular army but, seriously, are your average film-goers going to know the difference between an army uniform and an MVSN uniform? Are they even going to know what the MVSN was? No, all they see are Italians wearing uniforms, carrying guns and doing bad things.

Omar Mukhtar is portrayed in such a way that he is too good to be true and just comes off as unbelievable. Part of this is because he is made to embody values that were not those of the period in question. We also never see any of the Bedouin attacks on Italian farmers that are mentioned. The Arabs do not deny making them, they justify them in fact, but we never see them. We only ever see them portrayed positively as righteous heroes or pitiful victims of Italian brutality. The whole thing is set up as a country fighting for its independence from a foreign conqueror. It makes for stirring propaganda but the truth is that Libya had never been an independent country. In fact it had never been a united country at all until the Italians grouped three formerly Ottoman provinces together and named them “Libya” which was the name used by the ancient Romans for the region. The Senussi Islamic sect, of which Mukhtar was a part and which dominated at least one of the three provinces of Libya, had previously been just as troublesome to the Ottoman Turks who had ruled the area before the Italo-Turkish War when the area that became Libya was ceded to the Italians as part of the peace settlement.

The Libyans in the movie stress, over and over, that their rebellion is justified because Italy has “no right” to rule the country. However, this assumes that Libya had always been a country, which it never had been. It begs the question of what “right” the Ottoman Turks had to it? Prior to 1951 the area we now know as Libya had never been independent. It had belonged to the Italians, before them the Ottoman Turks, before them the Umayyad Caliphate out of Damascus, before them by the Byzantines and before them by the Romans. This is actually mentioned in the film, though scorned as being of little importance, but the fact remains that Libya had belonged to the Italians long before the Arabs ever swept across North Africa and long before the Islamic religion ever existed. If one is to speak of “rights” as Mukhtar was so fond of doing in the film, one must concede the point made by General Graziani that, “Italy has hundreds of years of right here”. Or as he put it more simply, “We’re back here, that’s all”. If you’re going to bring up the issue of one group of people having a “right” to a country that another group of people does not have you better make sure your people were there first before making it; and if you are anywhere around the Mediterranean basin the people you are dealing with are the Italians then you’re probably out of luck in any event. This would be like a group of English colonists who are attacked by Native Americans telling them that they have “no right” to the land that colony was established on. It’s ridiculous.

The truth is that the Libyans had not been totally peaceful under Ottoman Turkish rule but generally accepted it just as most generally accepted it when Ottoman rule was exchanged for Italian rule. In fact, some Libyans profited considerably from Italian rule, some joined the Italian army. In another example of the historical inaccuracy of this movie, in fact Omar Mukhtar was not captured by Italian soldiers at all but by a troop of Libyan cavalry who were on the Italian side and blamed Mukhtar for causing trouble and making life harder on everyone. The fact, as is inadvertently shown in the film, that the Italians are coming in with trucks and motorcycles and airplanes while all the Libyans are still riding horses or camels everywhere shows that prior to the Italian colonial period the Libyans were living in a backward state of near total stagnation. It was only after the arrival of Italian rule that the region began to progress toward modernity with the first modern roads, bridges, hospitals, airfields and infrastructure in general being established.

It is also stated, in the “trial” of Omar Mukhtar at the end of the film, that he had never accepted Italian rule, never took subsidy from the Italian government and therefore should have been treated as a prisoner of war. It sounded nice from a propaganda point of view, but this too is totally false. Mukhtar had recognized Italian rule. At one point, he had made peace with them and laid down his arms. However, once his forces were replenished he went on the attack again. And how could he be a POW? No one had declared war on anyone else nor was he part of any recognized army. This would be like Great Britain giving Ulster to the Republic of Ireland and a northern Irish Unionist then waging war against the government in Dublin because he never recognized the “right” of the Republic of Ireland to rule in Ulster. Well, I’m sorry folks but governments rule and make decisions on behalf of their people and law and order does not depend on the free consent of absolutely every individual person involved. When the Republic of Texas joined the United States someone couldn't start carrying out their own war against America just because he did not approve of the annexation and never recognized the change in sovereignty. Again, this goes back to the false assumption that Libya was a sovereign nation conquered by Italy which it was not.

The fact that, for a time, this movie was considered too offensive to be show in Italy is not surprising. It is extremely blatant anti-Italian propaganda. The Fascist regime was certainly not known for being kind and gentle but this rebellion was going on before Mussolini came to power. During World War I the rebels even allied with their former overlords, the Ottoman Turks, to fight against the French and British as well. Some bad things happened during this period, in reaction to the rebellion it must be said (they would not have happened otherwise) but the fact remains that the Italians did not occupy Libya as brutal conquerors. They did not destroy cities, massacre people and force everyone to convert to Catholicism (the same could not be said when the Muslims took the region in the 7th Century by the way). The movie is so one-sided and biased as to be laughable, the characters are unbelievable and in the end you are left with something that is not so much trying to entertain you as much as indoctrinate you. A big thumbs-down from me.