#Hearts of iron 4 ethiopia driver#

#Hearts of iron 4 ethiopia driver#

As the driver of the tank reversed, the gunners opened the turret and the soldier decapitated them with his sword. One Ethiopian soldier boarded the tank and began banging on the turret and demanding that the occupants open it. When the tank returned fire with its dual machine guns, most of Shifferaw's men broke and fled. Shifferaw ordered his men to hold their fire, but they were eager to shoot and ignored their commander's instruction. One tank was dispatched to scout the area below the pass. The commander of the Gruppo Bande Altopiani, Major Criniti, requested air support from the Italian forces in Axum and bolstered his garrison by deploying a squadron of light tanks. The Ethiopians quickly opened fire and when the patrol retreated they charged, until Shifferaw ordered them to halt. Shortly after dawn they encountered an Italian horseback patrol. Nine miles upstream Birru's advance guard, led by Fitaurari Shifferaw, crossed at Mai Timchet and eliminated a small Italian stone fort before proceeding up the Gondar-Adowa mule track towards the Dembeguina Pass, which was garrisoned by the Italian Gruppo Bande Altopiani, despite orders from Birru not to move past the ford.

Imru's 2,000-strong advance guard went across without facing any opposition. Just before dawn on 15 December the Ethiopian force crossed the TekezГ© at two fords. The Italians observed its direction and attacked it with aircraft, while Imru and Birru took the rest of their men northeast during the nighttime. As a ruse, Imru dispatched a column in the opposite direction-northwest-during the daytime. The river valley divided Italian-held western Tigre from the Beghemder, another river which flowed through a deep gorge. Selassie, who was in Dessie at the time, sent a message via aircraft, ordering Ayalew to halt his attacks along the Setit and to advance with Imru's forces on the TekezГ© River. Imru then entered the territory of Fitawrari Ayalew Birru and Imru's force was joined by Ayalew and his forces. Badly shaken by the bombing, about half his army abandoned him to return to Gojjam. On the 4 December 1935, as Ras Imru advanced from Gojjam, his forces were bombed for the first time. According to this plan, after Ras Imru retook Adwa, he was to invade Eritrea. Ras Mulugeta would then descend from Amba Aradam and crush both corps. The ambitious Ethiopian plan called for Ras Kassa and Ras Seyoum to split the Italian army in two and isolate the Italian I Army Corps and the Italian III Army Corps in Makale. Ras Imru and his Army of Gojjam was on the Ethiopian left, Ras Seyoum and his Army of Tigre and Ras Kassa and his Army of Begemder in the center, and Ras Mulugeta and the Mahel Sefari on the right. The four commanders had approximately 190,000 men facing approximately 125,000 Italians and Eritreans. Amba Aradam was a steep sided, flat topped mountain directly in the way of an Italian advance on Addis Ababa. Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu, the Minister of War, advanced from Dessie with approximately 80,000 men to take positions on and around Amba Aradam to the right of Ras Seyoum. In a push towards Warieu Pass, Ras Kassa Haile Darge with approximately 40,000 men advanced from Gondar to support Ras Seyoum in the center. Ras Imru Haile Selassie with approximately 40,000 men advanced from Gojjam toward Mai Timket to the left of Ras Seyoum.

On the 5 December, Abbi Addi had fallen to the Italians and, on 22 December, Ras Seyoum took it back. Ras Seyoum Mangasha held the area around Abbi Addi with about 30,000 men. The 'Christmas Offensive' had as its objectives the splitting of the Italian forces in the north with the Ethiopian center, crushing the Italian left with the Ethiopian right, and invading Eritrea with the Ethiopian left. Troop movements during the Christmas Offensive Objectives Haile Selassie's test was launched on the 15 December and became known as the Ethiopian 'Christmas Offensive'. From there, he decided to test this new Italian commander with an offensive of his own. On the 30 November 1935, NЙ™gusГ¤ NГ¤gГ¤st Haile Selassie moved his field headquarters to Dessie. On the 16 November, De Bono was promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy ( Maresciallo d'Italia) however, in December he was replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio on the northern front because of the slow, cautious nature of De Bono's advance. Increasing pressure from the rest of the world on Mussolini caused him to need quick victories, and he was not prepared to hear of obstacles or delays from De Bono. This proved to be the limit of how far the Italian invaders would progress under the command of De Bono. On the 8 November, the I Corps and the Eritrean Corps captured Makale. De Bono's advance continued methodically, deliberately, and, to the consternation of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, somewhat slowly. On the 3 October 1935, Italian General Emilio De Bono invaded Abyssinia.