Battle of Genale Doria - Aftermath

Aftermath

On 20 January, within five days of their start, all three of Graziani's columns on the ground had reached their objectives. As a testament to the thoroughness of the job that the Royal Air Force had done, no shots had to be fired when the Italians converged on and entered their ultimate objective, Negele Boran. The rout of Ras Desta's army was complete. On 24 January, during the mopping up actions which followed, Graziani gave orders to the air commander: "Burn and destroy all that is inflammable and destructible ... bomb neighboring woods with gas and incendiaries." Mussolini said that there was to be no truce. Ras Desta fled by mule to Addis Ababa, barely escaping capture.

One detail did detract from Graziani's enjoyment of his triumph. About halfway through the battle, over nine hundred of his Eritrean troops deserted. Graziani's response was to order the corpses of the Eritrean dead left to rot on the field where they fell. It is understood that over 1,000 Eritrean deserters were said to have fought on the Ethiopian side at the Battle of Maychew.

Oddly enough, having taken the ground intended and having reached Wadera, Graziani now cautiously withdrew his forces approximately 60 miles to Negele Boran to allow food and munitions to catch up. The "southern front" was the subordinate front and the war on the "northern front" was not yet going well for the Italians. The Christmas Offensive was not yet over and the First Battle of Tembien was only about to start.