Background
On 7 March 1935, General Rodolfo Graziani landed in Mogadishu. He was in a disagreeable mood. In his opinion, the decisive battles of the upcoming conflict would be fought in the north. Nearly the whole of the Italian expeditionary force was assembling in Eritrea. It appeared to him that he had been relegated to a secondary front in Italian Somaliland and his role would be purely defensive.
Only one Italian division, the 29th "Peloritana" Infantry Division, had been allotted to the "southern front" while the "northern front" had ten. Moreover, Graziani's orders from General Emilio De Bono were to dig in and wait for the Ethiopians to attack.
Graziani set out to convince De Bono's commander, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, that the plans for the campaign needed to be changed to allow him and his army on the "southern front" to play a more active role. Mussolini wanted action and was more than willing to listen. In the end, Graziani's plan for an offensive on the "southern front" had the tacit approval of Rome if not De Bono.
Between April and December, Graziani opened up new roads, developed the port facilities at Mogadishu, solved a difficult water supply problem, stocked up provisions and munitions, and purchased hundreds of motor vehicles. He was most successful acquiring American-made trucks from British dealers in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.
On 3 October 1935, when De Bono launched his invasion on the "northern front," Graziani was logistically prepared for a march on Harar in the south. However, Graziani's forces were still relatively few in number and they faced an enemy numbering approximately 80,000 strong. In addition to numbers, the soldiers of the two principle Ethiopian armies on the "southern front" were said to be better trained and better equipped than the soldiers of the armies De Bono faced in the north. Worse for Graziani, the Ethiopian commanders in the south were young, progressive, and loyal individuals dedicated to Haile Selassie's cause.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Genale Doria
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