Eritrean Ascari - Amedeo Guillet and His "Gruppo Bande Amhara"

Amedeo Guillet and His "Gruppo Bande Amhara"

One of the most famous Italian officers who commanded groups of Eritrean Ascari in Ethiopia and Eritrea was Amedeo Guillet.

At the beginning of World War II the Italian Viceroy Amedeo Duke of Aosta gave lieutenant Guillet command of the 2,500 strong Gruppo Bande Amhara, an irregular unit made up mainly of recruits from Ethiopia's region of Amhara. This force was primarily a cavalry one, but also included camel mounted troops and some Yemeni infantry led by Eritrean Ascari NCOs.

At the end of 1940 the British Empire forces faced Guillet on the road to Amba Alagi close to Cherù. He was charged with the task of slowing the allied advance from the North-West. His Eritrean/Tigrian ascaris had some success in doing this but suffered many casualties. Guillet's most important battle happened towards the end of January 1941 at Cherù when he decided to attack enemy armoured units. At dawn the Gruppo Bande tigray, armed only with sabres, rifles and hand grenades charged an allied column which included armoured vehicles. They passed unhurt through the British force who were caught unaware. Guillet then turned to charge again. In the meantime however, the British had organised themselves and fired horizontally with their howitzers, inflicting heavy losses on the Italian-led troops and their horses. This was the last cavalry charge the British faced and the last but one in the history of Italian cavalry.

Guillet's Eritrean ascaris suffered losses of about 800 in little more than two years. In March 1941 his forces found themselves stranded outside the Italian lines. Guillet began a private war against the British. Hiding his uniform near an Italian farm, he conducted guerrilla raids with his remaining ascaris against British and Ethiopian forces for almost eight months. He was one of the most famous Italian "guerrilla officers" in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia during the Italian guerrilla war against the Allies occupation of the Italian East Africa.