Battle of Amba Alagi (1941) 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 4 May 1941 – 19 May 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Ethiopia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 12.9833, 39.5500 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Amba Alagi was fought in May 1941, during World War II, part of the East African Campaign.
After the Italian defeat at Keren in April 1941, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta withdrew his forces to the mountain stronghold at Amba Alagi. The mountain had galleries carved into the rock to protect the defending troops and hold ample ammunition and stores and the Italian troops thought themselves to be impregnable. According to other sources, however, the fortress was easily defendable thanks to its position and the mountainous terrain, but lacked food and water, so that Marshal Enrico Caviglia later criticised the Duke for having chosen it for his last stand, calling the Amba Alagi "uno scoglio senz'acqua e senza viveri" ("a rock with neither water nor food"). The initial attacks on the approaches to Amba Alagi by British troops under Major-General Mayne from the north, commenced on 4 May with a pincer from the eastern and western sides.
There was hard fighting in the jagged mountainous terrain but Mayne's troops were joined on 12 May by Brigadier Dan Pienaar's 1st South African Brigade, which had captured the Italian garrison of Dessie (20 April) located 200 miles (320 km) south of Amba Alagi, and by 14 May Amba Alagi was completely surrounded.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Amba Alagi (1941) (revision 1370431852), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Amba Aradam 1936 · 39 km
- Siege of Mekelle 1896 · 56 km
- Mekelle offensive 2020 · 58 km
- Battle of Adwa 1896 · 131 km
- Battle of Magdala 1868 · 186 km
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- Åndalsnes landings 1940
- Action of 4 April 1941 1941
- Battle of 42nd Street 1941
- Battle of Bardia 1941
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All 178 battles of the World War II →
Browse more: battles in Ethiopia · Africa · World War II era battles