Northern front, East Africa, 1940 1940
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 10 June 1940 – 17 January 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1940 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Sudan | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | East African Campaign | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 16.0000, 36.0000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
Operations on the Northern front, East Africa, 1940 (the Sudan Campaign) in the Second World War, were conducted by the British in Sudan and the Armed Forces Command of Italian East Africa (Comando Forze Armate dell'Africa Orientale Italiana) in Eritrea and Ethiopia. On 1 June 1940, Amedeo, Duke of Aosta the Viceroy and Governor-General of the Africa Orientale Italiana (AOI, Italian East Africa), commander in chief of the Armed Forces Command of the Royal Italian Army (Regio Esercito) and General of the Air Force (Generale d'Armata Aerea), had about 290,476 local and metropolitan troops (including naval and air force personnel) and by 1 August, mobilisation had increased the number to 371,053 troops. General Archibald Wavell, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Middle East Command, had about 86,000 troops at his disposal for Libya, Iraq, Syria, Iran and East Africa. About 36,000 troops were in Egypt and 27,500 men were training in Palestine.
Hostilities began soon after the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On the Sudan–Eritrea and Sudan–Ethiopia borders, the Italian army captured Kassala, on 4 July, then Gallabat; Karora was occupied unopposed and Kurmuk taken on 7 July.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Northern front, East Africa, 1940 (revision 1376827076), 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
- Siege of Barentu 1977 · 198 km
- Battle of Agordat (1941) 1941 · 208 km
- Battle of Keren 1941 · 263 km
- Battle of Afabet 1988 · 287 km
- Battle of Abu Klea 1885 · 308 km
- 2010 Eritrean–Ethiopian border skirmish 2010 · 340 km
Other battles of the East African Campaign
- Battle of Behobeho 1917
- Battle of Nambanje 1917
- Battle of Narungombe 1917
- Battle of Rumbo 1917
- Battle of Lioma 1918
- Battle of Agordat (1941) 1941
- Battle of Culqualber 1941
- Battle of Gondar 1941
- Battle of Keren 1941
- Siege of Saïo 1941
All 25 battles of the East African Campaign →
Browse more: battles in Sudan · Africa · World War II era battles