Siege of Saïo 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 25 March 1941 – 6 July 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 | East African Campaign | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 8.5300, 34.8000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Saïo or battle of Saïo took place during the East African Campaign of World War II. Belgo-Congolese troops, British Commonwealth forces and local resistance fighters besieged the fort at the market town of Saïo in south-western Ethiopia in 1941. The siege lasted for several months, culminating in an Allied attack on the Italian garrison thereby forcing it to surrender.
In the first months of 1941, British and Belgian colonial forces attacked Italian East Africa from the colony of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. By the end of March, they had seized the town of Gambela and begun containing retreating Italian forces, which were massing on a plateau in the mountain town of Saïo (presently Dembidolo) under the command of General Carlo De Simone and later General Pietro Gazzera. The British forces withdrew the following month (to start an offensive in Western Ethiopia) and the Belgians advanced down the road to Saïo. The Italians repelled them and they were forced to hold their positions along a nearby brook. Almost no fighting took place in May as heavy rain bogged down the Belgians and turned their supply line from Sudan into mud, creating a food shortage. In early June, reinforcements arrived via river and the Belgians besieged the Italian supply depot at Mogi.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Saïo (revision 1370745106), 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
- 2009 Sobat River ambush 2009 · 192 km
- 2025 Nasir clashes 2025 · 193 km
- Battle of Embabo 1882 · 332 km
- Battle of Malakal 2006 · 364 km
Other battles of the East African Campaign
- Battle of Nambanje 1917
- Battle of Narungombe 1917
- Battle of Rumbo 1917
- Battle of Lioma 1918
- Northern front, East Africa, 1940 1940
- Battle of Agordat (1941) 1941
- Battle of Culqualber 1941
- Battle of Gondar 1941
- Battle of Keren 1941
- Battle of Kidodi
All 25 battles of the East African Campaign →
Browse more: battles in Ethiopia · Africa · World War II era battles