Italian Somali Divisions (101 and 102)

After June 1940, when the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Allies, two divisions of Somali soldiers were raised in Italian Somaliland.

These recruits received training by Italian NCOs, although this was interrupted in the early stages of the war by the construction of a small new decauville railway between Villabruzzi and the Ethiopian frontier.

[1] As a result, at the start of World War II there were 20,458 Somali soldiers in Italian Somaliland, mostly in these two new divisions, but they were not well trained for combat.

[citation needed] The 101st Colonial Division, originally ordered to fall back on Callafo, south of Gabredarre, had been given fresh radio instructions by the “Comando Superiore”, rerouting their columns to Neghelli.

[citation needed] The "102 Divisione Somala", consisting mainly of new recruits who were not well trained for combat, retreated to Ethiopia after the British crossed the Juba river, following heavy clashes.

In the pre-dawn darkness they moved silently and unseen almost up to the Transvaal Scottish line, before the glimmer of daybreak revealed to the waiting South Africans scores of crouching figures clearly silhouetted against the glow of the eastern sky.

Juba Cemetery's photo of British carbineers: at Gelib on the Juba river was fought a harsh battle between the Italian Somali Divisions and the British Army
The Italian empire before WWII is shown in red. Pink areas were annexed/occupied for various periods between 1940 and 1943. Italian concessions and forts in China are not shown.