Aarbyssinia

[SykoNurse]

Okay folks. This will be my very first try in an AAR. I simply had to try it at least once... Feedback is most welcome!

(Rev 5.5) "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

Abyssinia, January 1st, 1936

The situation is desperate, 3 month ago the treacherous Italians invaded our country without a proper declaration of war. The so-called WalWal incident was used to justify a military strike against the ages-old East-African Empire violating the treaty of friendship we signed a few years ago.

Almost 40 years have passed since the Battle of Adowa, oh glory days…
Our troops still dream of defeating the invaders once more and call for the Power of the Ark of the Covenant to defend them.
We almost have no weapons but sticks, rocks and swords. Only few and obsolete rifles, cannons and light mortars could be bought from Europe in the last years.
Time has been too short: The Imperial Guard is well trained and armed but small, the Military Academy is still training the first generation of young nobles in the arts of modern warfare. The Belgian and Swedish military advisors we hired have all left but General Virgin who has been weak lately, suffering from the thin air.
Our calls for help remain unheard in the so-called civilized world and before the league of nations that sacrificed our nation for a small chance for peace in Europe...
We, Haile Selassie I., King of Kings, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Elect of God stand alone to defend the last free nation of Africa.
In Dagabur Ras Seyum is in charge of the southern front, commanding two small divisions of Militia. Ras Mulugueta holds Makale with 2 more Militia divisions.
We, Haile Selassie I., took command of the Imperial Army to defend the highlands of Gondar and our spiritual capital Aksum, the city where the Ark of the Covenant is kept since King Solomon´s son Menelik I. robbed it from Jerusalem. May the Almighty bless our desperate forces!

(Officers of the Imperial Bodyguard with Lionmanes on shoulders and hats)
The time has come: present situation leaves no ressources to invest into research, all scientific programs have been stopped! Our forces must try to live from the land: no efforts in producing supply goods! Everything we have will be used for the conscription of new militia units.

 

[SykoNurse]

We advised Seyum to retreat from the desert plains of Dagabur to the easier defendable Harar and conscript new men to bring his forces to maximum strength again which led to a massive disorganisation of the units. The two armies defending the front to Eritrea also will have to distribute the few weapons we have on as many men as we can feed.
On the 9th of January Dagabur fell to the invaders without a bullet fired, meanwhile Seyum´s army was bombed by Italian aircrafts, no casualties were taken though but a few pieces of cattle.
The Italians march on, 3 Divisions are on their way to Harar leaving little time for building a defense line.
On the 17th our spy in Dagabur seems to have defected to the enemy, our reports about italian forces marching onto Harar have stopped…what are they up to?
Ras Seyum moved his forces back to Dagabur until his scouts again spotted 3 Italian Divisions behind quickly built barricades. He halted his troops and split them up, giving command of the 2nd Militia to the young and bright Lij Abebe Aregai, one of the first boys that had left the Haile Selassie Military Academy early. Lij Abebe marched southward reaching Magalo on the 6th of February.

 

[Mettermrck]

Good story so far, I look forward to reading more. So you do have the Ark of the Convenant, eh? Just don't look at it or you'll melt.

 

[SykoNurse]

In early February the three Italian divisions made contactwith Ras Seyum´s force in Harar that sat heavily fortified in the rocky province.
At the same time Lij Abebe left Magalo to take back the desert province of Dagalo and cut off the supply lines behind the 3a CCNN '21 Aprile' Divisione, the 4a CCNN '3 Gennaio' Divisione and the 5a CCNN '1 Febbraio' Divisione. On the 26th of February 1936 General Aliberti and his men were trapped.

Heavy rain started started falling on the Blackshirts to orchestrate their fall… Abebe Aregai turned back to Harar.

Addis Abeba, February 26th 1936

John Robinson also know as the "Brown Condor" returns from a reconnaissance flight to the Eritrean border and brings back news of at least 6 italian divisions marching towards Makale. Ras Desta Damtew has been given command over the troops that have grown to now 3 Divisions of fierce militia men...

He also brings a January issue of the Time Magazine...
We Are Man of the Year!
Later Ivar Virgin was quoted:
"His Imerial Majesty sighed and went back to business."

Ras Desta had to retreat. 7 fully trained and equipped Italian Infantry divisions led by FieldMarshall Bastico simply were too much of a Goliath. The scattered men gave up Makale and hurried back to defend Addis Abeba. The same day that Germany re-occupied the Rhineland Ethiopia won it´s first battle against the cutoff Blackshirts. Italy had already retaken Dagalo, but the joined forces of the young Lij Abebe and the old Ras Seyum celebrated their victory in the traditional boasting ceremony.
Next morning Abebe Aregai and his men again marched to Magalo.
Ras Seyum´s men had been freshly reinforced when Graziani with 3 Infantry divisions suddenly attacked the unaware Militia. Within a few hours the battle was lost. So was Harar.

 

[SykoNurse]

In early april Gondar only was defended by one Militia unit led by Ras Getachew; Haile Selassie I. and his Imperial Guard accompanied by one division of Militia returned to defend the capital Addis Abeba, the New Flower founded by the emperor´s predecessor Menelik II.. Desta Damtew´s men -along with a newly raised Militia under Fitaurari Auraris- wouldn´t have a chance to fight that battle alone against the freshly motivated Italians.
It would take a few weeks until the new tactics the advisors from Belgium and Sweden had suggested would take effect….
(triggered bolted event 14102 at this place…“Foreign Military Advisors Army Staff Training“)
In the night from the 8th to the 9th of April 1936 Lt. General Roatta with his 5a Divisione met Ras Getachew´s men on the fields of Gondar.
9th of April Fieldmarshall Graziani commanding altogether 7 divisions marched in from Harar and Makale met the forces personally commanded by His Imperial Majesty.

(HIM manning an Oerlikon AA gun during the Battle of Mai Ceu)

The Imperial Army was also 7 divisions strong but shaken by the recent successes of the enemy that had taken 3 provinces faster than expected.

Our men fought well but the odds were clearly on the side of the Italians due to their superior equipment. The Brown Condor had to fetch reinforces…
John Robinson took his men with altogether 19 planes and flew off to Magalo to call Lij Abebe Aregai who in spite of his young age would surely be promoted to Ras should he succeed in reaching the capital right on time.
The Condor and his men had more work to do…“in times of despair the rules sometimes have to be bent“ he said and flew off to Djibouti to smuggle in several hundred Mauser rifles bought on credit before the war….
(triggered bolted event 14100 „Foreign Military advisors improve Infantry Effectiveness“).
These weapons proved decisive for the battle. Lij Abebe Aregai -armed with new rifles- steamrolled the left flank of the Italians and turned the tide in early May 1936. Even before the young nobleman could enjoy another victory he brought, Abebe was sent back to Magalo to hopefully reach the rocky province before an oncoming Italian division could take over the recently built denfense lines without fighting.
Also directly after the Battle of Addis Abeba HIM marched north again to reinforce Ras Getachew´s men that held Gondar and Aksum heroically against Roatto´s troops.

 

[SykoNurse]

One week later Gondar was secured thanks to the Power of the Ark of the Covenant brought onto the battlefield by the Power of the Trinity (engl. for Haile Selassie). But scouts reported that again Italians were marching on Addis Abeba…a hastily led assault of Graziani´s men that could easily be fought off this time and even opened the opportunity to recapture Harar. Lij Abebe had the honor of seizing that small strip of land.
In a daring but possibly final strike directed against Italian Somaliland Ras Seyum and his forces managed to recapture Dagabur. The second attack line, His Imperial Majesty and his army moved even further to Obbia and for the first time conquered an enemy province!
In a pincer attack the forces of Ethiopia organized in three army groups (together 4 divisions) managed to finish off Graziani´s 2 only left divisions!
Triumph! Italian Somaliland is ours!

Ras Seyum was promoted to Governor of Mogadishu and ordered to guard the southern coastline.
In the middle of August the Lion of Judah marched back north to prepare the counterattacks on Makale an later eventually Asmara….
Meanwhile....
....a civil war in Spain was of little interest to the Lion of Judah.

 

[SykoNurse]

And only one week later on the 26nd of August 1936 the chance came for Lij Abebe to capture Makale. Graziani obviously was flown out before the fall of Mogadishu. He was identified as the commanding officer of 4 weak Italian Infantry divisions attacking Addis Abeba from Makale, that was now left ungarrisoned.

Abebe Aregai secured Makale a few days before the beaten leftovers of Graziani´s once proud commands arrived there retreating from the capital only to be taken PoW.
At the same time Fieldmarshall Bastico attacked Gondar with fresh forces, two divisions of Infantry and one division of Blackshirts. He was sent back by Desta Damtu and his men.
Time to lick the wounds, all units were refreshed to full manpower and the rifles and ammunition taken from the Italians were divided equally. The army was better equipped than ever before!

10 divisions are now guarding the abyssinian border to Eritrea awaiting the repeated Italian attacks.
On the 16th of November Ras Seyum finished building a first level of coastal fortifications in Mogadishu to be able to defend the southern coast alone.
On the diplomatic floor the negus negesti (King of Kings) made a cunning move. He demanded Djibouti from France. All over sudden voices became louder that protested against the italian invasion and backed the rights of the Ethiopian Empire, especially afro-american communities. Once again Haile Selassie I. was in the centre of the western media.

In Makale 2 Infantry and two Cavalry divisions managed to break through the lines, took heavy casualties and retreated forward to Harar! Ras Kassa was sent to solve the matter. All four units where wiped out between the lines of Ras Kassa and the new Governor of Mogadishu, Ras Seyum.

Haile Selassie I. ordered a final mass attack against Asmara for the morning of April, 9th 1937 accompanied by the Ark. A rather unspectacular last stand for the Italians lasted for mere 6 days, when Eritrea fell to the Power of the Trinity. Mussolini´s dream of an Africa Orientale Italiana ended here.
Selassie demanded the occupied Italian colonies in Eastafrica in return for peace but no answer was cabled to Addis Abeba. Two more militia divisions were raised to defend the now greater empire. The long wait should begin only after week long victory celebrations....even the rather secluded living Guardian of the Ark couldn´t stay absent.

 

[unmerged(14401)]

This aar is quite good. Keep up the good work.

 

[SykoNurse]

thanks,
I´m not exactly happy with it. I noticed I could´ve written it a lot more fluent and with more variety regarding the vocabulary if I had written it in my mother tongue...but that would have to be on a different board then, and I wanted it here.
[edit] that´s why I keep editing it [/edit]
Also I felt like cheating twice (shame on me) as for triggering those 2 events....tsk tsk.

At least I had a chance to show all those beautiful pictures I stumbled across during my CORE research for Ethiopia...

We´ll see what the game brings next. Situation is secured. Usually playing Abyssinia gets boring when Italy is chased away from the Horn of Africa. Wait, guard Asmara with a lot of troops, guard Mogadishu with fewer troops, wait for the Italians to land, win the battle, wait again...

 

[SykoNurse]

The following time was almost a return to pre-war normality. No Italians anywhere to be seen. We used the break to build up coastal fortifications in Mogadishu, its third part was completed in the middle of February 1938.
During November 1937 Graziani launched another attempt of landing in Asmara. The 3a Divisione 'Ravenna' and the 1a Divisione 'Superga' suffered a humiliating defeat in less then 24 hours...
In Europe politics heatened up: Germany successfully pressed for the Anschluß of Austria in March 1938. Half a year later they signed the Treaty of Munich with Chzechoslovakia seizing the Sudetenland. Another country´s integrity sacrificed in the name of peace....
In late December Hitler promised publically not to violate Belgium´s neutrality and the allied powers still seemed to believe that fascist liar.
The first class of Imperial Officers left the Haile Selassie Military Academy forming the 1st Infantry Division. It was their chance to fight off another weakly lead attack on Asmara. Mj. General Pizzolato and his 11a Divisione 'Brennero' served as a good exercise under combat conditions.

March 1939 proved to be another date to be remembered. An industrial complex was finished. The 1st factory to produce our own series of service rifles. Never again shall we be dependant on foreign powers to arm our brave men!
The newly formed 1st Infantry replaced two Militia Divisions, leaving us with a total of 10 divisions, two of which were fully trained and equipped.

A week later Chzechoslovakia ceased to exist. The so called 3rd Reich installed a puppet state under Tiso and marched their troops into what was now know as "Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren". Another week later the Allies proved their inability to stop Germany and let them claim Memel...
At least Poland seemed to have learned her lesson and allied with Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.
This day, the 27th of March 1939 is also well remembered because the weak and obviously also deranged Graziani again tried to take the beaches of Eritrea, now with the 2a Divisione Alpina 'Tridentina' and the 14a Divisione 'Isonzo'.

As a funny sidenote we received the aid of a Women´s Organisation. They donated military material to the Imperial Army. Probably our public relation efforts in western countries seemed to bear fruits...

The next three month were quiet again. An attack of Mj. General Pizzolato commanding the 15a Divisione 'Bergamo' was hardly noticed.
Germany proved to be diplomatically unstoppable another time and could press the Poles enough by threatening war to recognize the german claim of Danzig.

The unknown italian Mj. General Ricagno tried to land in Asmara on the 24th of September 1939 with the 12a Divisione 'Sassari'.
He was just the 1st commander in a row of 4 attacks on Eritrea until January 1940.
- Nov. 11th: Mj. Gen. Arena; 13a Div. 'Re' and 2a Div. Alpina 'Tridentina'
- Dec. 3rd: Mj. Gen. Cigala-Fulgosi; 3a Div. Alpina 'Julia'
- Jan. 3rd: Mj. gen. Calvi di Bergolo; 14a Div. 'Isonzo'

On the 3rd of January 1940 Germany declared war on the allied nations and primarily Poland to prove their hoping diplomats wrong.
What would Italy do? We started negotiating with the allied powers again that couldn´t directly convince us of joining their efforts also against the whole Axis.
The Duce himself helped to find a decision when he joined the Axis on the 1st of February 1940. Now the Allies and Abyssinia had a common enemy and we declared war on the Axis Powers at the same time joining the Allies.
It seemed our time had come and we demanded Britains formal recognition of ethiopian claims on Africa Orientale Italiana
The United Kingdom accepted but demanded free military access to our country. That of course was hardly a problem.
Another matter still subject to negotiation was the Djibouti question. France didn´t reply our request to defend that city ourselves and take over its administration.

Ras Seyum reported the next part of the Mogadishu coastal Fort to be completed. Life had completely returned to peaceful conditions by now and free trade was opened with British East Africa also allowing foreign diplomats and advisors to enter our country. The first delegates came from New Zealand and trained our few pilots in the Flying Circus Doctrine. Some day John 'Brown Condor' Robinson´s small successes would end in an Ethiopian Air Force...

 

[SykoNurse]

Ras Meshfin volunteered first to fight under allied supreme command and took his man to Bur Sudan. Sending ethiopian units to the british wasn´t a measure taken in pure friendship though. Most of his men were armed peasants. If the british wanted them, they´d have to pay them too.

On the 20th of February 1940 Romania was forced to cede the Dobruja to Bulgaria. One day later Poland was defeated and annexed by Germany. Honoring the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact they gave control over the eastern provinces of Poland to the USSR.
In the end of February the self-proclaimed greatest warleader of all times finally proved himself to be a liar and attacked Belgium and Luxemburg, now the newest members of the Allies. The British and French public was outraged over the german aggression! Now they knew how it felt to be victim to non-provoked aggressions...
In early march a french delegation reached Addis Abeba and continued the negotiations about Djibouti. Their situation becoming worse with german troops amassing at the german-french border and invading France over Belgium made them share their knowledge of 'Specialist Warfare Doctrine' with us.
The tiny country Luxemburg held their grounds for as long as three days, then was annexed. Only a few days longer Belgium made her stand in Europe. Their cabinet escaped to the Belgian Congo and advised their military advisors to return to Abyssinia and train our forces in the 'Encirclement-Destruction Doctrine'.

Obviously impressed by the german warfare Hungary decided to join the Axis in late March.

Meanwhile Ras Meshfin´s forces had reached Sidi Barani and was immediately ordered to proceed to Italian territory. Not even a week later they reached Bardiyah and defeated an Italian motorized Infantry division that obviously saw no chance against our fierce warriors. Three days later the same encounter happened at Tobruk that also fell within hours.
Impressed by the fast progress in Libya the British High Command decided to send us knowledge on how to motorize our Headquarters with looted Fiat vehicles. This opened a few ways to improve our abilities to command the troops in field more effectively and led to a better overall organisation.

On the 7th of May Paris fell, leaving the free world stunned...if Germany commanded that degree of power... noone would be safe.
We gave our share and sent another Militia Division to the British. Hoping to keep at least National Spain out of the conflict that by now has become a second Great War we tried to convince the Portuguese of our cause and were more successful than we expected from our fascist almost-neighbours.
In the Mediterranean Theatre Ras Meshfin seemed unstoppable...

 

[SykoNurse]

In early June of 1940 France was defeated. Germany set up a puppet government in Vichy that together with all former french Colonies in africa also administrated Djibouti. Probably before Vichy-France´s new officials could enter their offices, a cable from Addis Abeba came in in which Djibouti was demanded.
No response can also be a response. The Djibouti question was not subject to negotiation anymore. General Giraud, commanding officer in Djibouti received our official declaration of war at noon June 15th, 1940.
One week before Vichy had entered a military alliance with the Axis Powers and attacked our new ally Yugoslavia. Romania and Germany shared the seized territory equally as Romania left Bessarabia to the threatening Bolsheviks.
By the end of June Argentina joined the Axis.
General Giraud decided to attack the undefended province of Makale, making his last mistake. Djibouti was captured without fighting in the first week of July 1940, leaving Giraud´s men trapped and cut off from the supply lines facing 5 divisions (3 of which were fully trained Infantry) commanded by His Imperial Majesty himself who ordered his men to put into effect the newly trained Encirclement-Destruction Doctrine...

The first days of August saw the Axis´declaration of war against the Netherlands. A few refugees made their new homes in Ethiopia sharing their knowledge of the 'Blitz-Bombing Doctrine' with the Brown Condor.
On the 24th Tripoli fell to Ras Meshfin´s men, causing panic in Rome. The Duce´s mood eventually seemed to get better as Tirana finally was conquered and Albania annexed. From that beachhead on the Balkans he seemingly wanted to invade Greece, that became our newest ally upon the declaration of war from September 18th, 1940.
Our religious ties to the orthodox church of Greece allowed us to share the knowledge of Motorized Warfare and later the Encirclement-Destruction Doctrine with the government in Athens undetected from Axis intelligence.
The new province of Djibouti was temporary given to Lij Abebe Aregai who was promoted Ras Abebe on the 19th of September for his numerous glorious victories over the Italian aggressors and now in the Battle for Djibouti.

By the end of September 1940 the whole Libyan coastline was in allied hands. Malta was under constant attck of italian troops. Greece unexpectedly began her war with an invasion of former Albania trying out their new battletactics.
Good news came from the Mediterranean Front: In the end of October Ras Meshfin was fortifying in Tripoli and witnessed the defeat of a big Italian Navy command. This naval victory encouraged our british allies to land forces in Messina that immediately marched on to take Syracusa.

 

[rcp7]

So far, so good.

 

[SykoNurse]

After Syracuse was taken by a british division, the allied High Command ordered Ras Meshfin´s single unit to proceed to Gabès that according to our scouts was defended by seven axis divisions.
British intelligence informed us that Vichy France had 4 Infantry and 2 Cavalry divisions sitting there almost helpless without any ammunition. Meshfin´s men decided to call themselves after their leader´s nickname 'Solomon´s Fist' and marched onwards to take Batna, then Bône to hopefully later encircle the enemy forces in Tunis...

20:00 November 25, 1940 Solomon´s Fist reached Tunis. The highest ranking Axis Commander being Field Marshal Gamelin leading the 83ème Division d´Infanterie d´Afrique, the 1ère Division Légère de Cavalerie, the 25a Divisione 'Bologna' and the 85ème Division d´Infanterie d´Afrique into captivity after a battle of only one hour.
On the same day British forces took Marseilles from the sea.

For the rest of 1940 success was on allied side. Best news being 'Siam annexed by British Forces from India' and 'Greece still resisting Axis' as last allied country on the european continent.
Meanwhile the Bolsheviks behaved unusually quiet. now and then they publically demanded territory from the Baltic States but didn´t move to take them by force.

On New Year´s Day 1941 Bordeaux fell to strong British Forces. The Commonwealth Divisions had also taken a good part of Southern France and NW Italy, while Solomon´s Fist was unstoppably marching towards the Atlantic Ocean, always on the heels of desperate Axis troops...

Two days later the Axis declared war on Denmark and Norway, completely ignoring the situation in Northern Africa and southern Europe...
...or so it seemed: the German counter attack on Bordeaux took place on the 6th of January 1941 with total of 16 Divisions encircling the 14 allied Divisions.
Denmark meanwhile handed over her oversea territory, namely Greenland and Iceland to the USA, anticipating a quick defeat delivered by the Wehrmacht.
On the 20th of January 1941 His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I. replaced his Foreign Minister with Aklilu Haptewold, a biased Intellectual, believing his foreign relations becoming -to put it simple- easier with this move. Blattengueta ('Master of Pages') Herouy Wolde Selassie, a Veteran of Adowa and member of the General Staff was sent to Scandinavia as special military ambassador of the Abyssinian Empire. A wise decision, as sharing the new arts of modern warfare with Denmark and Norway slowed down the Axis advance in the Northern Theatre.

...Denmark was annexed on the 11th of February 1941...
...the Vichy administrated French Indochine fell to Indian troops...
...Japan had been chased from continental Asia by Chinese communist forces...

Meanwhile on January 29th, Ras Meshfin reached Agadir to meet Lt. General Gonzalez de Linares in command of one Cavalry and two Infantry divisions on the field. The enemy troops surrendered immediately, being out od supplies for weeks already.
Solomon´s Fist hat taken the whole North-African coastline and been farer from home than any ethiopian army unit before! Meshfin´s and Desta Damtew´s men were shipped to England....

Herouy Wolde Selassie, the new ambassador to Oslo in late February managed to negotiate a deal between Norway and Britain that the norwegian army would be rearmed with new Service Rifles by the english crown.

In april Germany had retaken the Bordeaux area and surrounded the forces initially landed at Marseilles, when they declared war on the Soviet Union, Mongolia and Tannu Tuva.
In June 1941 Ras Desta´s men landed on the shores of Lille and were beaten within hours by axis forces retaking th eprovince. Solomon´s Fist was waiting for their time to enter combat...
...the Soviet Union annexed Manchuria and started invading the Japanes Islands...

 

[SykoNurse]

In December 1941, the Soviet Union had already annexed Slovakia and conquered large parts of Hungary, Solomon´s Fist got order to embark a transport at Portsmouth. Soon after, they landed at Caen and fell all before the German defense lines.
Thus ended the glory days of Ras Meshfin´s heroes far from home... [ dammit!]

 

[Syt]

Too bad the troops were slaughtered during the drive on Germany.

Nevertheless, a great AAR!

 

[SykoNurse]

Heya Sytass, fellow fishhead ,

thanks, glad you like it

 

[Mettermrck]

Awww, one for the history books, Sykonurse. I enjoyed reading of the exploits of Solomon's exploit. Great AAR!

 

[SykoNurse]

The swedish General Ivar Virgin asked for permission to leave the ethiopian highlands and was granted to lead the Division 'Menelik II.' into battle, entering british service.
It was the 1st of September 1943, russia had annexed Romania and was fighting the Reich in eastern Germany when Virgin marched his troops to the Sudanese border. All allied attempts of landing in France since the fall of Ras Desta´s men had failed. Last month had seen the 2nd ethiopian scientific breakthrough in the war: a semi-automatic breech to make on cannon designs possible. Last year the new industrial complex in Harar had started producing portable Flamethrowers. The design was presented to the norwegian government by Herouy Wolde Selassie. Norway´s diplomatic influence provided useful indeed, the other allied powers wouldn´t stop to send new designs and doctrines to Abyssinia.
His Imperial Majesty succeded in elevating his once backward realm to almost European standard.
A major worker strike had occured in the summer of 1942 but fortunately 3 months later a private initiative boosted Ethiopia´s economy to a better than ever before condition.
Abyssinian rubber stocks have been used up for years now. The imported techniques of converting oil to rubber have helped the empire tremendously keeping the industries running. Then the oil became rare and coal to oil conversion was started. For the Lord´s sake huge stocks of coal have built up during the first years of the war. The Emperor´s economy can surely survive for five more years without trading on the unsecure markets. Still the harbours of Asmara, Djibouti and Mogadishu are rarely visited by international merchant ships, even though no axis navy has been seen for years anywhere near the Horn of Africa. Obviously the state of war discouraged traders to do business in occupied territory. Of what worth was the Britains recognition of ethiopian claims on Africa Orientale Italiana then?
Ivar Virgin and the Division 'Menelik II.' boarded the 'Durham' on September 9th 1943 leaving for the Suez Channel and then unboarding in greek occupied Podgorica 20:00 September 12th.

Only General Virgin and Haile Selassie I. knew of the secret mission he was on. The Division 'Menelik II.' mainly served as a personal bodyguard. They had to manage to get to Sweden evading axis forces and hopefully being too fast to be put into the service of the powers fighting the Axis.
Virgin´s first action in Europe changing the british uniforms to russian and crossing the demarcation line to territory of the USSR.

 

[SykoNurse]

When Virgin and his men reached Leningrad in the middle of November 1943, he told them what he was ordered to do.

Swedish Intelligence had managed to free the MIA Ras Desta from german captivity during a soviet attack on Elbing and brought him to Stockholm. The homesick swedish General needed to secretly bring troops to Sweden to have the skilled Ethiopian Field Marshall in allied service again. Moreover Virgin´s men were carrying weapon designs and essays on newer military doctrine to hand over to the swedish government as a gift for the rescuing of Desta Damtew.
The sideeffect was a highly motivated leader of the expedition as Ivar Virgin finally could go home.
He and his men crossed the border to Viipuri/Finland on November 22nd.
None of the men except the General had ever seen snow before....the troops morale was shaking but they managed to cross southern Finland reaching the Port of Mariehamn on Decemver 6th. There the first time the Menelik II. Division was stopped by finnnish customs. Virgin´s men had to leave behind any military equipment and only then would be allowed to leave the country by regular civil ferry transport to Stockholm...

A few days later things turned out to be a lot worse than expected. Ras Desta had to admit he lacked the strength to lead another campaign...he simply was too old.
(in fact the f***ing scrollbar kept flickering all the time so I just couldn´t replace Virgin´s command, grrr)
Virgin handed out the documents containing info on Motorized HQs and Improved Infantry Weapon designs to the swedish officials and dissolved his Division on January 11th 1944, the very day the Russians captured Milano.
Ironically enough, Berlin was conquered by the Red Army on the Führer´s birthday 1944. The capital of the Reich moved to Essen.
A few weeks later Ethiopia had another major breakthrough. The Infantry department of the military research issued a new SubmachineGun design, that soon should be delivered to the altogether 10 ethiopian divisions, 1 half regular Infantry, the other half Militia forces.
In late September 1944 the "New Roman Empire" made it´s last stand in Messina, 23 Italian Divisions faced several Red Army Corps of together 47 divisions. The russian hordes crushed the last Italian defenses within a week. Italy was no more!
Finally the conquered provinces Obbia, Mogadishu and Asmara were officially and internationally recognized part of the Abyssinian Empire allowing it even to build ships for the first time!
Immediately the construction of a transport fleet was ordered by His Imperial Majesty, to help with the fall of Vichy. There was one more province to be an internationally recognized part of Abyssinia.

Also news were spread that Hitler almost was killed by an assassin the very same day...

After that the Axis Powers hardly had a chance anymore. The Red ARmy took province after province capturing the last German units by December 10th. Around Christmas the remains of Vichy France were driven from the european continent. The War in Europe was over.
Selassie dreamt of finishing the construction of the 1st Transport Fleet right on time so he could personally take Dakar with his Imperial Bodyguard and deliver another decisive blow to the Axis in the African Theatre.
But these only were dreams...the USSR annexed Vichy France on New Years Day 1945 fulfilling Haile Selassie´s last wargoal, the annexation of Djibouti.
The war was over for HIM, for Abyssinia...
His next job was to negotiate peace with the remaining Axis Power Japan. They were no threat anymore but anyway rejected a seperate peace proposal. Oh well, our new alllies probably would take care of them...

His Imperial Majesty called the state leaders, chiefs, governors, ministers, and Ras´ to Aksum for a week of mourning the dead heroes of Solomon´s Fist and Ras Desta who had died peacefully of old age in Stockholm the week before.

In the end peace returned to Ethiopia. Her Emperor ordered a nationwide feast on the looted supply and disbanded the last Militia Units, still leaving Ethiopia better defended than before the war. Djibouti was given to the young Ras Abebe Aregai. Asmara to Ras Getachew amd Obbia to Ras Kassa in a large ceremony that started with a Parade held in the capital.

Finally there was peace...

...the Lion had prevailed!