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The Battle of the Ogaden was fought in 1936 in the southern front of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. The battle consisted of attacks by the Italian forces of General Rodolfo Graziani, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces on the "southern front," against Ethiopian defensive positions commanded by ''Ras'' Nasibu Emmanual. The strong defensive positions were designed by Wehib Pasha and known as the "Hindenburg Wall". The battle was primarily fought to the south of Harar and Jijiga. ==Background== On 3 October 1935, General Rodolfo Graziani advanced into Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland. His initial gains were modest. By November, after additional modest gains and a brief period of Italian inactivity, the initiative on the southern front went over to the Ethiopians.〔Barker, A. J., ''The Rape of Ethiopia 1936'', p. 70〕 Late in the year, ''Ras'' Desta Damtew started preparations to launch an offensive with his army of approximately 40,000 men. His goal was to advance from Negele Boran, take Dolo near the border, and to then invade Italian Somaliland. This plan was not only ill-conceived and overly ambitious, it was the subject of talk at every market place. What followed was a lop-sided slaughter known as the Battle of Genale Doria. Between 12 January and 20 January 1936, ''Ras'' Desta's army was completely decimated by the Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica'').〔Barker, A. J., ''The Rape of Ethiopia 1936'', p. 71〕 On 31 March, the last Ethiopian army on the northern front was destroyed during the Battle of Maychew. In just one day, Marshal of Italy Pietro Badoglio routed an army personally commanded by Emperor Haile Selassie I. Believing that Badoglio would not share the laurels of victory with him, Graziani decided to launch an offensive in the south against ''Ras'' Nasibu's army.〔Barker, A. J., ''The Rape of Ethiopia 1936'', p. 110〕 In April 1936, ''Ras'' Nasibu had an army of 28,000 men facing Graziani. In addition, he had the garrisons of Jijiga and Harar. Much of ''Ras'' Nasibu's army was dug in behind defensive positions that ran through Degehabur. The line was a series of entrenched positions known as the "Hindenburg Wall" in deference to the famous German defensive line of World War I, the "Hindenburg Line". The architect of the Ethiopian version was Wehib Pasha, who had been a general in the army of the Ottoman Empire, and was serving as ''Ras'' Nasibu's Chief-of-Staff for the southern front. According to a Time Magazine of the period, the "Turkish General (retired)" fancied himself as "the Hero of Gallipoli" after his exploits in that campaign.〔Time Magazine, ("Water Will Win" )〕 Historians disagree concerning Wehib Pasha's abilities. According to A. J. Barker, he had "made brilliant use of the ground and exploited to the fullest the military engineering techniques of the day".〔Barker, A. J., ''The Rape of Ethiopia 1936'', p. 113〕 Anthony Mockler does not express the same opinion of Wehib Pasha's defenses. He describes them as "half-prepared trenches and gun-sites," manned by two battalions of the Imperial Bodyguard who had fled before the Italians six months before.〔Anthony Mockler, ''Haile Selassie's War'', p. 129〕 Still, David Nicole writes: "The only real fortified positions (Ethiopia ) were those built by Ras Nasibu's forces under General Mehmet Wehib's (also known as Wehib Pasha) direction near Sassabaneh, southeast of Harar".〔Nicholle. ''The Italian Invasion of Abyssinia 1935-1936'', p. 34〕 Graziani deployed an army of 38,000 men, which included 15,600 Italians. The ground forces fielded by Graziani were almost entirely "mechanized" and made use of an air component that was empowered to inflict the maximum losses on the enemy. As was often his practice, Graziani arranged his attacking forces in three columns.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of the Ogaden」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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