SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 10 JULY, 1946 3553 protected by the patriot leaders, Dedjasmatches occupy Belaya, and later was to be followed Mangasha and Nagash, who had received about by three of the remaining companies. 1,000 rifles from us. 1 Ethiopian Battalion, which had just begun its training in Khartoum, was to be dis- Armacheko-Begemeder. tributed into Operational Centres under British Excluding the forces gathered at Metemma to Officers and N.C.Os., and these were to march meet our offensive there, the enemy had one into Gojjam via Belaya and attach themselves Colonial Brigade, twelve Blackshirt battalions to various patriot chiefs. and two 'Cavalry Groups in the area. 2 Ethiopian Battalion and 4 Eritrean We had Major Arthur Bentinck of Mission Battalion were to be brought from Kenya to 101, accompanied by the Emperor's representa- form the nucleus of the Emperor's Bodyguard, tive, Tsahan Taezaz Haile, as a result of whose which would, however, have a fighting role. efforts only one chief, Gerasmatch Redda of . Further -members of the Bodyguard were to Chelga, took armed action against the Italians. be found by Colonel Sandford in Gojjam and In addition Captain Foley, R.E., was operating sent to Belaya for training. on the Gondar-Metemma road with a small Up to 25,000 camels were to be raised in the band and supply of explosives. Sudan to transport the necessities for a nine months' campaign as far as the escarpment. Walkait. Colonel Sandford was to raise up to 3,000 The enemy had three Colonial battalions and mules in Gojjam for .the escarpment -haul. one Blackshirt battalion in the area. The supply of arms and ammunition to the We had no representative but had armed two quarrelsome and ineffective chiefs north of chiefs, Dedjasmatch Adane and Fitaurari Gojjam was to cease, but the section of Mission Misiin, who caused the Italians a certain amount 101 was to remain there to keep the population of trouble. sweet with money and food. Shoo, and Wollo. • The ultimate object of this plan was to seize an Italian stronghold in Gojjam, preferably We had no communication with .these areas, Dangila, instal the Emperor nearby, and from which contained some important patriot leaders, this centre to widen the area of revolt and JRas Ababa Aragai, Fitauraris Gerasu Duke desertion. and Shakka Bakale. For the rest of 1940 and until 20th January, The Plan. 1941, work to put the plan into operation went One convoy had reached Mission 101 in the steadily ahead. 2 Ethiopian Battalion Gojjam since its departure from the Sudan in arrived in the Sudan from Kenya and began August, 1940. The R.A.F. based on the Sudan its training, though 4 Eritrean Battalion arrived had begun deep raiding on Dangila, Ba'hrdar too late to participate in warlike activity. Three Giyorgis and Enjabara. This had stirred the Operational Centres were formed and by 20th patriots to some activity of a minor nature, and January, one had already gone forward. By the Italians to counter-activity, raids and cross- the same date four companies of the Sudan country marches. Some of the irregular Banda Frontier Battalion, who were to be the spear- leaders on the escarpment of Gojjam were think- head of the movement, reached of were march- ing of transferring their allegiance to the Em- ing for Belaya, at whose foot an aerodrome was peror. The Italian command, anxious about the nearing completion. Thousands of camels with potential threat in Gojjam, appointed their most volunteer drivers had been collected from all distinguished colonial commander, General over the Sudan, and were on the move to Nasi, to the new Western .Command, which Belaya. Difficulties, however, were experienced included the three first zones mentioned above. in getting the Abyssinian end of the scheme to They further agreed (on a financial considera- keep pace with the Sudanese. It was found that tion) with the hereditary leader of Gojjam, the patriot chiefs did not take kindly to the Ras Hailu Tekla Haimanot, that he should re- idea of releasing men from their own forces turn to the province, and by their concentrations and so weakening themselves in order to in- at Metemma and in Beni Shangul were clearly crease the Imperial Bodyguard. They were hoping to forbid our arms traffic into Gojjam, also very slow in collecting mules. In the end limited though that was by the lack of animal it was found necessary to drive the camel transport and the poverty of our own resources. transport up the escarpment into Gojjam, and In November, following the visit of the this, in combination with the arduous approach Secretary of State for War (Mr. Anthony Eden), over lava soil to Belaya, was responsible for a new G(R) staff for the rebellion was the large animal mortality (12,000 out of appointed in Khartoum. Major O. C. Wingate, 15,000 camels) of the Gojjam campaign. First D.S.O., took charge of operations. They were attempts to break a route for M.T. to Belaya given considerable resources in finance and failed. weapons, and the first step in the forward policy Meanwhile the R.A.F. continued to drop now initiated was a flight on 20th November Iby bombs and propaganda on the Gojjam strong- Major Wingate to Colonel Sandford's Head- holds, and included Burye and the main quarters in central Gojjam, where the principles frontier Banda posts of Guba and Wanbera of the forthcoming offensive were discussed. in their programme. Exploiting the rout of Colonel Rolle's 'Banda in October, we armed At this and later conferences the following the negroid Gumz people near Guba, and plan of action was evolved. this, associated with the intensification of our The Emperor Haile Selassie, with his body- propaganda and a series of heavy air attacks, guard, was to enter Ethiopia as soon as possible led to the panic abandonment of Guba in the and to make his first camp on the massif of- first days of January. This constituted the Belaya, a patriot area detached from the escarp- first Italian territorial loss in the campaign, ment and 'lying 90 .miles north-west of Burye. and, by removing the threat to our lines of For this purpose, one company of the recentlv communication from the south, greatly simpli- formed Sudan Frontier Battalion was to fied our penetration of Gojjam.