First Battle of Tembien

The Tembienschlachten 1936 were held during the Italo-Ethiopian war in the nordostäthiopischen Tigray province. Along with the battle from May Ceu they decided the war in favor of Italy. Ethiopia was part of the colony of Italian East Africa.

First Tembienschlacht

Skip to first Tembienschlacht ( 21 to 24 January 1936) was achieved when the forces were advancing Pietro Badoglio from Eritrea. The Ethiopian army commander Ras and Ras Cassa Sioum tried the flank of the Italian units to attack, but failed after a few initial successes. After this decisive attempt to stop the Italian advance, ordered the fascist leadership in the use of poison gas. On February 1, Ras Mulugieta defeated the Italians at Enderta that the Mount Aradam conquered in the sequence.

Second Tembienschlacht

In the second Tembienschlacht ( 27 to 29 February 1936), there was the utter destruction of the Ethiopian associations. Badoglio captured the historic Mount Alagi and rubbed until 3 March the army of Ras Imru on. The Negus then started with his Imperial Guard and other organizations a last, desperate attempt an attack on Badoglio columns to stop the launched of Eritrea and Somalia from Italian pincer movement. Once this counter-attack had failed at Mai Ceu, the Negus pulled back towards Addis Ababa. There the Italian troops marched on May 5, 1936.