Bare Feet and Bandoliers : Wingate , Sandford, The Patriots and the Liberation of Ethiopia

David Shirreff

ISBN 10: 1848840292 / ISBN 13: 9781848840294

Published by Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2009

About this Item

Contains black & white illustrations and maps. Seller Ref: M18381.

Seller Inventory # 008986

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Bare Feet and Bandoliers : Wingate , Sandford, The Patriots and the Liberation of Ethiopia
• Publisher: Pen & Sword, Barnsley
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1848840292
• ISBN 13: 9781848840294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military

About this title

Synopsis

This is the story of two remarkable 'firsts'. It is the story of the first successful attempt by Allied forces during the Second World War to support and sustain a local resistance movement with regular forces in enemy-held territory. It is also the story of how Ethiopia became the first nation conquered by the Axis to be freed.The campaign in Ethiopia might appear small in relation to the war in the whole of East Africa, but it had great military importance. In 1941 the British Commonwealth, the Indian and Sudanese forces, with the Patriots - local chiefs and their followers who resisted the Italian occupation - advanced into Italian East Africa and defeated the Italian armies. David Shireff, who himself served in the campaign, gives an evocative and impressive account of how Colonel Orde Wingate with his Gideon Force was able through bold and imaginative command to force thesurrender of a large part of the Italian forces. Shireff also explores the role of Brigadier Daniel Sandford, now an almost forgotten commander, in organizing his Mission 101 and the sustained rebellion of the Patriots.

Review

The story of one of the Second World War s least known yet victorious campaigns - the 1941 liberation of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) from the Italians which was largely the work of the Gideon Force guerillas led by Orde Wingate supporting local patriots, who later used similar tactics in Burma with his famous Chindit campaign. --Chris Buckland