Plausibility Check for a raid on the Suez Canal

Is this scenario possible?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 8 100.0%

  • Total voters
    8
Lets say that for whatever reason, Ethiopia and Haiti (or whatever other small, impoverished country of your choose) develop close ties in the interwar period. When the Wal Wal incident occurs Haile Selassie, knowing the Italians would use this as a pretext for war, orders his diplomats and army officers to organize a raid on the Suez Canal to cut off the Italians from their colonies from their friend Haiti. Once their, the Haitians agree to help supply their brethren and provide a small dilapidated ship, on the promise that they can pay them back. Once acquired, the group decides to buy some mines and other explosives from the Haitian military and load them on the ship. They barely manage to make it across the ocean, and under the neutral Haitian flag, the take port and refuel at, say, Tripoli. They explain the explosives onboard to the customs officer as items that are being shipped to China. At this point the Italians have declared war on Ethiopia a week previous. The ship soon makes its way to the canal. Once inside the canal with no witnesses looking, they throw the mines into the narrow canal and the crew disembarks from the ship, purposefully overpressuring the boilers and setting off small explosions in the hull to sink it and block the Canal. All goes according to plan, and they explain that a boiler exploded, and throw the mines in the water and detonated the other explosives.

Anyway, how would this affect the War?

-Would the Brits/French enact any measures to counter threats like these during WW2

-Could the Ethiopians have succeded in their Christmas Offensive with this seeming miracle?

-Could this even have worked?
 
Question, wouldn't Haiti be able to sail around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Mediterranean and thus through the Suez Canal? Maybe I should go back and read the OP more.
 
This would be pointless for the Ethiopians. It's not going to stop an Italian invasion and if the British and French learn the truth it's likely to have serious consequences when the British drive the Italians out during the war.
 
This would be pointless for the Ethiopians. It's not going to stop an Italian invasion and if the British and French learn the truth it's likely to have serious consequences when the British drive the Italians out during the war.

Not to mention the backlash against Haiti for entertaining this madness.
 
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