(Rewritten Version) Ras Imru, the new Conquering Lion of Judah! - an Ethiopia TL

Another thing that occurs is that if the Ethiopians send a big expeditionary force to fight alongside the WAllies outside East Africa as in the original timeline is that Britain was hard pressed to supply its own units, especially with Armour, which means that the Ethiopians will probably switch over to American equipment as the war goes on.
 
Another thing that occurs is that if the Ethiopians send a big expeditionary force to fight alongside the WAllies outside East Africa as in the original timeline is that Britain was hard pressed to supply its own units, especially with Armour, which means that the Ethiopians will probably switch over to American equipment as the war goes on.
That was the plan for the original TL.
 
That's good; hope Ethiopia fares better postwar and avoids some of its troubles, especially the famine in the 1980s...
 
Interlude
Grazmach Yohannes Desta stared down at the event playing out in front of him - Italian engineers being put to work to repair the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway after Dejazmach Fikre Mariam had blown up a small part of it, a company of Italian troops and irregular bande who he presumed were guarding them. Ras Abebe Aregai had placed hm in charge of efforts to disrupt Italian operations in order to provide time for Enderase Imru and Ras Desta to rebuild sufficient enough forces to fight against the Italians once more, Yohannes intending to carry out his duty to the fullest. Yohannes was concerned with the three Italian tanks that backed the Italian forces but he recognized his numbers were sufficient enough to handle them as he exchanged his submachine gun for a Carcano rifle, aiming it at an Italian officer speaking to his men. Several Patriots right next to him pulled out grenades, preparing to pull the pin when Yohannes gave the signal to do so - Yohannes gave it by firing the rifle, securing a headshot right between the eyes of the officer. The Patriots threw their grenades into the crowd of the Italians who were taken off-guard by their officer's sudden death which was accompanied by the explosions from the grenades and the shouting of three hundred Patriots who threw themselves at the Italian forces. Yohannes fired his submachine gun into the mass of colonial soldiers who were slaughtered, their Ethiopian leader attempting to rally them but was riddled with bullet holes by Yohannes and a few of his aides. The Italian tanks turned their machine guns onto the Ethiopian Patriots, bodies rapidly falling to the ground but more Ethiopians simply replaced these gaps in their forces and launched themselves at Italian armor which was literally swarmed. The Italian operators in the tanks were yanked out and cut to pieces by a light machine gun, one even being decapitated with a sword when cornered by the more poorly-equipped Ethiopian Patriots. Meanwhile, the remaining men of the Italian forces attempted to surrender but the Ethiopian soldiers of the bande were hanged for treason and the Italians shot as Yohannes was aware he couldn't support prisoners in his band. His men didn't oppose this as they weren't in the mood to spare the Ethiopians, much less the Italians that had invaded their country and rampaged throughout it without any limitation by their superiors who supported this slaughter of the Ethiopian people. Yohannes watched as his soldiers acquired not only much needed supplies but prizes from the bodies of the Italian forces such as uniforms and hats and whatnot - Yohannes himself was guilty of snatching a nice looking pocket watch and officer peaked cap from the Italian officer whom he had shot. The Grazmach fired a few shots into the air from his new Beretta pistol to grab the attention of the flag bearer, a 14 year old Patriot with a Carcano rifle and bullets strapped around his waist in the signature way a Patriot often wore it. He brought the flag alongside him as Yohannes motioned for his aide, Fikre Selassie, to come over with a camera he had snatched off of one of the Italian engineers and more Patriots followed the teenager to take part in the picture. Nine Patriots could be seen in the photo as the Ethiopian tricolor was clearly seen in the hand of a Patriot in the middle as Yohannes placed the photo in a breast pocket before ordering Makonnen to blow his signature trumpet, the signal for the Ethiopian Patriots to pack up and follow him into the terrain of the Shoan provinces.

Abyssinian-patriot-troops.jpg


(This photo was taken in the Shoan province by Grazmach Yohannes Desta and Lij Fikre Selassie who would eventually send it to Lorenzo Taezaz in British Palestine from where he contacted Sylvia Pankhurst who made it the cover of her New Times and Ethiopia News. This photo was shown by Time Magazine alongside with the caption of, "Abyssinian guerrillas in the mountains of central Abyssinia after launching an attack upon Italian forces." as this photo became a symbol of Ethiopian resistance.)
 
Nice update! Are the Ethiopians interested in stockpiling captured armour/tanks and training crews for a different approach in the future after they have built up sufficient strength?
 
Nice update! Are the Ethiopians interested in stockpiling captured armour/tanks and training crews for a different approach in the future after they have built up sufficient strength?
This is actually what I had written in the original TL and I'm thinking about including it as well, the Ethiopians are also stockpiling captured Italian supplies.
 
That would be a shock for the Italians that the Ethiopians would be doing that...

Waiting for more, of course...
 
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