When Batswana marched on Rome

Jeff Ramsay | Monday August 2, 2021 15:11

During the Council meeting, which had begun in the evening of July 24, Mussolini was tired, unwell, and seemingly overwhelmed by Italian military reverses.

Council member Dino Grandi argued that the dictatorship had brought Italy to the brink of military disaster, elevated incompetents, and alienated large portions of the population. He proposed a vote to transfer military power to the king. The motion passed.

Shortly after the vote, Mussolini met the king, who informed him that General Pietro Badoglio would assume power. Mussolini offered no objection. Upon leaving the meeting, he was arrested. The announcement on the radio that 'Il Duce' had fallen brought joyous crowds into the streets of Rome.

Mussolini’s fall came about just two weeks after the start of “Operation Husky” the code name for the allied invasion of the Italian island of Sicily as a first step towards seizing control of the Italian peninsula. On July 10, 1943, Batswana and Basotho gunners of the British 8th Army under General Bernard Montgomery were the only African troops to take part in the invasion.

The first Batswana ashore were the gunners of B troop of 209 H.A.A. (Heavy Anti-Aircraft) Battery, who joined other elements of the 8th Army's 73rd Regiment in capturing the ancient port city of Syracuse. On the same morning, they were followed into battle by 1977 Smoke Company. Once landed, Batswana began deploying their smoke screens and 3.7 H.A.A. guns, as well as a battery of captured Italian Ansaldo artillery that they were assigned to operate. Over the next two weeks, seven more Batswana combat companies were deployed on the island.

The landing, itself, had been, unopposed as the Italians by then were already beginning to turn against their Fascist regime. Unfortunately, part of the German 10th Army was also garrisoned on the island. The German counterpunch gathered strength on July 14, 1943, with the arrival of heavy bombers. The primary target of the German aircraft was the shipping and docking facilities at Syracuse, which was then the primary supply line for the allied forces on the island, which also included the American 5th Army under Generals George S. Patton and Omar Bradley.

Over the next two weeks, Batswana gunners distinguished themselves by shooting down 11 enemy planes, about half of the total downed over Syracuse. As the 8th Army pushed northward towards Messina, Batswana H.A.A. units began to also successfully use their 3.7 H.A.A. guns in field firing against German ground armour around Cantina.

On August 11, the 1967 Company came under concentrated aerial attack at Lentini airfield. Heretofore the Batswana had miraculously suffered only two wounded during the entire invasion. But at Lentini five were killed and 26 wounded when a formation of 30 enemy planes swept down with anti-personnel bombs. The Lentini raid was the worst single attack suffered by Batswana during the war. The tragic event also resulted in five Batswana Pioneers being commended for their unfailing courage during the raid: Sergeants Otukile and Petoro, Corporals Phatsimo and Ditogile with a post-humus award also going to Private Ntshonyalo who had been among the fallen. The last Axis resistance on the island capitulated on August 17, 1943, by which time Badoglio's government had engaged in secret negotiations to switch sides in the war from the Axis to the allied or United Nations camp. In the negotiations, it was agreed that Italy would announce its shift on September 3, 1943, to coincide with landings on the Italian mainland. On September 3, in what turned out to be a diversion, units of the British 8th Army still under General Bernard Montgomery carried out Operation Baytown. The operation involved crossing the narrow Strait of Messina, which separated Sicily from the Italian mainland, at Reggio.

They went off without serious incident. The Italian Forces either stood down or cooperated with the invaders, while the Germans pulled back. Within 24 hours of the initial landing, Batswana of 1977 Smoke and 1990 Pioneer Companies had joined in the push up the toe of Italy to the strategic town of Crotone. On the 8th of September 1943 the 8th Army, including five Batswana companies, unleashed Operation Slapstick, which involved landing at the major port city and naval base Taranto.

Welcomed by the Italians the area was also quickly secured. The biggest and riskiest of the landings was known as Operation Avalanche. It began on the 9th of September when the America 5th Army reinforced by the British 10th Corps landed at the seaside town of Salerno. The allied commanders were by then confident that from Salerno they could rapidly advance on Rome. But this scenario was not to be. Instead, Batswana gunners were prominent among those who prevented a near-disastrous defeat.