SHOWDOWN AT TUG ARGAN PASS*
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DATE: 11 August 1940*
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BATTLE TYPE: Italy advance vs. India delay*
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Two-Player PBEM Game*
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TUG ARGAN PASS, SOMALILAND, :  Despite Mussolini's inclination to remain on the defensive in East Africa, the Duke of Aosta, in command of Italian forces in Ethiopia, believed that his best move would be to overrun British Somaliland and seal off the French in Djibouti. Somaliland, part Italian, part British and part French, was the most primitive 300,000 square miles in Africa, almost totally devoid of resources. But Somaliland also comprised the "Horn of Africa", and thus dominated the entrance into the Red Sea, Britain's vital life-line to the Middle East. Accordingly, on 3 August, Italian forces crossed the open border from Ethiopia. Splitting into two columns, the Italians struck for French Somaliland and for the crucial British port of Berbera. After taking Hargeisa, a small and undefended British town, on the 5th and then spending three days converting tit into a supply dump. General de Simone, in command of the main Italian column, resumed the advanced. The British, meanwhile had moved to block the route to Berbera at Tug Argan-where six hills, each a mile apart, overlooked the winding road. Arriving at the "pass" on the 11th, de Simone did not hesitate. A heavy artillery barrage was brought down, and then an Italian brigade was hurled at the first hill, occupied by a company of Indian infantry.*
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AFTERMATH: Making use of combined arms but forced to cross open ground, the Italians managed to take the hill and then hold it against two determined Punjabi counterattacks that day. But assaults launched on two more hills were turned back by the outnumbered defenders, who inflicted heavy losses. No further Italian progress was made that day. Determined to break through to the coast without delay, de Simone ordered attacks against all British positions the next day, but despite heavy shelling only one more hill was cleared. Three further days of furious fighting saw the British still in position astride the pass, but by now the threat of being outflanked and overrun was too great for General Godwin-Austin to accept. On the 15th, he signaled his superiors in Cario that he was withdrawing, and asked for evacuation form Somaliland. Covered by a rear-guard drawn for the Black Watch and Northern Rhodesian regiments, the British force embarked on waiting warships at Berbera for transport to Kenya. The Italians overran the port on 19 August. But the conquest of British Somaliland had been costly, the entire Italian empire in East Africa would be reconquered.*
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NOTES: This scenario is based off of Avalon Hill's Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) annual '92 scenario A39 with some minor modifications.*
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Sources:  ASL Scenario A39*
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Design by:  Don Lazov*