Arbegnoch
The Arbegnoch (Amharic: ዐርበኞች, romanized: ārbenyoch, lit. 'Patriots') were Ethiopian anti-fascist World War II resistance fighters in Italian East Africa from 1936 until 1941 who fought against Fascist Italy's occupation of the Ethiopian Empire.[2]
Arbegnoch
1936–1941
25,000 (1937/8)[1]
Italian Communist Party
United Kingdom (1940–41)
Belgium (1940–41)
Free France (1940–41)
The Patriot movement was primarily based in the rural Shewa, Gondar and Gojjam provinces, though it drew support from all over occupied Ethiopia. Several hundred Eritreans also participated.[3] Small cells operated in Addis Ababa and other towns, known as Wust Arbagna (Insider Patriots).[4] The Black Lions took part in the movement.[5] In 1937/1938, there were an estimated 25,000 active Patriots in Ethiopia. The average band of resistance fighters was estimated in 1938 to have included 400 to 500 members, depending on the agricultural season.[1] The Arbegnoch or Patriots were called Shifta by the Italians. The Patriots had the near-total support of the Tewahedo Orthodox Church.[5] The majority of participants were Christian highlanders. Ethiopian Muslims were less involved in the Italo-Ethiopian conflict.[6]
History[edit]
Italian invasion[edit]
A couple months into the Second Italo-Ethiopian War on 9 December 1935, Ethiopian Minister of War Mulugeta Yeggazu ordered all chiefs in the north to undertake "patriotic resistance against the Italians for taking away the independence of Ethiopia".[7] The Patriot movement only emerged in the spring of 1936 after the Battle of Maychew in the Tigray Region as scattered troops of the Army of the Ethiopian Empire resorted to guerrilla tactics against occupying forces.[8] Local civilians joined in and operated independently near their homes. Early activities included stealing war materials, rolling boulders off cliffs at passing convoys, kidnapping messengers, cutting telephone lines, setting fire to administrative offices and fuel and ammunition dumps and killing collaborators.[9]