Gideon Force
Publié le 22/02/2012
Extrait du document
Formed by then Lieutenant Colonel Orde Wingate
in January 1941, the Gideon Force operated
under the direction of the British Special Operations
Executive (SOE) to help restore emperor
Haile Selassie to the throne of Ethiopia, which
was occupied by Italy. Comprised of 50 British officers
and 20 British noncommissioned officers in
charge of 800 members of the Sudan Frontier Battalion
and 800 Ethiopian (Abyssinian) troops, the
Gideon Force fought a daring guerrilla campaign
and succeeded not only in establishing Haile
Selassie in a base at Gojjam, Ethiopia, but also in
escorting him to the very capital of the country,
Addis Ababa, and returning him to power. This
small guerrilla force was instrumental in forcing
the Italians to lose their grip on Ethiopia.