Battle of Mekelle

Battle of Mekelle
	Part of the First Italo-Ethiopian War
	; The fort at Mekelle after the siege
Date	January 1896
Location	Mek'ele, Ethiopia
Result	Ethiopian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy	Ethiopian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Giuseppe Galliano	Ras Makonnen
Strength
1,183; 1,000 Askari and 183 Italians	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	costly assaults [1]

The Battle of Mekelle, sometimes known as the siege of Mekelle, took place in January 1896 during the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Italian forces surrendered a partially completed fort at Mekelle, a city in the northern Tigray Region of Ethiopia which they had occupied since 1895, to Ethiopian forces.

The Italians numbered by 20 officers, 13 non-commissioned officers, and 150 in the ranks, supported by 1,000 Askari and two mountain guns. After two weeks of bombardment by Ethiopian artillery - which possessed a longer reach than that of the Italians - the Ethiopians managed to cut off the fort's water supply, prompting the defenders surrender.^[1]

References

Notes

1 2 McLachlan, Sean (2011). Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896. Colchester. p. 12.

Written sources

McLachlan, Sean (2011). Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896: The Italian Disaster in Ethiopia. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1849089388.

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[SML-1] 1 2 McLachlan, Sean (2011). Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896. Colchester. p. 12.