The Royal Corps of Colonial Troops ( or RCTC) was a corps of the Italian Royal Army, in which all the Italian colonial troops were grouped until the end of World War II in North Africa campaign.
History
Many of the Askaris in Eritrea were drawn from local Nilotic populations, including Hamid Idris Awate, who reputedly had some Nara ancestry. Of these troops, the first Eritrean battalions were raised in 1888 from Muslim and Christian volunteers, replacing an earlier Bashi-bazouk corps of irregulars. The four Indigeni battalions in existence by 1891 were incorporated into the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops that year. Expanded to eight battalions, the Eritrean Ascaris fought with distinction at Serobeti, Agordat, Kassala, Coatit and Adwa and subsequently served in Libya and Ethiopia.
These troops were deployed on all fronts in Africa from the First Italo-Ethiopian War, the Italian-Turkish war, and the conquest of Ethiopia, until World War II. The colonial soldiers always showed courage and in some cases (like the Eritrean Ascari) fought with heroism.
The colonial troops were commanded by Italian officers and NCOs, while soldiers were drawn from the Italian colonial territories (and to a smaller extent also from neighbouring Yemen).
In 1940, 256,000 Askaris in the Italian Royal Army were present in the local Italian colonies. Of these, 182,000 had been recruited in Italian East Africa (Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia) and 74,000 in Libya. In January 1941, when Allied forces invaded Italian-occupied Ethiopia in January 1941 most of the locally recruited ascaris deserted. The majority of the Eritrean Ascaris remained loyal until the Italian surrender four months later. [which surrender? discuss here.]
Structure
There were various Royal Corps of Colonial Troops:
Royal Corps of Colonial Troops in Italian Eritrea (1891–1936) Royal Corps of Colonial Troops in Italian Somaliland (1908–1936) Royal Corps of Colonial Troops in Italian Tripolitania (1914–1935) Royal Corps of Colonial Troops in Italian Cyrenaica (1914–1935) Royal Corps of Colonial Troops in Italian Libya (1935–1939) Royal Corps of Libya (1939–1943)
The first two corps were united in 1935, and a year later, conquered Ethiopia was added to them, as a result of which they were all named the Forze armate dell'Africa Orientale Italiana (FF.AA. "A.O.I.", or FAAOI — Armed Forces of Italian East Africa), and remained active until 1943, when Italy was defeated in WWII. The two corps, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, were merged into a common Libyan corps, which in 1939 was renamed the Libyan corps. After 1936, the formation of colonial divisions began:
Italian Libya:
1st Libyan Division
2nd Libyan Division
Italian East Africa:
1st Eritrean Division
2nd Eritrean Division
101st Somali Division
102nd Somali Division
Composition
At different times, the colonial troops of Italy consisted of irregular military units such as: bashi-buzuki, askari, savari, spahi, dubat, meharistes. Created and the so-called "gangs" (from the Italian word bande - a group), small cavalry military formations, as a rule, consisted of 100-200 people. At the same time, in North Africa, instead of horses, they used camels, more hardy to the desert area, more familiar to the Tuareg tribes.
With the occupation of Albania in 1939, colonial troops were created by the Italians there as well. They also consisted of local residents. Unlike Hitler's Nazis, who, moreover, did not yet have overseas colonies, the Italian fascists did not have a clear ideology of racial superiority, but were rather typical classical colonialists, so they tried not to destroy the local population, but exploited it. Therefore, not having a sufficient number of ethnic Italians in the colonies, to protect them, they willingly used the local people as soldiers. In turn, the natives went to the service of the Italians, because they had from this salary, rations, clothing and a relatively high status in their society.
Since the beginning of the colonial conquest the Kingdom of Italy created military units with colonial soldiers. The main units included as parts of the RCTC were:
Libya: Libyan troops, which included the Libyan Meharisti, the Savari, the Spahis, and Zaptié Eritrea: Royal Corps Of Eritrean Colonial Troops, mainly the Eritrean Ascari, and Zaptie. Somalia: Somali troops, which included Royal Corps of Somali Colonial Troops, the Dubats and Somali Zaptié. Ethiopia: Ethiopian troops (after 1937), which included the Group "Bande Amhara" of Amedeo Guillet, and Zaptié.