The Italians occupy British Somaliland
When Italian Dictator Mussolini declared war on the Allies in June 1940, his forces in East Africa were incomparably greater than those of the British. The Italians had about 91,000 soldiers in Ethiopia a local army of about 200,000 troops. The British had only 9,000 soldiers in Sudan and another 8,500 in Kenya.
Despite this, the Italians were not quick to take advantage of the situation. In July they made a small foray into Sudan but were immediately checked. It was not until August that they launched an offensive and chose the weakest part of the British-Somali deployment in the Gulf of Aden. The operation was designed to prevent the British from using the French port of Djibouti to attack Ethiopia.
The Italians had 26 battalions, including artillery and tanks, against the British force, which numbered five battalions, including four Indian and African battalions. The second Infantry Regiment of the Scottish Black Watch was on its way as a reinforcement. Even so the Italians found out that they had no easy task. Following the delaying actions of the small Somali Camel Corps, they reached the outskirts of the capital Berbera where they were stopped at the Thag-Argan mountain pass for four days in which the British Navy had time to evacuate the garrison to Aden on August 16.
The Italians suffered some 2,000 casualties and the British about 250. The British way of fighting and the large number of casualties had a depressing effect on the Italians regarding the continuation of the campaign.