The chapters in this volume offer but a brief glimpse into some of the current research being undertaken by historians studying the largely neglected, diverse, and complex East Africa campaign of the Second World War.

Acknowledgements List of Figures, Graphs and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction  Evert Kleynhans and Ian van der Waag 1 Of Abandonment and Liberation: British Attitudes towards Emperor Haile Selassie, 1936–1941  Quentin Holbert 2 Cunningham’s Team on Operation Canvas: Superiors, Subordinates and Peers  Dennis Vincent 3 The Gold Coast Brigade’s Crossing of the Juba River, Italian Somaliland, February 1941  Timothy Stapleton 4 “Through Bush, across Desert and over Mountains”: the Combat Operations of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade in East Africa, 1941  Evert Kleynhans 5 “The patriots proved most successful” or “They had been useless whenever fighting had to be done”  Jacob Stoil 6 Defeat at Gallabat: Brigadier Bill Slim’s Formative Learning Experience  Andrew Stewart 7 “The precious liquid”: Water Supply Operations in East Africa during the Second World War, 1939–1941  Fankie Lucas Monama 8 “Almost entirely a medical war”: The South African Medical Corps in East Africa, 1940–1941  Ian van der Waag 9 Losing an Empire: Fascist Italy’s Defeat in the Horn of Africa 1940–1941 and Its Memory  Bastian Matteo Scianna Index