Italian Spahis were

light cavalry Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and body armor, armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was p ...

colonial troops of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

, raised in

Italian Libya Libya (; ) was a colony of Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica, Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitan ...

between 1912 and 1942.

Characteristics

The Italian colonial administration of

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

raised squadrons of locally recruited Spahi cavalry immediately following the occupation of

, during the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish (, "Tripolitanian War", , "War of Libya"), also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captur ...

of (1911–1912). These differed from their French namesakes in that their prime role was that of mounted police, tasked with patrolling rural and desert areas, plus providing escorts and scouts. The name is the French form of the Ottoman word

sipahi The ''sipahi'' ( , ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Empire. ''Sipahi'' units included the land grant–holding ('' timar'') provincial ''timarli sipahi'', which constituted most of the arm ...

, a word originally derived from Middle Persian term ''Spah'' meaning "army", or "horsemen". Although they had Italian officers these spahis were more loosely organised than the regular Libyan cavalry regiments ( Savari). Newly enlisted spahis brought their own horses with them, in return for a government grant. They usually wore a picturesque dress modelled on that of the desert tribesmen from whom they were recruited.

History

Initially raised as tribal irregulars in 1916–1919 to combat the Senussi resistance to the Italian annexation of coastal Libya, the Spahis were deployed along the Tunisian frontier in an effort to block the flow of weapons from French territory. Unlike their French Algerian and Moroccan counterparts (regular colonial cavalry also known as spahis) the Italian Spahis served as skirmishing auxiliaries armed with rifles but not sabres. Following reorganisation in the 1920s, Italian Spahis formed part of the ''Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali'' of Libya (Royal Corps of Libyan Colonial Troops), which included desert and camel troops, infantry battalions, artillery and cavalry. The Truppe Coloniali saw extensive service during the Italian conquest of

Tripolitania Tripolitania (), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province of Libya. The region had been settled since antiquity, first coming to prominence as part of the Carthaginian empire. Following the defeat ...

and mainly contributed to the full control of

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

and

Fezzan Fezzan ( , ; ; ; ) is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise in ...

, which was not completed until 1932. Subsequently, they patrolled the border areas of Italian Libya. Throughout their history the Italian Spahis were recruited almost entirely from Tripolitania; an attempt in 1927–1929 to raise detachments in Cyrenaica to patrol the frontier with Egypt, proving unsuccessful because of a failure to obtain willing recruits. In 1936, Spahis and other Libyan units took part in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and received a "Gold Medal of Honor" for their distinguished performance in battle

The Spahis of Amedeo Guillet

The Italian officer Amedeo Guillet commanded a " gruppo" of spahi irregular cavalry in Libya during 1934. The following year he and his Libyan spahis took part in the Invasion of Ethiopia.

World War II

On the eve of Italy's entry into World War II the Royal Corps of Libyan Colonial Troops comprised approximately 28,000 locally recruited personnel, including nearly one thousand Spahis. In 1940-41 the existing four squadrons of Spahis were expanded to nine, organised in three ''Gruppo Squadroni'' (Groups of Squadrons). The Libyan colonial infantry and artillery suffered heavy losses during the Battle of the Marmarica (December 1940) and were formally disbanded in January 1943 following the Italian withdrawal into

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. The role of the Libyan Spahis and other horse mounted troops was limited mainly to patrol and scouting work by the demands of modern mechanized warfare. Spahi detachments were in control of Ghat and

Ghadames Ghadames or Ghadamis ( Ghadamsi: ⵄⴰⴷⴻⵎⴻⵙ / ''Ɛadēməs'' �adeːməs , ) is an oasis town in the Nalut District of the Tripolitania region in northwestern Libya. Ghadamès, known as 'the pearl of the desert', stands in an oa ...

until the first weeks of 1943.

Notes

Bibliography