As part of the East African Campaign of World War II, Gideon Force encountered a vastly superior Italian force under Colonel Natale near the fort at Dembecha on 5 March 1942.
Troops of the Gideon Force departed on December 1940 in small columns towards Mount Belaya in Gojjam (the contemporary Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region).
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They had also built up their forces in Kenya to three divisions under Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham.
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The last Italian troops surrendered in Begemder province in the north to British and Arbegnoch forces.
These were the remnants of 51 battalions which had managed to escape from Gojjam ahead of Gideon Force, and were trapped in the town when Wilfred Thesiger completed a 50-mile march in 24 hours with his men and seized the ridge connecting two hills the Italians had intended to use for their retreat.
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