outnumbered but had superior weaponry, held the line. A lack of coordination between the Italian units sent from Derna as reinforcements and the intervention of Turkish artillery threatened the Italian line, and the Arabs attempted to surround the Italian troops. Hoever, further Italian reinforcements were able to stabilize the situation, and the battle ended in the afternoon with an Italian victory. Then the Italian command sent three columns of infantry to disband the Arab Turkish camp near Derna. The Italian troops occupied a plateau, interrupting Turkish supply lines. Three days later, the Turkish commander, Enver Bey, attacked the Italian positions on the plateau. The larger Italian fire drove back the Turkish soldiers, who were surrounded by a battalion of Alpini and suffered heavy losses. A later Turkish attack had the same outcome. Although many elements of the local Arab population collaborated with the Italians, counterattacks by Turkish soldiers with the help of some local troops (who declared a Moslem jihad against the Christian invaders) confined the Italian army to the coastal region from the beginning of the Italian invasion. The foreign military attaches watching the conflict were amazed to note that General Caneva did not use cavalry in a war zone admirably well-suited to it and how he did not consider requesting reinforcements as soon as possible for his already-small force. On 15 October 1911, nine Italian "Specialist Battalion" aeroplanes and 11 pilots landed in Libya. On 24 October, the Italian pilot Captain Riccardo Moizo carried out a reconnaissance flight in Tripolitania, reportedly the first ever strategic reconnaissance by aeroplane. On 1 November, another Italian pilot, Giulio Gavotti, dropped four 1.5 kg bombs on Ain Zara, pulling the pins with his teeth. This was the first aerial bombing in history. With a decree on 5 November 1911, Italy declared its suzerainty over all Ottoman Libya, although it fully controlled only some coastal stretches. Armistice Meanwhile, Italy maintained total naval supremacy, and could extend its control to almost all of the 2,000 km of the Libyan coast between January and early August 1912. To unblock the situation, Italy began operations against the Turkish possessions in the Aegean Sea, after having received approval from the other powers, which were eager to end a war that was lasting much longer than what had been foreseen. Italy occupied 12 islands in that sea, the Dodecanese, but this raised the ire of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,