Mussolini, then a socialist). Between 1911 and 1912, over 1,000 Somalis from Mogadishu, the then capital of Italian Somaliland, served as combat units along with Eritrean and Italian soldiers in the Italo-Turkish War. Most of the troops stationed never returned home until they were transferred back to Italian Somaliland in preparation for the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. The Italian fleet had appeared off Tripoli in the evening of 28 September, but started to bomb the port only on 3 October. The city was conquered by 1,500 sailors, much to the enthusiasm of the interventionist minority in Italy. Another last proposal of a friendly settlement was rejected by the Italians, and the Turks determined therefore to defend the province until the last bullet but with a guerrilla war. The first disembarkment of troops happened on 10 October, under the command of general Carlo Caneva, and soon Tripoli, Benghazi, Derna and Tobruk were occupied. The Italian contingent of 20,000 troops was deemed sufficient to the accomplishment of the conquest at the time. Tobruk, Derna and Al-Khums were easily conquered, but the same was not the case for Benghazi. The city of Tripoli and surroundings, after a destructive bombing of the Turkish fortifications, were quickly conquered by 1,500 Italian sailors. They were welcomed by the population who started to collaborate (mainly the Jewish locals) with the Italian authorities The first partial setback for the Italian troops happened on 23 October in the Sciara Sciat massacre, when the bad placement of the Italian troops near Tripoli led to their almost complete encirclement by more mobile Arab cavalry, backed by some Turkish regular units. However, the Italians were able to defeat the Turkish and Libyan forces in a few hours. The attack was portrayed as a simple "revolt" by the Italian press, but almost resulted in the annihilation of much of the Italian expeditionary corps. Consequently, it was increasingly enlarged until it amounted to 100,000 men, who had to face 20,000 Libyans and 8,000 Turks. It became a war of position, and even the first use of aviation in a modern war by the Italians had little effect. On November 2 there was a tentative counterattack by the Ottoman forces in the small battle at Tobruk, but even here the city remained under Italian occupation. Meanwhile, 1,500 Libyan volunteers attacked Italian troops who were building trenches near recently occupied Derna. The Italians, who were