Major-General Michael O'Moore Creagh sent Combe Force—an ad hoc flying column—racing ahead of his tanks. Butler, J.R.M. British built trucks were more rugged and durable in the desert than German or Italian vehicles. Neither of these were readily available. Hitler ordered that the El Agheila line should be held at all costs, whereas Rommel's view was for a fighting retreat to Tunisia and a strong defensive position at the Gabès Gap. On 9 December 1940, the Western Desert Force (including portions of the Indian 4th Division and the British 7th Armoured Division) launched Operation Compass, a counterattack. Rommel's forces continued to withdraw, with 8th Army unable to cut off their escape. By 10 December, the British and Indian forces had taken more than 20,000 Italian prisoners. On August 30, 1942, the Axis launched its final offensive of the Western Desert campaign. Trucks were fitted with special oil filters. The British tanks funneled into Halifaya Pass and many were torn apart by well-placed 88 mm guns; Rommel's Panzer forces then counterattacked and chased away the survivors. The general was killed in the accident. Through the spring the British attempted to build up supplies and reinforcements for a summer offensive, and to a smaller degree, the Axis forces did so as well. The Tobruk garrison precluded any further moves by the Axis into Egypt. See more » 7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) The 7th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army that saw distinguished active service during World War II, where its exploits in the Western Desert Campaign gained it the Desert Rats nickname. The final chapter of the Axis in Africa concluded with the Allied victory in Tunisia. ; and Molony, Brigadier C.J.C. Rommel's Afrika Korps attacked on 21 January scattering the British 1st Armoured Division's units. The great coats of the German soldier were not discarded in Africa, nor were scarfs, which were used not only for the cold of the desert night, but for the sand storms that were frequent and blinding. The British briefly seized Sollum, Capuzzo, and the important Halfaya Pass, but Rommel reinforced with a battalion of panzers and the offensive lost momentum and was called off, the British withdrawing from all but Halfaya Pass. Meet The Squander Bug. In December 1940 General Sir Archibald Wavell's Western Desert Force of 36,000 men attacked the Italians.. A mobile armoured force under Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor outflanked the Italians at Beda Fomm and pursued them 840 km (500 miles) back to Libya. The war was largely fought in this region. Download PDF document of Chapter 7 – Western Desert Campaign (file) Share this page. In this swift campaign, the British captured 130,000 Italians at a cost of 2,000 casualties. "The Ghibli" was the Bedouin name for the hot desert wind of Libya which produced the sandstorms. The port was brought into use and, by mid-February 1943, nearly 3,000 short tons (2,700 t) of stores were landed daily. Attempts to encircle the Axis forces at Marsa Matruh were frustrated, and the bulk of the Afrika Korps had escaped by 7 November. The relatively modest British and Commonwealth forces in Egypt were there primarily to protect the Suez Canal. He chose General William Gott, the commander of XIII Corps, to take command of the 8th Army. Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics, Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically, Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust, Explore the ID Cards to learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust. [29] Beyond these difficulties, the hardest thing for the men to deal with were the flies. The relatively inexperienced British 1st Armoured Division, which formed the principal defence were dispersed around El Agheila. They were redesignated the Western Desert Force and O'Connor given the rank of lieutenant-general in October as his command was reinforced and expanded. What started as a five-day raid in December 1940 turned into a major offensive operation, resulting in the destruction of an Italian army. Butler, J.R.M. Balbo's replacement as Commander-in-Chief and as Governor-General was Marshal Rodolfo Graziani. The 10th Army in Cyrenaica was led by General Mario Berti and was made up of five infantry divisions. Operation Torch was the Allied invasion of French North Africa, and only lasted for a … His tactics have been seen as too cautious and too slow. Butler, J.R.M. An Italian general was captured and 12 Italian tanks destroyed. The Western Desert Campaign began in September 1940 with the Italian invasion of Egypt, the British Operation to put down the Italian Force led to the German Afrika Korps under Gen. Erwin Rommel being sent to Tripoli. Warfare in the desert has been described as a "quarter-master's nightmare", given the conditions of desert warfare and the difficulties of supply. Fighting began in North Africa on September 13, 1940, when Marshal Rodolfo Graziani's Italian 10th Army launched an attack from its bases in Libya on outnumbered British forces in western Egypt. On 26 May the Germans counter-attacked, and the British were forced to abandon the pass as well.[16]. [15] What followed was a lengthy siege, with the Italian infantry divisions taking up positions about the fortress while the bulk of the Afrika Korps maintained a mobile position south and east of the port, to ward off any moves of the British while still being in position to exploit any opening in the port's defenses. [N 1]. ", http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar/UN/UK/LondonGazette/37609.pdf, "Archibald Wavell's Despatch on Operations in the Western Desert From 7th December, 1940 to 7th February 1941. At this stage, the front was over 400 mi (640 km) from the nearest usable port at Tobruk and the difficulties of supply now hampered Montgomery's ability to deploy his full strength. Several attempts to seize the isolated positions at Tobruk failed and the front lines stabilised at the Egyptian border. After the failure of Battleaxe, Churchill replaced Wavell with Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief Middle East. The Western Desert Campaign or the Desert War, took place in the Western Desert of Egypt and Libya and was a theatre in the North African Campaign during the Second World War. With his holdings in Africa threatened, Benito Mussolini pled with Hitler to provide a contingent of ground and air forces to prevent a total collapse. ; Molony, Brigadier C.J.C. Rommel immediately attempted to take the port, but the defenders, largely made up of the 9th Australian division and led by General Leslie Morshead, were intent on holding the port. The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known as Air HQ Western Desert, the Western Desert Air Force and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allied tactical air force formed during World War II. Tripoli was captured on 23 January 1943. Playfair, Major-General I.S.O. These units would provide a screen of outposts to give warning of any Italian approach. The British repair workshops were back-logged. In time, the 10th Army grew to 10 divisions, leaving the 5th Army with four. The German units were rapidly expanded to the size of an Army Corps and renamed the Deutsches Afrika Korps (German Africa Corps).  Union of South Africa. [2] Only when the issue was nearly settled did it assume real significance in the mind of the German leader. The ability of the Germans to shift resources to North Africa after stabilizing the Eastern Front in January 1942 and the diversion of British resources to meet the Japanese threat in the Pacific after December 7, 1941, enabled Rommel to launch a second offensive on January 21, 1942. One of its consequences was the change in the balance that so far outlined the composition of the Eighth Army in the Western Desert campaign; since Alamein there were more British than Commonwealth, Imperial and Dominion forces than there had ever been in the Western Desert. Auchinleck's offensive – 18 November – 31 December 1941. An opportunity to outflank Rommel at Agedabia was cautiously declined, in case of counter-attack. Graziani planned to advance on Mersa Matruh in mid-December. New!! Allied forces attacked Italian forces, pushing them back to Libya. HMSO 1966]. The troops opposing the Italians in Libya were the 6th Infantry Division under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor. Rommel's first offensive was generally successful and his forces destroyed the 2nd Armoured Division. This line was not strongly defended, however, and the pursuit continued. Western Desert Campaign Operation Compass What: The First Allied attack in the North African Campaign. The following day, they attacked Sollum, supported by ships of the Mediterranean Fleet. At the end of July 1939, Lieutenant-General Archibald Wavell was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the newly created Middle East Command, with responsibility for the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre. These two port towns aided the resupply of the forward campaign. In early February, the Italians were retreating along the coast, pursued by the Australians. : [3], On 11 June 1940, the day after Italy declared war on the Allies, the Italian forces in Libya and the British and Commonwealth forces in Egypt launched a series of small raids upon each other. The calm was broken only by sharp contact between patrols and sporadic aerial fighting as both sides sought knowledge of the other side's intention. [12] Strategically, this in turn would open the door to controlling the Middle East oil reserves. 281,312 Pages. However, at El Alamein the Allies recovered and then drove the Axis forces west. Of course, this meant that spare parts for the trucks the Germans were using were hard to come by. The Desert War or Western Desert Campaign saw the British and Germans fightin in Egypt and Libya, and lasted from late in 1940 to the start of 1943. [N 4] The British forces were further reinforced with the newly formed XXX Corps. Playfair, Major-General I.S.O. To O'Connor's shock, Wavell then replaced the experienced 4th Indian (who … ed. Anglo-Iraqi War vs. Western Desert Campaign. BY ROBERT J. Cyrenaica (Libya) had been an Italian colony since the Italian Royal Army defeated the Ottoman Imperial Army during the Italo-Turkish War in 1912. The 8th Army's morale greatly improved under his command. Benghazi fell on 20 November. On May 26, 1942, German and Italian troops launched another offensive, Operation “Venezia,” that enabled them to encircle Tobruk and drive Allied forces back to the Egyptian border. Axis supplies and reinforcements were now directed into Tunisia at Rommel's expense: he was left with no capacity to counter-attack and was critically short of fuel. Officers of the 11th Hussars use a parasol to give shade during a halt, while out patrolling on the Libyan frontier, 26 July 1940. Combe Force reached Beda Fomm some 45 minutes before the Italians who were coming down the coast road from Benghazi. On September 3, the British halted the Axis units at the battle of Alam el Halfa, just south of El Alamein.
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