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North African Campaign Timeline
This is a timeline of the North African campaign. 1940 •May 1940 — Army of Africa (France) — 14 regiments of zouaves, 42 regiments of Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan tirailleurs, 12 regiments and demi-brigades of the Foreign Legion and 13 battalions of African Light Infantry were serving on all fronts. * 10 June: The Kingdom of Italy declares war upon France and the United Kingdom * 14 June: British forces cross from Egypt into Libya and capture Fort Capuzzo * 16 June: The first tank battle of the North African campaign takes place, the " Engagement at Nezuet Ghirba" * July 1940: British navy shells French warships in the port of Oran to keep them out of German hands * 13 September: Italian forces invade Egypt from Libya * 16 September: Italian forces establish front east of Sidi Barrani * 9 December: British and Indian forces launch Operation Compass with the Battle of Marmarica (Battle of the camps) * 9 December: Indian forces capture Nibeiwa with cover from British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beda Fomm
Beda Fomm is a small coastal town in southwestern Cyrenaica, Libya. It is located between the much larger port city Benghazi to its north-west and the larger town of El Agheila further to the south-west. Beda Fomm is known mainly for being the site of the final engagement of Operation Compass in the Second World War. World War II In late January 1941, during Operation Compass, the British learned that the Italians were evacuating Cyrenaica by way of Beda Fomm. The 7th Armoured Division was dispatched to intercept the 10th Army. Half way to their destination, it was evident that the division together was too slow and Combeforce, a flying column was sent on the direct route across the desert. On 5 February 1941, Combeforce arrived to cut off the retreating remnants of the 10th Army. The following day, the Italians arrived and attacked but failed to break through the blockade. The fighting was close and often hand-to-hand; at one point, a regimental sergeant major captured an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Brevity
Operation Brevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, General Archibald Wavell, Brevity was intended to be a rapid blow against weak Axis front-line forces in the Sollum– Capuzzo–Bardia area of the border between Egypt and Libya. Although the operation got off to a promising start, throwing the Axis high command into confusion, most of its early gains were lost to local counter-attacks, and with German reinforcements being rushed to the front the operation was called off after one day. Egypt had been invaded by Libyan-based Italian forces in September 1940, but by February of the following year a British counter-offensive had advanced well into Libya, destroying the Italian Tenth Army in the process. British attention then shifted to Greece, which was under the threat of Axis invasion. While Allied divisions were being diverte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Tobruk
The siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days in 1941, after Axis forces advanced through Cyrenaica from El Agheila in Operation Sonnenblume against Allied forces in Libya, during the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) of the Second World War. In late 1940, the Allies had defeated the Italian 10th Army during Operation Compass and trapped the remnants at Beda Fomm. During early 1941, much of the Western Desert Force (WDF) was sent to the Greek and Syrian campaigns. As German troops and Italian reinforcements reached Libya, only a skeleton Allied force remained, short of equipment and supplies. The defenders quickly became known as the Rats of Tobruk. Operation ''Sonnenblume'' forced the Allies into a retreat to the Egyptian border. A garrison, consisting mostly of the 9th Australian Division (Lieutenant-General Leslie Morshead) remained at Tobruk, to deny the port to the Axis, while the WDF reorganised and prepared a counter-offensive. The Axis siege of Tobruk began on 10 Apri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mechili
Mechili ( ar, المخيلي) is a small village in Cyrenaica, Libya and the site of a former Turkish fort. It is nearly east of Benghazi and west of Timimi. Geography Because of its location in the desert, Mechili suffered in the past from isolation. However, its isolation ended after paving the Charruba–Timimi desert road between the years 1975–1985, and this road became the preferred route for travel between Tobruk to Benghazi. The village sits at an elevation of 196 meters (643 feet). World War II *In January 1941, the British force named “Western Desert Force” under command of General Richard O’Connor (after taking Tobruk on 22 January) executed a daring outflanking movement and took Mechili from Italian forces on 27 January. *On 7 April the same year, the Italian armoured division ''Ariete'' captured the British garrison at Mechili as a part of German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel’s first offensive through Cyrenaica with the goal of encircling the British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Msus
Msus or Zawiyat Msus ( ar, زاوية مسوس), also Masous is a village in eastern Libya. It's located on the southeast of Benghazi, and far from Suluq on the same direction by . There is a road linking her to Suluq. It's also linked with Charruba (about to the north) by another road. Msus had been a site of several battles between Italian colonial forces and Libyan resistance fighters, such as the one that took place on March 3, 1914, between the latter (withdrawing from the Battle of Sceleildima A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...) and the former.Kalifa Tillisi, “Mu’jam Ma’arik Al Jihad fi Libia1911-1931”, Dar Ath Thaqafa, Beirut, Lebanon, 1973, p.263. Notes {{Benghazi District Cyrenaica Populated_places in Benghazi District ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Sonnenblume
Operation Sonnenblume (/Operation Sunflower) was the name given to the dispatch of German troops to North Africa in February 1941, during the Second World War. The Italian 10th Army () had been destroyed by the British, Commonwealth, Empire and Allied Western Desert Force attacks during Operation Compass The first units of the new (DAK, Erwin Rommel) departed Naples for Africa and arrived on 11 February 1941. (In the English-speaking world, the term became a generic term for German forces in North Africa.) On 14 February, advanced units of the 5th Light ''Afrika'' Division (later renamed the 21st Panzer Division), 3 (Reconnaissance Battalion 3) and 39 (Anti-tank Detachment 39) arrived in Tripoli, Libya and were sent immediately to the front line east of Sirte. Rommel arrived in Libya on 12 February, with orders to defend Tripoli and Tripolitania, albeit using aggressive tactics. General Italo Gariboldi replaced (Marshal of Italy) Rodolfo Graziani as the Governor-General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Greece
The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasion in April 1941. German landings on the island of Crete (May 1941) came after Allied forces had been defeated in mainland Greece. These battles were part of the greater Balkans Campaign of the Axis powers and their associates. Following the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940, Greece, with British air and material support, repelled the initial Italian attack and a counter-attack in March 1941. When the German invasion, known as Operation Marita, began on 6 April, the bulk of the Greek Army was on the Greek border with Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Agheila
El Agheila ( ar, العقيلة, translit=al-ʿUqayla ) is a coastal city at the southern end of the Gulf of Sidra in far western Cyrenaica, Libya. In 1988 it was placed in Ajdabiya District; it was in that district until 1995. It was removed from Ajdabiya District in 1995 but in 2001 it was placed back into Ajdabiya District. In 2007, El Agheila was placed within the enlarged Al Wahat District. El Agheila is best known to history as the site of several Second World War battles during the North African Campaign. History El Agheila is the site of the Roman fortified town of Anabucis and its Greek precursor Automala. During the Italian occupation of Libya the town was the site of an Italian concentration camp for Bedouins. The camp was just south of town and housed over 10,000 inmates. Thousands of the Bedouins starved to death in the camp run by the Italian colonial troops. World War II In February 1941, El Agheila was taken by the British Western Desert Force following t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from two years between 1922 and 1924, he was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five UK Parliament constituency, constituencies. Ideologically an Economic liberalism, economic liberal and British Empire, imperialist, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924. Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in Oxfordshire to Spencer family, a wealthy, aristocratic family. He joined the British Army in 1895 and saw action in British Raj, Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Tenth Army
The 10th Army ( it, 10ª Armata) was a field army of the Royal Italian Army, which fought in World War I and in Italian North Africa during World War II. World War I Formation After the Battle of Caporetto (November 1917) the Italian Army (Regio Esercito) was reorganized by Armando Diaz. In the summer of 1918 (after the Battle of the Solstice) the Command continued to modify these changes and in preparation for the Italian Offensive planned for October 1918, the new 10th Italian Army was formed on 14 October. It was a British–Italian Army under command of the Earl of Cavan. It consisted of * 1 Italian Army corps, the XI Corps (Italian) (Corpo d'Armata) of Lt. General Giuseppe Paolini. ** 37th division of Maj. General Giovanni Castagnola (Brigata Macerata of Brig. General Florenzio Tagliaferri, 121st and 122nd Infantry Regiments; Brigata Foggia of Brig. General Raffaele Radini Tedeschi, 280th and 281st Infantry Regiments) ** 23rd Bersaglieri Division of Lt. General Gustavo F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrika Korps
The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. History Organization The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Hitler's favourite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck was to have commanded it, but Hitler loathed von Funck, as he had been a personal staff officer of Werner von Fritsch until von Fritsch was dismissed in 1938. The German Armed Forces High Command ('' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'', OKW) had decided to send a "blocking force" to Italian Libya to support the Italian army. The Italian 10th Army had been routed by the British Commonwealth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
