The following day, the British and Indian forces att… Playfair, Major-General I.S.O. On September 3, the British halted the Axis units at the battle of Alam el Halfa, just south of El Alamein. [27] Sand would creep into everything, and was very hard on equipment. 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. (2004) [1st. This was the deployment of the newly formed German "Afrika Korps" (Deutsches Afrikakorps) as reinforcements to the Italians to prevent total collapse. This line was not strongly defended, however, and the pursuit continued. When Rommel arrived in North Africa, along with six Italian divisions[10] which included the Trento and Ariete,[11] his orders were to assume a defensive posture and hold the front line. For Adolf Hitler and a German military committed to waging a war in the vastness of Russia, the war in the desert was a holding action of minor importance. The British forces in Egypt included Mobile Force (Egypt) commanded by Major-General Percy Hobart, an armoured warfare proponent and innovator in the British army. A day later he successfully attacked the fortress of Tobruk, capturing the port. Wavell ordered a significant portion of O'Connor's XIII Corps to support Greece as part of Operation Lustre. The sand was very hard on the equipment, the track life of the tanks was far shorter in the desert than in other theaters. Each time, the Axis forces pushed the Allies back to the Egyptian frontier, but each time the Allies regrouped and counterattacked. After amassing troops and supplies, including new US-supplied tanks, Montgomery attacked Rommel's forces at El Alamein on October 23, 1942. Though all Axis forces in Africa were nominally under Italian command, Germany was the dominant partner in the pairing. Officers of the 11th Hussars use a parasol to give shade during a halt, while out patrolling on the Libyan frontier, 26 July 1940. Axis troops reached Al-Gazala, just west of Tobruk, within two weeks. 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. On 28 June, Marshal Balbo was in transit to Tobruk when his plane was shot down by Italian anti-aircraft gunners. After a limited advance the Italians halted and set up a series of fortified camps around Sidi Barrani. Wear and tear on the armored vehicles of the 7th Armoured Division from the desert actions was great. Benito Mussolini desired to expand Italian influence in the Mediterranean by linking Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana) with Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), capturing the Suez Canal and the Arabian oilfields in the process. By 10 December, the British and Indian forces had taken more than 20,000 Italian prisoners. The Australians then pressed on to capture Bardia and Tobruk, capturing 67,000 prisoners, over 500 guns, while losing 180 dead. On August 30, 1942, the Axis launched its final offensive of the Western Desert campaign. [13] The fortress had to be taken for the Axis to win the campaign in Africa. Where: Western Egypt and Eastern Libya When: December 1940 - January 1941 Result: Allied Victory Rommel's First Offensive General Wavell launched a limited offensive on 15 May 1941 and code named Brevity to secure a better position to launch a major offensive. [29] Beyond these difficulties, the hardest thing for the men to deal with were the flies. On the British side, a variety of foods were supplied in tins. During the course of this battle, the Western Desert Force was renamed as XIII Corps. Tobruk was a fortified port due south of the German occupied eastern Mediterranean island of Crete. The capture of Tobruk would shorten the supply route to the Axis forces in the desert, allowing them to push on into Egypt and the vitally important Suez canal. 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. Axis screening forces were located here, with the bulk of the Afrika Korps held back in a reactive position. The campaign began in September 1940, with the Italian invasion of Egypt. On September 3, the British halted the Axis units at the battle of Alam el Halfa, just south of El Alamein. Allied forces attacked Italian forces, pushing them back to Libya. 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. Axis forces never recovered, and were driven completely out of Libya to Tunisia. 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. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. Rommel's first offensive was generally successful and his forces destroyed the 2nd Armoured Division. Several attempts to seize the isolated positions at Tobruk failed and the front lines stabilised at the Egyptian border. ed. 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. [N 1]. Sidi Barranifell on the same day. This third game has elements of the Italian Ariete armoured division launching an attack on an area defended by the South African infantry division. Butler, J.R.M. (2004) [1st. Fighting in North Africa continued with a series of battles until the Desert Rats claimed victory. The ground is a flat, hard scrabble with little or no cover, and difficult for infantry to dig into. Attempts to encircle the Axis forces at Marsa Matruh were frustrated, and the bulk of the Afrika Korps had escaped by 7 November. BY ROBERT J. Only the Bedoins knew where to dig in the desert for water. von Mellenthin, Major General F. W. (1971) [1956]. With an average of only one half of his tank strength available for action and realising that his one effective force was being worn out to no strategic purpose, Wavell curtailed further operations on the frontier and handed over the defence to the 7th Support Group under Brigadier William Gott and the 11th Hussars under Lieutenant-Colonel John Combe. The war was fought in North Africa, primarily in the rocky desert plain of Cyrenaica, modern day Libya. In June 1942 after a lengthy armoured battle and multiple attempts at encirclement, he defeated the Allies in the Battle of Gazala. WW2 Western Desert campaign game turn 9 game 3 The first two games of campaign turn 9 were Axis victories. Of course, this meant that spare parts for the trucks the Germans were using were hard to come by. This was one of only two British armoured training formations. THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARMY IN THE WESTERN DESERT CAMPAIGN, 1941-1942. If we should have to get out, we shall have to fight our way out. 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. British light tank with one machine-gun in a rotating turret, The Mk I (A9) Cruiser Tank used by the British 7th Armoured Division. In early February, the Italians were retreating along the coast, pursued by the Australians. The Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War was the initial stage of the North African Campaign. After amassing troops and supplies, including new US-supplied tanks, Montgomery attacked Rommel's forces at El Alamein on October 23, 1942. Conditions in the desert were harsh: miserably hot during the day, while temperatures dropped precipitously at night. This Bolt Action campaign book will focus on the conflict in the area most commonly referred to as the Western Desert - a campaign theatre reaching from the Libyan city of Tripoli to Cairo, and the Egyptian Nile valley, a distance of some 1300 miles, a featuring some of the most hostile terrains on Earth. At times, as much as 85% of the transport in the Africa Korps was British built. [26] It was easy to become lost in the desert, and hard to be found again. Winston S. Churchill Society of British Columbia. Combat Studies Institute Battle Report: Alam Halfa", http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/hart/hart.asp, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Western_Desert_Campaign?oldid=5277146, Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y. By mid-July, the Italians were able to reinforce the forces on the Egyptian frontier to a strength of two full infantry divisions and elements of two more.[4]. View the list of all donors. The Italians were surprised to find Combe and his force blocking their retreat. To forestall the British move, Rommel struck first. This unpleasant-looking character is called the Squander Bug, and it was created during the Second World War by artist Phillip Boydell, an employee of the National Savings Committee. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW On the final Axis push the Allies were driven deep into Egypt. By February the front line settled down at the Gazala line, just west of Tobruk. By 10 December, the British and Indian forces had taken more than 20,000 Italian prisoners. It charts the progress of the operations which took place in North Africa from 1940 until 1942. Mr. Brown, who was in Libya in the British Army in 1949-50 and has visited battlefields in Egypt, Tripolitania and Tunisia, is past president of the Rt. Auchinleck's offensive – 18 November – 31 December 1941. & Gleave, Group Captain T.P. Montgomery patiently built up the 8th Army and trained it for the upcoming offensive. [1] The German command never committed the resources necessary to achieve a victory. Following the British defeats in Greece and Crete, the Western Desert was a significant avenue for Churchill and the British army to continue the fight against Germany, and therefore was central to the war effort. The 2nd Armoured Brigade was committed piecemeal and were decimated by the more concentrated German forces. In this swift campaign, the British captured 130,000 Italians at a cost of 2,000 casualties. ; Molony, Brigadier C.J.C. (2004) [1st. His tactics have been seen as too cautious and too slow. 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. [4], On 25 June, France and Italy signed the Franco-Italian Armistice, ending their conflict. ; and Molony, Brigadier C.J.C. In June Wavell succumbed to the political pressure being applied upon him and launched a major offensive, Operation Battleaxe, in an attempt to relieve Tobruk. Posts about western desert campaign written by juleswings. Thirty Italian M11/39 medium tanks made contact with the 8th Hussars in an effort to re-establish themselves in the area. Meanwhile, Churchill pressed Wavell to push the Germans back, and sent a convoy straight through the Mediterranean to provide him with the tanks and aircraft to support the attack. The counter arguments point out the defensive skills of German forces generally and the Afrika Korps in particular, and Montgomery's need not to relapse into the "see-saw" warfare of previous north African campaigns. Over the course of the next two years, Axis forces under Rommel launched assaults three times against the Allies. [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. 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