Figure 1.--Here we see what we think is a British crusader tank moving into Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) in the early campaign against the Italians. As the Italian Army was disintegrating, however, German units were arriving in Tripoli (western Libya). The Crusader tanks were superior to the Italian tanks, but not the Mark III tanks that the Germans had which were better armored and had a more powerful main gun.

The Italian invasion of Egypt (September 1940) was the first phase of the Western Desert campaign. The Italian force was shattered by the small British Western Desert Force. This was a British force of only 36,000 men (December 1940). The recently arrived 6th Australian Division replaced the 4th Indian Infantry Division which was redeployed to East Africa. It had incomplete poorly trained units units. The initial operation was to stop the Italian invasion of Egypt. The Italians had amassed a huge force of 215,000 men in Libya. The Italian 10th Army with 150,000 of the Italian force invaded Egypt with the goal of seizing the Suez Canal (September 16, 1940), but there was no Blitzkrieg. The 10th Army advanced only 65 miles and dug in around the port of Sidi Barani. The British, The Western Desert Force (WDF) led by Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor with about 36,000 men launched Operation Compass (December 9). They advanced from Mersa Matruh in Egypt on a planned 5-day raid against the 10th Army potions. The goal was to stop the Italians. But the 10th Army was so poorly positioned they they very quickly began to disintegrate so the British turned what had been a limited effort to defeat the Italian's in Egypt into an invasion of Italian Libya--the next phase of the Western Desert campaign. The British quickly reached Benghazi with a series of stunning victories gaining control over Cyrenaica. The British took so many Italian POWs that one wag, described the British advance as, "Never has so much been owed by so many, to so few." Anthony Eden phased it a little differently, "Never has so much been surrendered by so many, to so few." The Western Desert Force was renamed XIII Corps (January 1941). The remaining Italian forces in Cyrenaica were withdrawing down the Via Balbia (coastal road)--Libya's only paved road built by the Italians. The Italians were pursued by the the British 7th Armour ed Division and the 6th Australian Infantry Division close behind. 【Walker, p. 64.】 The Italian Tenth Army surrendered (February). It is at this time that Gen. Irwin Rommel and a small German force arrived in Tripoli. But before pressing on, an important part of the British force was transferred to Greece to honor British pledges to that country. Mussolini had brutally suppressed resistance to it colonization of Libya, even using poison gas (chemical weapons). There was some nationalist resistance, but the bulk of the Libyan people seem basically apathetic ti the titanic struggle being waged in their country. Here a factor was that there was very little fighting in the urban areas and villages, the battles were mostly fought out in lightly populated desert areas.

Sources

Walker, Ian W. Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts: Mussolini's Elite Armoured Divisions in North Africa (Marlborough: Crowood: 2003).

Created: 2:36 PM 8/7/2025
Last updated: 2:36 PM 8/7/2025