Warinfo
The 2nd World War, in all its briefness.
The North Africa Theatre
From the seige of Tobruk to Rommel's egyptian and algerian push
The North African Theatre occurred between the 10th June 1940 to the 16th of May 1943. The campaign's belligerents consisted of American, British, Australian, French, Indian, Dutch, Czech, Polish Italian and German soldiers. The battles of the theatre took place in modern day Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
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In this theatre, you will read about different sieges, battles and major operations placed out by Axis and Allie units. This campaign didn't last the duration of the war like other military campaigns such as the Atlantic but when the campaign ended, we can pretty much say that it would mark the close of the North African Theatre as not much action would take place.
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From Operation Torch to the battle of El Alamein, read on to find out about the war waged upon the blazing sands.
Italian invasion of Egypt
When the war first broke out, Italy knew she had to control the main waterways leading to the Indian and Atlantic oceans. However, both waterways were under control of British ( Allied ) forces: Gibraltar and The Suez Canal - which was in Egypt. So, it was and when Italy declared War on Great Britain, she invaded the North- Western part of Egypt in hope of having a major control of The Suez Canal. the invasion would be based from Libya, where Italy had set up military bases since her occupation in 1911.
Between the 9th and 16th of September 1940, Italian forces invaded North Western Egypt from Italian Occupied Libya. Up against the British, there were a few minor skirmishes during the invasion, but at the end, Italy successfully managed to take control of North - Western Egypt in the Sollum and Sidi Barrani Area but did not as of yet have control of The Suez Canal.
This marked the beginning of the north Africa Campaign. The British lost the North Western Coast of Egypt to the Italians and the invasion cost the lives of 40 British soldiers, 10 British tanks, 11 British armoured cars and 4 British lorries. In terms of Italian losses, there were 120 soldiers' deaths and around 410 wounded men.
Operation Crusader
Operation Crusader was a military operation that was part of the Western Desert Campaign, also part of the North African campaign. The Operation's main objectives were to drive Axis Forces out of Egypt, as well as destroy defences on the Libya - Egypt border and relieve pressure on the 1941 Siege of Tobruk.
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The Operation commenced on the 18th of November and lasted until the 30th of December 1941. The Operation had the belligerents of South Africa, Great Britain, Commonwealth India, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Czechoslovakia on the Allied side, and on the Axis side: Italy and Germany.
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The Operation started of when the 8th Army of Great Britain launched a surprise attack on front - line Axis Forces. From here, the Axis were pushed back all the way to Gazala village ( The Gazala lines ).
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The Operation resulted in an Allied victory and resulted, in terms of Allied casualties, 17700 men were lost and Axis Powers lost 38300 men.
Battle of Gazala
The Battle of Gazala occurred between the 26th of May and 21st of June 1942 at Gazala, near Tobruk in Italian occupied Libya.
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The Battle occurred between the United Kingdom, America, Free France, South Africa, Commonwealth: India, Australia and New Zealand and Italy and Germany.
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Following the execution of Operation Crusader, in which the Allies: British 8th Army had pushed back axis forces from North-eastern Egypt, Cyrenaica to El Agheila, Libya, in late 1941, The Allies had relieved support on the front lines near the city of Benghzai for repairs behind.
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However, the Allies had underestimated the axis casualties resulting from Operation Crusader and were therefore confident in relieving front line support. But the worst was yet to come and on the 21st January 1942, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel of Germany set out an attack plan to re-capture the City of Bengzhai, which was in Allied hands.
Initially, it was thought that the mission would be a recon mission, however, Rommel had proved his strengths to be strong enough to re-capture Bengzhai and it went as planned. This had meant that the weakened Allied forces to retreat to the Coastal Village of Gazal, Libya west of Tobruk. during this Italo-German push, The Allies had lost 1309 men, 42 tanks and 40 field guns as well as 9.7 KM of land.
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It was here that the bloody battle would take place. Raging for 25 days, the battle turned out to be a very decisive victory for Axis forces and a humiliating defeat for The Allies. The Allies lost 50000 men, who were either killed, captured or wounded and left, as well as 1,188 damaged or destroyed armoured cars. The Axis losses, on the other hand, were just about higher as they had lost 3360 men, 400 armoured vehicles - German.
3000 men, 44 armoured cars, 135 tanks, 75 Anti-tank guns, 39 guns and 450 motor vehicles - Italian.
The First Battle of El-Alamein
The first battle of El-Alamein occurred between the 1st and 27th of July 1942 in El-Alamein, a minute railway facility on the British Occupied Egyptian coast. The 27 day battle had belligerents of Great Britain, British India, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Italy.
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After a defeat at Gazala, Allied forces retreated into Egypt as far as Mersa Matruh and had advanced back to the Alamein lines in Egypt. El-Alamein was a minute coastal railway facility and was already heavily armoured following delaying position ( toward Axis forces ) at Mersa Matruh and Gazala set up by the British 8th Army. This was in order to stop Axis advance into Egypt and El-Alamein was just a dangerous 80 miles from the major port city of Alexandria. This really was the Allies' last hope of saving Egypt, The British HQ in Cairo, Alexandria and other coastal facilities and finally, and most importantly, the Suez Canal, the waterway that would connect trade between the east and the west.
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Due to geographical problems, Erwin Rommel, the commander of the North African units, would not be able to use his favourite method of battle which was flanking. Flanking was when two tanks: one heavy and one less armoured would move towards the enemy, with the armoured engaging first, keeping it busy, and then the lighter less armoured tank would be hidden to the enemy, and it would then move towards it and finish it off.
The 26 day battle resulted in a stalemate, but we can say it angled in the favour for the Allies as it had stopped Axis advance into Egypt and had protected all that was mentioned above.
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The Battle took the lives of 10000 killed or wounded Axis men and 13250 wounded or killed Allied men.
The Second Battle of El-Alamein: Course Changer
The second battle of El-Alamein took place on 23rd October 1942 and lasted until the 11th November 1942 in El-Alamein British-Occupied Egypt. The first Battle of El-Alamein, above, might have ended in a stalemate but had succeeded in slowing down axis advance when Axis powers were so deep into Egypt: threatening the Suez Canal and British Oil reserves in the Middle East, as well as the strategic port city of Alexandria.
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So it was and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ( Generalfeldmarshall Erwin Rommel )'s offensive had halted on the Allied El-Alamein lines, deep into Northern Egypt, North of The Qattara Depression. The depression had cursed Rommel as he could not use the movement of Flanking, explained above in previous section, as the lines of defence had run all the way to the depression. After the 1st Battle, Rommel took some time to fortify and heavily defend the defence lines.
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The battle commenced on the night of the 23rd of October with an enormous artillery barrage between 2 sides. The battle prolonged for 19 days and resulted in an Allied victory. This battle would play a very decisive role in deciding the fait of The Western Desert Campaign and the North African Campaign as it would push the Axis forces all the way back from the Alamein lines and Egypt in all.
In terms of axis casualties, there were: 30,500 to 59,000 men killed or wounded, around 500 tanks, 254 guns, 64 and 20 German and Italian aircraft respectively.
Siege of Tobruk
The siege of Tobruk was a siege that lasted from the 10th April to the 27th November 1941. Axis powers were pushing back the revised Allied forces from Cyrenaica to El Agheila, known as Operation Sonnenblume against Allied forces in North Africa, though the allies defended thoroughly, the Axis had managed to push back. However, even though the Allies had lost a lot of ground, a mainly Australian force had held out in the strategic port city of Tobruk, the only deep-water port in the area. The allied force managed to defend the city thoroughly and denied Erwin Rommel access to a strategic port city for 241 days.
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The men in Tobruk were subject to daily air raids and artillery bombardment. They had also suffered from illness, disease, starvation and heat: lots and lots of heat in the North Libyan port city. Nevertheless, allied forces had fiercely defended the city.
The Fall of Tobruk
The previous slide outlines the siege of Tobruk, however fiercely the Allied forces had defended the city, their victory was short-lived as Axis forces had captured the port city of Tobruk on the 21st of June 1942.
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Te second battle of Tobruk occurred between the 17th and 21st of June 1942. On the 21st, Axis forces had been successful in driving Allied forces in Tobruk to the sea, forcing them to sue for surrender. It was on this date that the city of Tobruk would fall into Axis hands and the famous siege of Tobruk would come to a halt.
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The second battle of Tobruk took with it, 3360 Axis soldiers (dead or wounded) and a total of 35000 South African, British and Australian soldiers.
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was a military operation designed to take over the Vichy French colonies of French Morocco and French Algeria, Northern Africa, part of the North Africa Campaign. The Operation would last from the 8th November 1942 to the 16th November 1942 and was to be made successful by Allied forces softening up: by destroying coastal defences, in order for landing craft to let troops onto the beaches of Northern Africa - in this case, Morocco and Algeria.
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The Operation was carried out by the Allied forces of Free France, the USA and Great Britain in 3 taskforces: The western task forces: to make landings on the coast of French Morocco, the central task force: to land on the beaches of western Algeria and the Eastern Task force: to make landings on the beaches of eastern Algeria.
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The Operation was a success for the Allies and within 8 days, French Morocco and French Algeria were invaded, threatening the other Axis forces in the East.
Operation Torch: The Naval Battle of Casablanca
The Naval Battle of Casablanca, though is not a land fought battle, has a great importance in carrying out Operation Torch, so I though I might as well include this in The North African Theatre. This battle can also be read about in the Atlantic Theatre.
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The Naval Battle of Casablanca was fought between American, French and German forces. It was fought in order to cover for the pending Operation Torch invasion of North Africa.
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The battle commenced on the 8th of November 1942 and continued up to the 16th of November 1942, the duration of the Operation Torch. It all started when USS Massachusetts and task force struck the French port of Casablanca.
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The battle prolonged for 8 days and resulted in an allied victory. 4 troopships, 150 landing craft, 175 men and 4-5 aircraft ( allied ) were lost. In terms of Axis and French forces, 1 battleships, 4 destroyers, 1 light cruiser, 5 submarines, 46n men and 7 aircraft were lost - Vichy French. 1 U-boat was also sunk from the German side.
Tunisian Campaign: Axis last stand
The Tunisian Campaign was one of the last events of the North African Theatre and took place in French Tunisia. Here was where Axis forces would be pushed out of North Africa and mark the end of our chapter: The north Africa Theatre.
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The campaign would take place between the 17th November 1942 and 13th May 1943.
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Following the Operation Torch landings in Algeria and Morocco, Allied troops, now backed up and supported by American forces had started to push back Vichy French, German and Italian forces from the East: Egypt and Libya and from the West: Algeria and Morocco. Month by month, Allied forces would make progress in doing so and would successfully push Axis forces up the country of Tunisia. Axis forces would be pushed all the way to the capital of Tunis and it would be here that the "Fall of Tunis" would occur.
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76020 troops, 849 aircraft and 340+ tanks would be lost in the campaign. These were Allied losses. However, Axis losses would be much higher and would comprise of between 290000 and 362000 POWs would be taken or were dead, 2422 aircraft would be destroyed, and 450 tanks would be destroyed.
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The end of the North African Theatre
The North African theatre ended on the 13th of May 1943 after the fall of Tunis in Tunisia in which Axis forces would surrender to Allied forces.
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The campaign would last for a bloody 2 years and territorial changes would comprise of the split of Italian Libya by both French and British forces.
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The campaign would take the lives of 35,478 British troops, 16,000 Free French troops and 2715 American troops. In addition to this, material losses would comprise of 2000 tanks and 1440 aircraft destroyed. In terms of Axis losses, 22341 Italian men would die, 18594 German troops were killed and 1346 French ( Vichy ) would be killed. In terms of material losses, 2550 tanks, 70000 trucks, 6200 guns, and 8000 aircraft would be lost.