|
Libya
The Desert War
North Africa was a major theater of operations in World War II,
and the war shifted three times across the face of Cyrenaica,
a region described by one German general as a "tactician's paradise
and a quartermaster's hell" because there were no natural defense
positions between Al Agheila and Al Alamein to obstruct the tanks
that fought fluid battles in the desert like warships at sea,
and there was only one major highway on the coast along which
to supply the quick-moving armies. The Italians invaded Egypt
in September 1940, but the drive stalled at Sidi Barrani for want
of logistical support. British Empire forces of the Army of the
Nile, under General Archibald Wavell, counterattacked sharply
in December, advancing as far as Tobruk by the end of the month.
In February 1941, the Italian Tenth Army surrendered, netting
Wavell 150,000 prisoners and leaving all of Cyrenaica in British
hands. At no time during the campaign did Wavell have more than
two full divisions at his disposal against as many as ten Italian
divisions.
In March and April, Axis forces, stiffened by the arrival of
the German Afrika Korps commanded by Lieutenant General Erwin
Rommel, launched an offensive into Cyrenaica that cut off British
troops at Tobruk. The battle seesawed back and forth in the desert
as Rommel attempted to stabilize his lines along the Egyptian
frontier before dealing with Tobruk in his rear, but in November
British Eighth Army commander General Claude Auchinleck caught
him off balance with a thrust into Cyrenaica that succeeded in
relieving Tobruk, where the garrison had held out for seven months
behind its defense perimeter. Auchinleck's offensive failed in
its second objective--cutting off Rommel from his line of retreat.
Rommel pulled back in good order to Al Agheila, where his troops
refitted for a new offensive in January 1942 that was intended
to take the Axis forces to the Suez Canal. Rommel's initial attack
was devastating in its boldness and swiftness. Cyrenaica had been
retaken by June; Tobruk fell in a day. Rommel drove into Egypt,
but his offensive was halted at Al Alamein, 100 kilometers from
Alexandria. The opposing armies settled down into a stalemate
in the desert as British naval and air power interdicted German
convoys and road transport, gradually starving Rommel of supplies
and reinforcements.
Late in October the Eighth Army, under the command of General
Bernard Montgomery, broke through the Axis lines at Al Alamein
in a massive offensive that sent German and Italian forces into
a headlong retreat. The liberation of Cyrenaica was completed
for the second time in November. Tripoli fell to the British in
January 1943, and by mid-February the last Axis troops had been
driven from Libya.
Data as of 1987
|
