North African Campaign
During
World War II, the
North African Campaign, also known as the
Desert War, took place in the
North African desert from
September 13 1940 to
May 13 1943. The United States began to directly supply the British in the effort on
May 11,
1942. The US Army officially does not list a single "North African Campaign" but subdivides its effort into some of the smaller campaigns described here.
Fighting in this region started with
Italian attacks on
British occupied areas. When the Italians suffered terrible reverses, the
German Afrika Korps commanded by
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel came to their assistance. After a back-and-forth series of battles for control of
Libya and parts of
Egypt,
British Commonwealth forces under the command of General
Bernard Montgomery eventually pushed the
Axis forces back to
Tunisia. Following on the Allied
Operation Torch landings in north west Africa in late 1942 under the command of General
Dwight Eisenhower, and after US battles against
Vichy France forces, Commonwealth and US forces finally pincered the Axis forces and forced their surrender.
By making the Axis powers fight on a second front in North Africa, the Western Allies provided some relief to the
Soviet Union fighting the Axis on the
Eastern Front. Information learned from the British
Ultra codebreaking operation was a major contributor to Allied success in the North African campaign.
The Northern African Campaign was strategically important for both the Allies and the Axis powers. The Allies used the campaign as a step towards a second front against the Axis powers in
Fortress Europe, and it helped to ease Axis pressure on the
Russian front. The Axis had planned to follow a successful campaign in North Africa with a strike north to the rich oil fields of the
Middle East. This would have cut off nearby oil supplies to the Allies, and would have tremendously increased the oil supplies available for the Axis war machine.
On September 13th, Italian forces stationed in Libya launched a small invasion into British-held Egypt and set up defensive forts at
Sidi Barrani.
The British forces were greatly outnumbered, 35,000 to 500,000, and only half of the British were combatants. Nevertheless they launched a counter-attack,
Operation Compass. It was far more successful than expected and resulted in the surrender of the entire Italian army and the advance of the Allies to
El Agheila. The stunning defeat of the Italians did not go unnoticed and soon German troops, the
Deutsches Afrikakorps under Rommel (The Desert Fox), were sent in to reinforce them.
Although ordered to simply hold the line, Rommel launched an offensive from El Agheila which, with the exception of
Tobruk, managed to press the Allies beyond
Salum, effectively putting both sides back at their approximate original positions.
During the following stalemate, the Allied forces reorganised as the
Eighth Army, which was made up of units from the armies of several countries, especially the
Australian Army and the
Indian Army, but also including divisions from the
South African Army, the
New Zealand Army and a brigade of
Free French under
Marie-Pierre Koenig. The new formation launched a new offensive and recaptured almost all of the territory recently acquired by Rommel, failing only to take the garrison forces at
Bardia and Salum. Once again, the
frontline was at El Agheila.
After receiving supplies from
Tripoli, Rommel again attacked. Defeating the Allies at
Gazala and capturing Tobruk, he drove them back to the border of Egypt where his advance was stopped in the
First Battle of El Alamein.
At this point General
Bernard Montgomery took over as commander of Allied forces in North Africa and, after victory in the battles of
Alam Halfa and
Second El Alamein, Montgomery began to push the Axis forces back, going as far as capturing Tripoli.
The
Algeria-French Morocco Campaign started on
November 8,
1942, and terminated on
November 11,
1942. In an attempt to pincer German forces,
Allied forces (primarily
American, with a smaller British contingent) landed in
Vichy-held
French North Africa under the assumption that there would be little to no resistance. Nevertheless, Vichy French forces put up a strong and bloody resistance to Allied forces in
Oran and
Morocco. But not in
Algiers, where a
coup d'état by the French resistance on November 8 succeeded in neutralizing the French XIX Army Corps of Algiers before the landing, and arrested the Vichyist commanders. Consequently the landings met no practical opposition in
Algiers and the city was captured on the first day with the whole Vichyist African command. After three days of talks and threats, General
Mark Clark, an
Eisenhower assistant, compelled the Vichyist Admiral
François Darlan (and the chief commanding General
Alphonse Juin) to order French forces to cease armed resistance in Oran and Morocco, on
November 10 and
11, providing Darlan would remain the head of a Free French administration.
The
Tunisia Campaign started on
November 17,
1942, and terminated on
May 13,
1943, and was designed to accomplish three things:# an Allied amphibious landing (
Operation Largesse) near
Sfax on the
Gulf of Gabes in eastern Tunisia to cut the Italian supply lines on
January 5,
1943.# An eastward attack by the
US II Corps from the termination line of Operation TORCH to assault German positions at
Gafsa on
March 17,
1943 in support of
Operation Pugilist;# Give US troops that just finished the Torch landings and the follow-on troops that arrived after that operation concluded a chance to get their feet wet in European-style warfare.
Though Rommel was now pincered between American and Commonwealth forces, he did manage to stall the Allies with a series of defensive operations, most notably in routing the
US II Corps at the
Battle of the Kasserine Pass, but overall Rommel was flanked, outmanned and outgunned. After The British eighth army shattered the Axis defense on the
Mareth Line, the Allies squeezed Axis forces until their resistance in Africa collapsed, ending with the surrender on
May 13, 1943 of over 275,000
prisoners of war. This huge loss of experienced troops greatly reduced the military capacity of the Axis powers.
This operation was finalized by
Operation Retribution, which was designed to prevent the evacuation of the German and Italian forces from Tunisia. This operation started on
May 7,
1943, and focused on attacking the German evacuation fleet as it crossed from Tunisia to Sicily and Italy. It is known that 897 Germans were captured at sea, while an additional 653 escaped. The remainder are assumed to have drowned.
 |
An Italian propaganda poster admitting defeat in North Africa, but stating that one day Italy will return |
After victory in the North African Campaign, the stage was set for the
Italian Campaign to begin. The
invasion of Sicily followed two months later.
*
North African Campaign timeline*
Afrika Korps (game)*
Military history of Germany during World War II*
Military history of Britain during World War II*
Military history of Italy during World War II*
Military history of Egypt during World War II*
Military history of the United States during World War II*
Siege of Tobruk*
Operation Brevity*
Operation Battleaxe*
Operation Crusader*
Battle of Gazala*
First Battle of El Alamein*
Second Battle of El Alamein*
BBC's flash video of the North African Campaign*
Timeline of the North African Campaign* General sites on the North African Campaign [
1][
2][
3][
4]
*
Canadian World War 2 Online Newspaper Archives - The North African Campaigns, 1940-1943
