The Battle of Bardia was fought between 3 and 5 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass, the first British military operation of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War. It was the first battle of the war in which an Australian Army formation took part, the first to be commanded by an Australian general and the first to be planned by an Australian staff. The 6th Australian Division (Major General Iven Mackay) assaulted the strongly held Italian fortress of Bardia, Libya, assisted by air support and naval gunfire and under the cover of an artillery barrage. The 16th Australian Infantry Brigade attacked at dawn from the west, where the defences were known to be weak. Sappers blew gaps in the barbed wire with Bangalore torpedoes and filled in and broke down the sides of the anti-tank ditch with picks and shovels. This allowed the infantry and 23 Matilda II tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment to enter the fortress and capture all their objectives, along with 8,000 prisoners.
In the second phase of the operation, the 17th Australian Infantry Brigade exploited the breach made in the perimeter and pressed south as far as a secondary line of defences known as the Switch Line. On the second day, the 16th Australian Infantry Brigade captured the township of Bardia, cutting the fortress in two. Thousands more prisoners were taken and the Italian garrison now held out only in the northern and southernmost parts of the fortress. On the third day, the 19th Australian Infantry Brigade advanced south from Bardia, supported by artillery and the six operational Matilda tanks. Its advance allowed the 17th Australian Infantry Brigade to make progress as well and the two brigades reduced the southern sector of the fortress. The Italian garrisons in the north surrendered to the 16th Australia Infantry Brigade and the Support Group of the 7th Armoured Division outside the fortress. In all, some 36,000 Italian prisoners were taken.
The victory at Bardia enabled the Allied forces to continue the advance into Libya and capture almost all of Cyrenaica, which led to Operation Sonnenblume, German intervention in the fighting in North Africa, changing the nature of the war in the theatre.
The BattleofBardia was fought between 3 and 5 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass, the first British military operation of the Western Desert...
Omar and XXI Corps from Sidi Omar to the coast, Bardia and Tobruk. The XXII Corps moved south-west of Tobruk to act as a counter-attack force. The British...
(WDF) in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. After defeating the Italians in the BattleofBardia (3–5 January 1941), the 6th Australian...
Siege of Giarabub Operation Compass continued January 3–5: First BattleofBardia January 9–26: First Battleof Tobruk January 25: First Battleof Mechili...
three months of training. The 2nd AIF commenced its first operations in North Africa with Operation Compass, that began with the BattleofBardia. This was...
Corps 1927–1972, p. 104 Kuring, Redcoats to Cams, p. 138 Burness, The BattleofBardia, p. 27 Long, To Benghazi, p. 51 Long, The Final Campaigns, pp. 19–20...
War II. In 1940 he commanded the defences ofBardia, Libya. In February 1941, after the disastrous Battleof Beda Fomm, Bergonzoli surrendered to Australian...
for Bardia for supplies and arrived around mid-day. The remains of the 21st Panzer Division attacked north-west of Halfaya towards Capuzzo and Bardia. Ariete...
During the BattleofBardia in January 1941, the 6th Division captured the fortified town along with 36,000 Italian prisoners. In the Battleof Greece, he...
later became the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England. Educated at Fort Street Boys' High School, Catterns joined the staff of the (now defunct) Sydney afternoon...
needed] The BattleofBardia began as part of Operation Compass. The Australian 6th Division assaulted the strongly held Italian fortress ofBardia, Libya...
War, Robertson led the 19th Infantry Brigade at the BattleofBardia and accepted the surrender of the Italian Navy at Benghazi. Later, he commanded the...
also covered the battleofBardia and the Siege of Tobruk in 1941, and both of the battles at El Alamein in 1942. Several volumes of his War Diaries cover...
battalion had just arrived. Tanks of III battalion were also present near this position, at the battleofBardia. In two days of fighting (January 3–4, 1941)...
The Battleof Kasserine Pass took place from 18-24 February 1943 at Kasserine Pass, a 2-mile-wide (3.2 km) gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas...
ISBN 9781781311066. Retrieved 2021-10-10. Stockings, C. (2011). The BattleofBardia. Big Sky Publishing. ISBN 9781921941191. Retrieved 2021-10-10. Christie...
National Archives of Australia to begin work on his next project—an operational history of the BattleofBardia, the first battle in which the Australian...
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Italy
Iven Mackay
