Not to be confused with military operations in North Africa during World War I.
North African campaign
Part of World War II
British Crusader tank passes a destroyed and smoking German Panzer IV tank during Operation Crusader, November 1941
Date
10 June 1940 – 13 May 1943 (2 years, 11 months and 3 days)
Location
Libya, Egypt, French Chad, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia
Result
Allied victory
Territorial changes
Italian Libya placed under British and French military administration
Belligerents
Allies United Kingdom
India
Australia
New Zealand
Transjordan
Newfoundland[1]
Libyan Arab Force
United States[nb 1] Free France
Algeria[nb 1]
Tunisia[nb 1]
Morocco[nb 1]
South Africa Australia (from 1942)
Poland Greece Czechoslovakia
Axis Italy
Libya
Germany
Vichy France[nb 2]
Algeria[nb 2]
Tunisia[nb 2]
Morocco[nb 2]
Commanders and leaders
Archibald Wavell
Claude Auchinleck
Harold Alexander
Richard O'Connor (POW)
Neil Ritchie
Kenneth Anderson
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George S. Patton
Philippe Leclerc
Marie-Pierre Kœnig
François Darlan X[nb 3]
Italo Balbo †
Rodolfo Graziani
Italo Gariboldi
Ettore Bastico
Ugo Cavallero
Giovanni Messe
Albert Kesselring
Erwin Rommel
Georg Stumme †
Hans-Jürgen von Arnim
François Darlan[nb 3]
Casualties and losses
British Empire:
35,478 killed[2] 220,000 total casualties[3]
Free French:
16,000 killed, wounded or missing[4]
United States:
2,715 killed 8,978 wounded 6,528 missing[5][6]
Material losses: 2,000 tanks destroyed 1,400 aircraft destroyed
v
t
e
Campaigns of World War II
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v
t
e
North African campaign
Western Desert campaign
Invasion of Egypt
Compass
Fort Capuzzo
Nibeiwa
Sidi Barrani
Bardia
Mechili
Beda Fomm
Kufra
Giarabub
Sonnenblume
Tobruk
Raid on Bardia
Twin Pimples
Brevity
Skorpion
Battleaxe
Crusader
Flipper
1st Bir el Gubi
Battle of Point 175
2nd Bir el Gubi
Fort Lamy
Gazala
Bir Hakeim
Mersa Matruh
1st Alamein
Alam Halfa
Agreement
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Camouflage
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2nd Alamein
Outpost Snipe
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Torch
Kingpin
Flagpole
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Casablanca
Reservist
Terminal
Port Lyautey
Brushwood
Tunisia
Run for Tunis
Sidi Bou Zid
Kasserine Pass
Ochsenkopf
Medenine
Mareth Line
El Guettar
Wadi Akarit
Longstop Hill
Hill 609
Vulcan
Flax
Retribution
Strike
v
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Italian mainland
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Dragoon
Alpes-Maritimes
The North African campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, also known as the Desert War) and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), as well as Tunisia (Tunisia campaign). The campaign was fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe. The United States officially entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942.
Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 14 June, the British 11th Hussars and part of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, 1st RTR) crossed the border from Egypt into Libya and captured Fort Capuzzo. This was followed by an Italian counter-offensive into Egypt and the capture of Sidi Barrani in September. The British recaptured Sidi Barrani in December during Operation Compass. The Italian 10th Army was destroyed and the German Afrika Korps was dispatched to North Africa in February 1941 in Operation Sonnenblume to reinforce Italians and prevent an Axis defeat.
Battles for control of Libya and Egypt followed, with advances and retreats until the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 when the Eighth Army (Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery) defeated the German–Italian Panzerarmee Afrika and forced its remnants into Tunisia. After Operation Torch, the Anglo-American landings in North-West Africa in November 1942 and fighting against Vichy France forces (which then changed sides), the Allies trapped about 250,000 German and Italian personnel in northern Tunisia, forcing their surrender in May 1943.
Information gleaned via British Ultra code-breaking was important in the Allied victory in North Africa. The Italian campaign followed, which culminated in the downfall of the Fascist government in Italy and the elimination of Germany's main European ally. German and Italian forces committed atrocities against prisoners of war and Jewish, Berber and Arab populations.
^Higgins, Jenny (2007). "Royal Artillery". Newfoundland Heritage Web Site.
^Carell, p. 597
^Zabecki, North Africa
^Cartier, Raymond. La Seconde Guerre Mondiale, vol4: 1943-Juin1944 [The Second World War, vol4: 1943-June 1944]. Press Pocket. p. 40.
^Playfair et al p. 460. United States losses from 12 November 1942.
^Atkinson, p. 536
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