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North African campaign information


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
Date10 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
North African campaign United Kingdom

  • North African campaign India
  • North African campaign Australia
  • North African campaign New Zealand
  • North African campaign Transjordan
  • North African campaign Newfoundland[1]
  • Cyrenaica Libyan Arab Force

North African campaign United States[nb 1]
North African campaign Free France

  • North African campaign Algeria[nb 1]
  • North African campaign Tunisia[nb 1]
  • North African campaign Morocco[nb 1]

North African campaign South Africa
North African campaign Australia (from 1942)

North African campaign Poland
North African campaign Greece
North African campaign Czechoslovakia

Axis
North African campaign Italy

  • North African campaign Libya

North African campaign Germany


North African campaign Vichy France[nb 2]
  • North African campaign Algeria[nb 2]
  • North African campaign Tunisia[nb 2]
  • North African campaign Morocco[nb 2]
Commanders and leaders
  • United Kingdom Archibald Wavell
  • United Kingdom Claude Auchinleck
  • United Kingdom Harold Alexander
  • United Kingdom Richard O'Connor (POW)
  • United Kingdom Neil Ritchie
  • United Kingdom Kenneth Anderson
  • United States Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • United States George S. Patton
  • Free France Philippe Leclerc
  • Free France Marie-Pierre Kœnig
  • Free France François Darlan X[nb 3]
  • Fascist Italy Italo Balbo 
  • Fascist Italy Rodolfo Graziani
  • Fascist Italy Italo Gariboldi
  • Fascist Italy Ettore Bastico
  • Fascist Italy Ugo Cavallero
  • Fascist Italy Giovanni Messe Surrendered
  • Nazi Germany Albert Kesselring
  • Nazi Germany Erwin Rommel
  • Nazi Germany Georg Stumme 
  • Nazi Germany Hans-Jürgen von Arnim Surrendered
  • Vichy France François Darlan[nb 3]
Casualties and losses
  • United Kingdom British Empire:
    35,478 killed[2]
    220,000 total casualties[3]
  • Free France Free French:
    16,000 killed, wounded or missing[4]
  • United States United States:
    2,715 killed
    8,978 wounded
    6,528 missing[5][6]
  • Material losses:
    2,000 tanks destroyed
    1,400 aircraft destroyed

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.

  1. ^ Higgins, Jenny (2007). "Royal Artillery". Newfoundland Heritage Web Site.
  2. ^ Carell, p. 597
  3. ^ Zabecki, North Africa
  4. ^ Cartier, Raymond. La Seconde Guerre Mondiale, vol4: 1943-Juin1944 [The Second World War, vol4: 1943-June 1944]. Press Pocket. p. 40.
  5. ^ Playfair et al p. 460. United States losses from 12 November 1942.
  6. ^ Atkinson, p. 536


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