The Western Desert campaign (Desert War) took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with the Italian declaration of war and the Italian invasion of Egypt from Libya in September. Operation Compass, a five-day raid by the British in December 1940, was so successful that it led to the destruction of the Italian 10th Army (10ª Armata) over the following two months. Benito Mussolini sought help from Adolf Hitler, who sent a small German force to Tripoli under Directive 22 (11 January). The Afrika Korps (Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel) was formally under Italian command, as Italy was the main Axis power in the Mediterranean and North Africa.
In the spring of 1941, Rommel led Operation Sonnenblume, which pushed the Allies back to Egypt except for the siege of Tobruk at the port. At the end of 1941, Axis forces were defeated in Operation Crusader and retired again to El Agheila. In early 1942 Axis forces drove the Allies back again, then captured Tobruk after the Battle of Gazala but failed to destroy their opponents. The Axis invaded Egypt and the Allies retreated to El Alamein, where the Eighth Army fought two defensive battles, then defeated the Axis forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. The Eighth Army drove Axis forces out of Libya to Tunisia, which was invaded from the west by the Allied First Army in Operation Torch. In the Tunisian campaign the remaining Axis forces surrendered to the combined Allied forces in May 1943.
The British Western Desert Force (renamed Cyrcom and later the Eighth Army) had been reduced in early 1941 to send units to Greece, rather than complete the conquest of Libya, just as German troops and Italian reinforcements arrived. British Commonwealth and Empire troops released after the conclusion of the East Africa Campaign were sent to Egypt and by summer, the surviving Commonwealth troops had returned from Greece, Crete and Syria. From the end of 1941, increasing amounts of equipment and personnel, including US supplies and tanks, arrived for the Eighth Army. The Axis never overcame the supply constraints limiting the size of their land and air forces in North Africa and the desert war became a sideshow for Germany, when the expected quick conclusion of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, was not achieved.
^ abcdClodfelter 2017, p. 448.
and 23 Related for: Western Desert campaign information
The WesternDesertcampaign (Desert War) took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African campaign of the Second...
The WesternDesert Force (WDF) was a British Army formation active in Egypt during the WesternDesertCampaign of the Second World War. On 17 June 1940...
deserts (WesternDesertcampaign, also known as the Desert War) and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), as well as Tunisia (Tunisia campaign). The...
Second World War, during and after the North African Campaign. As used in the WesternDesertcampaign, the Benghazi burner itself consisted of a single empty...
The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known chronologically as Air Headquarters WesternDesert, Air Headquarters Libya, the WesternDesert Air Force, and the...
Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the northeastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western...
of Wisdom. In the Second World War, the WesternDesertCampaign began in Italian Libya. Warfare in the desert offered great scope for tacticians to use...
newly formed Special Air Service (SAS), where, as part of the WesternDesertCampaign, he planned and executed raids on Axis-held Benghazi, on the coast...
release to join the British Eighth Army for the remainder of the WesternDesertcampaign. In early 1944, Sadler was stationed in Darvel, Scotland, to train...
"chukka boot" refers to a form of desert boots originally worn by British soldiers in the WesternDesertCampaign of World War II. Chukkas are usually...
Australia WesternDesert language, a cluster of Aboriginal Australian languages WesternDesertCampaign of the Second World War WesternDesert Force, World...
with No. 3 Squadron, which was to support the 6th Division in the WesternDesertcampaign against Italian forces. Sailing via Bombay, the squadron arrived...
in the WesternDesertcampaign and the Battle of Greece. In 1942, as a corps commander, he commanded the land forces in the Kokoda Track campaign. The following...
Operation Agreement, a British 1942 military operation during the WesternDesertCampaign Agree (surname) Disagreement Agrément, an agreement by a state...
desert war, which explains the heavy use of armor in battles such as in the First and Second Battle of El Alamein during the North African campaign of...
after the defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein during the WesternDesertCampaign. In February 1943, the headquarters was expanded and called Army...
for independence on the day of German surrender WesternDesertCampaign Operation Torch Tunisia Campaign Ian Sumner & Francois Vauillier, page 11 The French...
African campaign of World War II, sometimes called the "Desert War", includes the campaigns in Egypt and Libya (often referred to as the WesternDesert campaign...
1942 to 1945 during World War II, where it took part in the North African campaign and fought in the European theatre of World War II. The 316th Fighter Squadron...
Marmarica) was the first large British military operation of the WesternDesertCampaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Empire and Commonwealth...
part in the WesternDesertCampaign along the northern Sudanese border with Libya, supplying the Free French and then the Long Range Desert Group stationed...
Global Information
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Free France
Greece
Yugoslavia
Germany
