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Western Desert campaign

  • Battle of Alam el HalfaThe Axis supply position was precarious because the main supply ports of Benghazi and Tobruk were 1,000 miles and 650 miles from the front respectively.
  • Battle of GazalaIn January 1942, the Axis forces in Libya received a steady stream of supplies and reinforcements that continued until May.
  • Operation CrusaderIn August 1941, a German signals unit known as FAK 621 began reading British tactical codes with startling accuracy. This intelligence stream continued…
  • Operation CompassOperation Compass began on the night of the 9th of December 1940 with a force of about 31,000 soldiers, 120 guns, 275 tanks, and sixty armoured cars…
  • Second Battle of El AlameinOn the 23rd of October 1942, a calm and clear evening under the bright sky of a full moon marked the start of a thirteen-day battle near the Egyptian railway…
  • Operation SonnenblumeIn September 1940, the Italian 10th Army advanced about 65 miles into Egypt to seize Sidi Barrani. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani halted his forces there to build…
  • First Battle of El AlameinIn June 1942, the British Eighth Army collapsed after their defeat at the Battle of Gazala in Eastern Libya. Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie ordered a…
  • North African campaignOn the 11th of June 1940, British forces launched raids against Italian positions in Libya. This action followed Italy's declaration of war on France and the…
  • Western Desert campaignIn the summer of 1940, a scorpion stung an Italian soldier near Sidi Omar. That small creature lived in the Western Desert, which stretched about 500 miles…
  • Siege of TobrukThe Western Desert Campaign stretched from Mersa Matruh in Egypt to Gazala on the Libyan coast, covering a distance of about 480 kilometers along the Via…