The critical North African campaign of WWII

At the beginning of the war, Italy controlled Libya in northern Africa. However, Britain controlled Egypt, the area that contained the Suez Canal.

This canal was the main shipping route that connected the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.

This was the primary route for Britain to import oil and fuel supplies essential for powering their vehicles, aircraft, and ships, and to protect their oil supplies from the Persian Gulf.

In addition, the Suez Canal was also vital for maintaining communications and transport routes to British colonies and dominions in Asia and Africa.

On the 11th of June 1940, Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, declared war on Britain and France. 

But, it wasn't until the 13th of September that the Italian army launched an invasion of Egypt from the neighbouring region of Libya.

The Italian forces didn't advance too far and stopped once they reached Sidi Barrani.

Then, in December 1940, the British armed forces, under the command of General Sir Archibald Wavell fought back the Italians.

Mussolini's forces quickly lost the first few battles and began retreating back to Libya. 

Finally, Britain achieved a crushing victory in a battle at El Agheila on the 7th of February 1941.

As a result, nine entire Italian army divisions were destroyed, leading to the capture of 130,000 Italian soldiers. 

This devastating defeat handed the control of large sections of north Africa to Britain and appeared to show that Italy was on the verge of collapse.

If Italy was so quickly defeated, Hitler would be incredibly vulnerable in Europe.

So, Hitler moved quickly to support his ally. The German army created a new force called the Afrika Korps, which was put in command of Major-General Erwin Rommel.

On the 11th of February 1941, the Afrika Korps landed at Tripoli in Libya. Very quickly, the British found that they couldn't win as easily against the Germans.

On the 24th of March 1941, Rommel launched his attack towards Egypt, and through the use of lightning-fast attacks and flanking maneuvers, the Germans quickly forced the British into a retreat. 

By the 13th of April, the British had been forced back to the Egyptian border.

The speed of Rommel's advance left the Australian 9th Division trapped in the coastal city of Tobruk, under siege.

The Australians held on, but two attempts by British forces to save them failed. 

Then, Rommel launched his own attack on Tobruk, but failed to capture it.

However, by this time the Germans had moved too far ahead of their supply lines, which meant that their tanks and vehicles were running out of fuel.

Their attack had to pause while they waited for more, which gave the British time to prepare. 

When the British counter-attacked, it forced the Germans back to El Agheila and they finally relieved the city of Tobruk on the 7th of December.

The German retreat in December allowed Rommel to reconnect with his supply lines.

So, in January 1942, he decided to try to force his way through to Egypt again.

It was the British now who were too far away from their supply lines and were quickly retreating back to Egypt. 

Rommel's new offensive was able to push further east than the first attack and it seemed like the British were unable to stop him.

There was an attempt to halt Rommel in May 1942 at a defensive line between Gazala in the north and Bir Hacheim in the south.

However, after two weeks of heavy fighting, the Germans broke through and kept moving towards Egypt. 

In early June 1942, Rommel's Afrika Korps and Italian allies finally captured Tobruk as well.

Rommel reached the border of Egypt at El Alamein and was finally forced to halt when he lost the First Battle of El Alamein in July 1942.

The British government, however, felt that the Egyptian forces needed a new commander and replaced Auchinleck with Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery in August 1942.

Montgomery quickly tried to reorganise his forces and improve morale. Then, in late August of 1942 Rommel made one last attempt to cross into Egypt at Alam Halfa, but was too short of fuel and was pushed back.

For nearly two months, Rommel tried to improve his fuel supply lines, with limited success.

This meant that there was little fighting, which gave Montgomery time to retrain and re-equip the British forces.

Finally, on the evening of the 24th of October 1942, Montgomery launched the Second Battle of El Alamein. 

It took ten days of fighting, with both Rommel and the British using flanking tactics and drawing upon all of their reserves.

However, by the 4th of November 1942, the Germans were finally defeated and started to retreat. 

By the 23rd of November, the British had reached El Agheila and by March 1943, they had recaptured Tripoli and invaded Tunisia.

At the same time as the Second Battle of El Alamein, in November 1942, the Allies had landed a new force in Morocco and Algeria.

The invasion force, made up mostly of new American forces, was codenamed Operation Torch.

The US troops were commanded by General Dwight Eisenhower and they started marching towards Tunisia as well.

By the 20th of March 1943, Eisenhower and the British forces had joined up and surrounded the city of Tunis.

Then, on the 7th of May, they broke through and entered the city. Five days later the German and Italian troops surrendered, bringing to an end the North African campaign.

The North African campaign resulted in significant losses on both sides, with the Allies and Axis forces suffering approximately 220,000 and 620,000 casualties respectively, including killed, wounded, and captured soldiers.