 the egyptâlibya campaign is the name used by the united states military for the us contribution to the allied western desert campaign, during world war ii. from 1942, u.s. forces assisted the british commonwealth in fighting axis forces in egypt and libya. the u.s. egyptâlibya campaign was part of what the us military called the mediterranean theater of operations. ==air force operations== the united states army air forces (usaaf) began planning for a buildup of american air power in the middle east in january 1942 in response to a request from the british chief of the air staff. the initial unit to arrive was given the codename halpro. it was under the command of colonel harry a. halverson (formerly brig gen billy mitchell's executive officer) and consisted of twenty-three b-24d liberator heavy bombers with hand-picked crews. it had initially been assigned to the china burma india theatre to attack japan from airfields in china, but after the fall of rangoon the burma road was cut so the detachment could not be logistically supported in china. halpro's first mission was flown on june 12, 1942 against the romanian oil facilities at ploieÅti. thirteen b-24s flew this first u.s. mission against a european target causing negligible damage. on june 15, seven planes assisted the royal air force (raf) in attacking an italian fleet which had put to sea to intercept a british resupply convoy (operation vigorous) on its way to malta. halpro then flew in support of british commonwealth forces fighting in the deserts of egypt and libya on the eastern end of the sahara desert (the british term western desert refers to the sahara being to the west of egypt). halpro's primary mission became the interdiction of supplies to rommel's army in north africa by bombing strikes on axis cargo ships at sea or in the ports of tobruk and benghazi. the same day u.s. army forces in the middle east (usafime) was created to replace both the north african mission in cairo and the iranian mission in the persian corridor. on june 16 the war department named army general russell l. maxwell as the first commander of usafime. an army general, rather than an army air corps general, was named because at the time it was still expected that there would be a large u.s. army land force contribution to the campaign. the next day the war department informed maxwell that the halverson detachment would remain in egypt as a part of usafime. in anticipation of the arrival of the american air groups, the war department sent maj. gen. lewis h brereton, commander of the u.s. tenth air force in india, to cairo for temporary duty to assist the commonwealth forces. he arrived in cairo on june 25, along with nine [[b-17 flyin
1942_in_Egypt Egypt_in_World_War_II Libya_in_World_War_II Western_Desert_Campaign