Western Desert Campaign The Western Desert Campaign , or the Desert War , was the major stage of fighting in North Africa during the Second World War . Following the British defeats in Greece and Crete , the Western Desert was a significant avenue for Churchill and the British army to continue the fight against Germany , and therefore was central to the war effort . For Adolf Hitler and a German military committed to waging a war in the vastness of Russia , the war in the desert was a holding action of minor importance . The German command never committed the resources necessary to achieve a victory . Only when the issue was nearly settled did it assume real significance in the mind of the German leader . The Western Desert Campaign was a back - and - forth struggle which began in September 1940 with the Italian invasion of Egypt . Italian forces in Libya advanced upon British and Commonwealth forces , who were stationed in Egypt to protect British interests there . The Italians halted to bring up supplies , and the British counterattacked . What started as a five - day raid in December 1940 turned into a major offensive operation , resulting in the destruction of an Italian army . With his holdings in Africa threatened , Benito Mussolini pled with Hitler to provide a contingent of ground and air forces to prevent a total collapse . This was done when a small unit was dispatched from Italy to Tripoli , the first of a number of units that were transferred to Africa under the command of Erwin Rommel . Though all Axis forces in Africa were nominally under Italian command , Germany was the dominant partner in the pairing . Over the course of the next two years , Axis forces under Rommel launched assaults three times against the Allies . Each time , the Axis forces pushed the Allies back to the Egyptian frontier , but each time the Allies regrouped and counterattacked . On the final Axis push the Allies were driven deep into Egypt . However , at El Alamein the Allies recovered and then drove the Axis forces west . Axis forces never recovered , and were driven completely out of Libya to Tunisia . The final chapter of the Axis in Africa concluded with the Allied victory in Tunisia . Setting . Cyrenaica ( Libya ) had been an Italian colony since the Italian Royal Army defeated the Ottoman Imperial Army during the Italo - Turkish War in 1912 . With French North Africa to the west and Egypt to the east , the Italians prepared for conflicts on both sides . Italy had two armies in Libya under the command of the Governor - General of Italian Libya , the charismatic Marshal of the Air Force , Italo Balbo . The 5th Army in Tripolitania , comprising nine infantry divisions , was commanded by General Italo Gariboldi . The 10th Army in Cyrenaica was led by General Mario Berti and was made up of five infantry divisions . The 10th Army was the principal force on the border with Egypt . The British had forces in Egypt since 1882 , but these were greatly reduced by the terms of the Anglo - Egyptian Treaty of 1936 . The relatively modest British and Commonwealth forces in Egypt were there primarily to protect the Suez Canal . The canal was vital to Britain ' s communications with her Far Eastern and Indian Ocean territories . The British forces in Egypt included Mobile Force ( Egypt ) commanded by Major - General Percy Hobart , an armoured warfare proponent and innovator in the British army . This was one of only two British armoured training formations . At the outbreak of war , this force was renamed " Armoured Division ( Egypt ) " and ultimately became the 7th Armoured Division . The 7th Armoured , nicknamed the " Desert Rats " , served as the principal force defending the Egyptian border with Libya at the start of the war . At the end of July 1939 , Lieutenant - General Archibald Wavell was appointed General Officer Commanding - in - Chief ( GOC - in - C ) of the newly created Middle East Command , with responsibility for the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre . The troops opposing the Italians in Libya were the 6th Infantry Division under the command of Major - General Richard O ' Connor . They were redesignated the Western Desert Force and O ' Connor given the rank of lieutenant - general in October as his command was reinforced and expanded . According to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , the approximately 215 , 000 Italians in Libya faced approximately 35 , 000 British in Egypt . In all respects , the Italian land and air forces ( " Regia Aeronautica " ) in Libya greatly outnumbered the British in Egypt . The British , however , had the advantage of better mobility and quality . Skirmishes on the frontier . The British initially covered the western Egyptian border with Cyrenacia using a light mobile force . It included light tanks of the 7th Hussars , armoured cars of the 11th Hussars , two motor battalions of the 60th Rifles and the Rifle Brigade , and two regiments of motorised Royal Horse Artillery . On 11 June 1940 , the day after Italy declared war on the Allies , the Italian forces in Libya and the British and Commonwealth forces in Egypt launched a series of small raids upon each other . On 14 June , the 11th Hussars , the 7th Hussars , and one company of the 60th Rifles captured Fort Capuzzo and Fort Maddalena , with 220 prisoners taken . Two days later , a raid deep into Italian territory resulted in the interception of a convoy on the Tobruk - Bardia highway , part of the " Via Balbia " . An Italian general was captured and 12 Italian tanks destroyed . On 25 June , France and Italy signed the Franco - Italian Armistice , ending their conflict . As a result , Italian soldiers and materials from the 5th Army in Tripolatania could be sent east to reinforce the 10th Army on the Egyptian frontier . In time , the 10th Army grew to 10 divisions , leaving the 5th Army with four . By mid - July , the Italians were able to reinforce the forces on the Egyptian frontier to a strength of two full infantry divisions and elements of two more . On 28 June , Marshal Balbo was in transit to Tobruk when his plane was shot down by Italian anti - aircraft gunners . His aircraft had arrived over the port city shortly after a British air raid and was mistaken for a British bomber . The general was killed in the accident . Balbo ' s replacement as Commander - in - Chief and as Governor - General was Marshal Rodolfo Graziani . On 5 August , a large but inconclusive action took place between Sidi Azeiz and Fort Capuzzo . Thirty Italian M11 / 39 medium tanks made contact with the 8th Hussars in an effort to re - establish themselves in the area . General Wavell concluded that he was in no position to deny the Italians . Wear and tear on the armored vehicles of the 7th Armoured Division from the desert actions was great . The sand was very hard on the equipment , the track life of the tanks was far shorter in the desert than in other theaters . The British repair workshops were back - logged . With an average of only one half of his tank strength available for action and realising that his one effective force was being worn out to no strategic purpose , Wavell curtailed further operations on the frontier and handed over the defence to the 7th Support Group under Brigadier William Gott and the 11th Hussars under Lieutenant - Colonel John Combe . These units would provide a screen of outposts to give warning of any Italian approach . Throughout the rest of August and the early days of September , an uneasy calm settled upon the desert . The calm was broken only by sharp contact between patrols and sporadic aerial fighting as both sides sought knowledge of the other side ' s intention . While a formidable spy network in Egypt kept the Italians informed , the British chose other ways to obtain information . The Long Range Desert Group was formed under Major Ralph A . Bagnold , and soon Italian movements far behind the lines were being reported by sky - wave radio links . Italian offensive . Benito Mussolini desired to expand Italian influence in the Mediterranean by linking Italian North Africa ( " Africa Settentrionale Italiana " ) with Italian East Africa ( " Africa Orientale Italiana " ) , capturing the Suez Canal and the Arabian oilfields in the process . He ordered the invasion of Egypt on 8 August . A month later , on 9 September 1940 , the largely unmotorized Italian forces under the overall command of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani invaded Egypt from their base in Cyrenaica . Sollum , Halfaya Pass , and Sidi Barrani were taken by the invading Italians . Fearful of extending beyond his supply capabilities , Graziani halted the advance a week later on 16 September . Despite Mussolini ' s urging to continue , Graziani dug his Italian forces in around Sidi Barrani and established several fortified positions ( represented on the adjacent map as small red circles ) . His plans were to return to the offensive once he had brought up enough supplies to support the next step in the invasion . The advance had stopped some west of the British defensive positions at Mersa Matruh . Graziani planned to advance on Mersa Matruh in mid - December . In response to the invasion , Egypt broke off relations with Germany and Italy . Italian aircraft bombed Cairo over the heavily European suburb of Ma ' adi , on 19 October . British counter - offensive . On 9 December 1940 , the Western Desert Force ( including portions of the Indian 4th Division and the British 7th Armoured Division ) launched Operation " Compass " , a counterattack . The Italians were caught completely off - guard . By 10 December , the British and Indian forces had taken more than 20 , 000 Italian prisoners . The following day , they attacked Sollum , supported by ships of the Mediterranean Fleet . Sidi Barrani fell on the same day . To O ' Connor ' s shock , Wavell then replaced the experienced 4th Indian ( who were immediately rushed to Port Sudan – see East African Campaign ) with the newly arrived Australian 6th Division . The Australians then pressed on to capture Bardia and Tobruk , capturing 67 , 000 prisoners , over 500 guns , while losing 180 dead . In early February , the Italians were retreating along the coast , pursued by the Australians . O ' Connor ordered the 7th Armoured to advance overland through Mechili to Beda Fomm and cut off the Italian line of retreat . Major - General Michael O ' Moore Creagh sent Combe Force — an " ad hoc " flying column — racing ahead of his tanks . Combe Force reached Beda Fomm some 45 minutes before the Italians who were coming down the coast road from Benghazi . The Italians were surprised to find Combe and his force blocking their retreat . After a number of desperate efforts to push past Combe ' s men , the Italians surrendered . 25 , 000 men , 200 artillery guns , 100 tanks and 1 , 500 vehicles were captured . In this swift campaign , the British captured 130 , 000 Italians at a cost of 2 , 000 casualties . Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden , paraphrasing Churchill , quipped " Never has so much been surrendered by so many to so few . " The remaining Italian forces of the Tenth army , some 8 , 000 men , retreated to El Agheila by 9 February 1941 . During the course of this battle , the Western Desert Force was renamed as XIII Corps . Rommel ' s first offensive . In early 1941 , after the decisive British and Commonwealth victory in Cyrenaica , the military position was soon reversed . Wavell ordered a significant portion of O ' Connor ' s XIII Corps to support Greece as part of Operation " Lustre " . While Wavell was reducing his forces in North Africa , German dictator Adolf Hitler responded to the Italian disaster by ordering Operation " Sonnenblume " ( " Sunflower " ) . This was the deployment of the newly formed German " " Afrika Korps " " ( " Deutsches Afrikakorps " ) as reinforcements to the Italians to prevent total collapse . The German corps included fresh troops with better equipment and a charismatic commander , General Erwin Rommel . When Rommel arrived in North Africa , along with six Italian divisions which included the " Trento " and " Ariete " , his orders were to assume a defensive posture and hold the front line . Finding that the British defences were thin , he quickly defeated the Allied forces at El Agheila on 24 March . He then launched an offensive which , by 15 April , had pushed the British back to the border at Sollum , recapturing all of Libya except for Tobruk , then under the command of the Australian Leslie Morshead which was encircled and besieged . During this drive , the new field commander for HQ Cyrenaica Command ( the new designation of XIII Corps ) — Lieutenant - General Philip Neame — and O ' Connor himself — who had been recalled to assist — were captured as was Major - General Michael Gambier - Parry , commander of the newly arrived British 2nd Armoured Division . With Neame and O ' Connor gone , British and Commonwealth forces were once more brought under the reactivated Western Desert Force HQ . In command was Lieutenant - General Noel Beresford - Peirse , who had returned to Cairo from commanding the Indian 4th Infantry Division in the East African Campaign . Rommel ' s first offensive was generally successful and his forces destroyed the 2nd Armoured Division . Several attempts to seize the isolated positions at Tobruk failed and the front lines stabilised at the Egyptian border . The siege of Tobruk . Tobruk was a fortified port due south of the German occupied eastern Mediterranean island of Crete . The capture of Tobruk would shorten the supply route to the Axis forces in the desert , allowing them to push on into Egypt and the vitally important Suez canal . Strategically , this in turn would open the door to controlling the Middle East oil reserves . Inside Tobruk was a force of some 25 , 000 Commonwealth soldiers , well stocked with supplies and with the Royal Navy committed to keeping them that way . At their disposal were armoured cars and captured Italian tanks , giving them the potential mobility to seriously interdict supply transports being brought past their position . The Tobruk garrison precluded any further moves by the Axis into Egypt . The fortress had to be taken for the Axis to win the campaign in Africa . Rommel immediately attempted to take the port , but the defenders , largely made up of the 9th Australian division and led by General Leslie Morshead , were intent on holding the port . Adding to the difficulty , the Italians , who had built the fort defences before the war , were slow to provide blueprints for the port fortifications . A number of attempts were driven off with losses from understrength attacks on well placed , well armed , determined defenders . After three weeks Rommel came to realize he did not have the material strength to take the fortress . What followed was a lengthy siege , with the Italian infantry divisions taking up positions about the fortress while the bulk of the Afrika Korps maintained a mobile position south and east of the port , to ward off any moves of the British while still being in position to exploit any opening in the port ' s defenses . The stalemate continued for eight months . General Wavell launched a limited offensive on 15 May 1941 and code named " Brevity " to secure a better position to launch a major offensive . The British briefly seized Sollum , Capuzzo , and the important Halfaya Pass , but Rommel reinforced with a battalion of panzers and the offensive lost momentum and was called off , the British withdrawing from all but Halfaya Pass . On 26 May the Germans counter - attacked , and the British were forced to abandon the pass as well . Meanwhile , Churchill pressed Wavell to push the Germans back , and sent a convoy straight through the Mediterranean to provide him with the tanks and aircraft to support the attack . Wavell needed time to get the new equipment conditioned for the desert , and the new men needed to be trained in desert combat . In June Wavell succumbed to the political pressure being applied upon him and launched a major offensive , Operation " Battleaxe " , in an attempt to relieve Tobruk . In the resultant battle his forces were defeated soundly . The British tanks funneled into Halifaya Pass and many were torn apart by well - placed 88 mm guns ; Rommel ' s Panzer forces then counterattacked and chased away the survivors . After the failure of " Battleaxe " , Churchill replaced Wavell with Claude Auchinleck as Commander - in - Chief Middle East . The British forces were further reinforced with the newly formed XXX Corps . The overall Allied field command now became British 8th Army , formed from units from many countries , including 9th Division and 18th Brigade from the Australian Army and the Indian Army , but also including divisions of South Africans , New Zealanders , a brigade of Free French under Marie - Pierre Koenig and the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade . Operation Crusader . On 18 November 1941 , Lieutenant - General Alan Cunningham commanded the 8th Army in their winter offensive , Operation Crusader . The " Axis " forces achieved several tactical successes , which led to Auchinlek ' s decision to replace Cunningham with Major - General Neil Ritchie , but 8th Army relieved the siege of Tobruk and the Axis garrisons at Bardia and Sollum soon had to surrender . In the end Rommel was forced to withdraw , once more moving behind the defensive positions at El Agheila . Rommel ' s second offensive . Following reinforcement by several successful convoy runs to Tripoli , the strength of the Afrika Korps was adequate for Rommel to move back onto the offensive . The relatively inexperienced British 1st Armoured Division , which formed the principal defence were dispersed around El Agheila . Rommel ' s " Afrika Korps " attacked on 21 January scattering the British 1st Armoured Division ' s units . The 2nd Armoured Brigade was committed piecemeal and were decimated by the more concentrated German forces . Both units were forced back across the Cyrenaica line into eastern Libya , along with the 201st Guards Motor Brigade , in the process giving up both Msus and Benghazi to the German forces . By February the front line settled down at the Gazala line , just west of Tobruk . Axis screening forces were located here , with the bulk of the Afrika Korps held back in a reactive position . Through the spring the British attempted to build up supplies and reinforcements for a summer offensive , and to a smaller degree , the Axis forces did so as well . To forestall the British move , Rommel struck first . In June 1942 after a lengthy armoured battle and multiple attempts at encirclement , he defeated the Allies in the Battle of Gazala . A day later he successfully attacked the fortress of Tobruk , capturing the port . Auchinleck relieved Ritchie and assumed personal command of 8th Army , halting Rommel in the First Battle of El Alamein at the Alamein Line only seventy miles from Alexandria , just before Churchill relieved him of command . Montgomery ' s Allied offensive . Anxious to gain a victory in the desert , Churchill replaced General Auchinleck with General Harold Alexander as Commander - in - Chief Middle East Command . He chose General William Gott , the commander of XIII Corps , to take command of the 8th Army . Gott ' s aircraft was intercepted by a group of Me 109Es on a return flight to Cairo from the battlefield . The plane was shot down and the general killed . Subsequently , Lieutenant - General Bernard Montgomery took over as commander of the 8th Army . Montgomery patiently built up the 8th Army and trained it for the upcoming offensive . A pre - emptive Geman assault was turned back sharply at the Battle of Alam el Halfa in August 1942 . In October the 8th Army began its offensive , winning a decisive victory in the Second Battle of El Alamein . In a brilliant rearguard action , Rommel was able to extract the mobile units of his army , but the non - motorized units , particularly the Italian formations in the center and south , had to march out with limited water . These were all lost , and their capture by the British took on a humanitarian aspect . Attempts to encircle the Axis forces at Marsa Matruh were frustrated , and the bulk of the Afrika Korps had escaped by 7 November . The coast road remained in possession of the retreating Axis forces , but lack of fuel and armor for a mobile defense of the open southern flank made making a stand at Halfaya Pass or any other position impossible . Egypt was cleared , and Tobruk retaken on 13 November . Rommel ' s forces continued to withdraw , with 8th Army unable to cut off their escape . Benghazi fell on 20 November . These two port towns aided the resupply of the forward campaign . An opportunity to outflank Rommel at Agedabia was cautiously declined , in case of counter - attack . The Germans and Italians retired to a prepared defence line at El Agheila . Axis supplies and reinforcements were now directed into Tunisia at Rommel ' s expense : he was left with no capacity to counter - attack and was critically short of fuel . Hitler ordered that the El Agheila line should be held at all costs , whereas Rommel ' s view was for a fighting retreat to Tunisia and a strong defensive position at the Gabès Gap . Permission was granted for a withdrawal to Buerat , east of Sirte . An attempt to outflank El Agheila between 14 and 16 December once again failed to encircle the enemy – Rommel had exercised his authority to withdraw and his line of retreat was adequately defended . At this stage , the front was over from the nearest usable port at Tobruk and the difficulties of supply now hampered Montgomery ' s ability to deploy his full strength . Allied pressure continued as the Axis forces reached Buerat . This line was not strongly defended , however , and the pursuit continued . Tripoli was captured on 23 January 1943 . The port was brought into use and , by mid - February 1943 , nearly of stores were landed daily . In March the 8th Army had entered Tunisia . On 9 March , Rommel returned to Germany to communicate to Hitler the realities of conditions in North Africa , and to try to get him to allow the Axis forces be withdrawn . He was unsuccessful in this , and was not allowed to return to Africa , ostensibly on the grounds of his poor health . Montgomery has been criticised for his failure to trap the Axis armies and bring them to a decisive battle in Libya . His tactics have been seen as too cautious and too slow . The counter arguments point out the defensive skills of German forces generally and the Afrika Korps in particular , and Montgomery ' s need not to relapse into the " see - saw " warfare of previous north African campaigns . Warfare in the desert has been described as a " quarter - master ' s nightmare " , given the conditions of desert warfare and the difficulties of supply . Montgomery is renowned for fighting " balanced campaigns " and husbanding his resources : no attack until his troops were prepared and properly supplied . The 8th Army ' s morale greatly improved under his command . Desert fighting . The war was fought in North Africa , primarily in the rocky desert plain of Cyrenaica , modern day Libya . From the coast of North Africa extending inland lies a raised , flat plain of stoney hard desert that runs 200 to 300 km in depth until the great dunes of the Sahara are reached . The war was largely fought in this region . Traversed by the nomadic Bedoins , the region is sparsely populated . The ground is a flat , hard scrabble with little or no cover , and difficult for infantry to dig into . Conditions in the desert were harsh : miserably hot during the day , while temperatures dropped precipitously at night . The great coats of the German soldier were not discarded in Africa , nor were scarfs , which were used not only for the cold of the desert night , but for the sand storms that were frequent and blinding . Sand storms made flying impossible , and travel by land difficult . " The Ghibli " was the Bedouin name for the hot desert wind of Libya which produced the sandstorms . Navigation was by compass , and each man had one . It was easy to become lost in the desert , and hard to be found again . The sand storms could last from a few hours to several days at a time . Sand would creep into everything , and was very hard on equipment . Replacement parts were essential . Trucks were fitted with special oil filters . Aircraft had heavily modified air intakes fitted . British built trucks were more rugged and durable in the desert than German or Italian vehicles . At times , as much as 85 % of the transport in the Africa Korps was British built . Of course , this meant that spare parts for the trucks the Germans were using were hard to come by . To fight an armoured war in the desert , the two essential provisions were fuel and water . Neither of these were readily available . They had to be brought forward to the combat units , and husbanded carefully . Only the Bedoins knew where to dig in the desert for water . Beyond these difficulties , the hardest thing for the men to deal with were the flies . The millions of flies got into everything , could not be escaped and got into the food stores , making eating difficult . They also carried disease . Illness amongst the Afrika Korps was a major issue . On the British side , a variety of foods were supplied in tins . For the Germans , food was monotonous and available unevenly . Between the disease , the unvaried diet and the strain of combat , soldiers in the Axis camp typically became quite thin . Conclusion . With the Axis forces driven out of Libya , they would soon find themselves trapped , in the Tunisia Campaign , between the recently landed Anglo - American forces of the British 1st Army to the west and the 8th Army pursuing from the east .