Egypt – Libya Campaign The Egypt – Libya 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 . Egypt – Libya 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 Col . Harry A . Halverson 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 . HALPROs first mission was flown on June 12 , 1942 against the Romania n oil facilities at Ploieşti . 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 s . On June 30 Brereton had directed the B - 17s which he had brought from India to move their operations to Palestine . The B - 24s of the Halverson Detachment joined them at Lydda , Palestine . Both units flew day and night bombing missions against the Axis ' increasingly inadequate supply lines , concentrating their efforts against the port of Tobruk . The heavy bombers of the Brereton and Halverson detachments ( now combined into the 1st Provisional Group , under Halverson ' s command ) had been flying with the Commonwealth air forces for some time , and drawing on that experience , the 98th Bombardment Group ( Heavy ) which arrived in mid - August , was able to go directly into action . The 1st Provisional Group provided the nucleus of the 376th Bomb Group in October , 1942 . When the 12th Bombardment Group ( Medium ) and the 57th Fighter Group arrived in the theater of operations , they entered a highly cooperative type of air warfare in an unfamiliar desert environment . Initially , they were integrated into comparable RAF formations , allowing them to observe firsthand the complex techniques of air - ground coordination that the Commonwealth forces had developed during their years of fighting in the Western Desert . To co - ordinate the growing American presence the USAMEAF had established the IX Bomber Command and IX Fighter Command . In November , Lt . Gen . Frank M . Andrews assumed command of USAFIME , replacing Maxwell . Andrews was an experienced airman , and one of his first acts was to establish the Ninth Air Force to replace USAMEAF . Which was a recognition that the force would remain an Air force and that Ground forces would not be taking part in the campaign . Brereton assumed command of the new organization and established the IX Air Service Command , which joined the " IX Bomber Command " and the " IX Fighter Command " as the major subordinate headquarters . The 376th Bombardment Group , originally organized to support Soviet forces , became part of the IX Bomber Command and flew its first combat missions over the deserts of North Africa . The U . S . Army ' s Egypt – Libya Campaign ended on 12 February 1943 , when the Allied forces finally succeeded in driving all Axis forces out of Libya .