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The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers.It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert War), in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), and in Tunisia (Tunisia campaign).
The army outflanked the Mareth defences in March 1943 and after further fighting alongside the First Army, the other 18th Army Group component, which had been conducting the Tunisian campaign since November 1942, the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered in May 1943.
Italian campaign (World War II) begins (1943 to 1945) 23 January: Tripoli captured by British Eighth Army; 30 January: Axis forces capture Faïd pass in central Tunisia; 4 February: Axis forces in Libya retreat to Tunisian border south of the Mareth Line; 14 February: Axis advance from Faïd to launch Battle of Sidi Bou Zid and enter Sbeitla ...
In the aftermath of the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, British and Italian forces in North Africa were reinforced. [19] Due to various Italian moves, in July 1937, the British decided "that Italy could not now be regarded as a reliable friend" and preparations began to bring "the defences of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea ports up-to-date". [18]
Cyrenaica (Libya) had been an Italian colony since the Italo-Turkish War in 1911–1912. With Tunisia, part of French North Africa, to the west, and Egypt to the east, the Italians prepared to defend both fronts through a North Africa Supreme Headquarters, under the command of the Governor-General of Italian Libya, Marshal of the Air Force, Italo Balbo.
The North African campaign of World War II, sometimes called the "Desert War", includes the campaigns in Egypt and Libya (often referred to as the Western Desert campaign or the "Egypt–Libya Campaign") and those campaigns in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia (usually referred to as the Tunisian campaign.
The size of the British Army peaked in June 1945, at 2.9 million men. By the end of the Second World War some three million people had served. [13] [7] In 1944, the United Kingdom was facing severe manpower shortages. By May 1944, it was estimated that the British Army's strength in December 1944 would be 100,000 less than it was at the end of ...
German-Italian forces withdrew from Egypt and Libya to Tunisia, and the Americans arrived in North Africa on 8 November 1942, during Operation Torch to assist the British. American and British forces defeated their opponents on 12 May 1943, ending the North African campaign. During the war, each side used land-mines to impede the enemy's progress.