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The Western Desert campaign (Desert War) took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War.Military operations began in June 1940 with the Italian declaration of war and the Italian invasion of Egypt from Libya in September.
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 Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe. The United States officially entered the war in December 1941 and ...
14 June: British forces cross from Egypt into Libya and capture Fort Capuzzo [3] 16 June: The first tank battle of the North African campaign takes place, the "Engagement at Nezuet Ghirba" [3] 3 July: British navy shells French warships in the port of Oran (Mers El Kébir) to keep them out of German hands.
Troops were moved from near Cairo and from the canal zone to Mersa Matruh, 170 mi (270 km) west of Alexandria in the Western Desert, to be in a position to protect Egypt from an Italian invasion from their Libyan colony. [3] [4] A map of the Western Desert, detailing battles and movements between 13 September 1940 – 30 May 1941 (enlargeable).
The British claimed to have inflicted 3,500 casualties for a loss of 150 men from 11 June – 9 September. [18] Further afield, both sides established scouting groups, the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and Compagnie Auto-Avio-Sahariane (Auto-Saharan Company) which ranged the desert, observed British dispositions and raided. [19]
The Western Desert Force (WDF) was a British Army formation active in Egypt during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. On 17 June 1940, the headquarters of the British 6th Infantry Division was designated as the Western Desert Force. [1] The formation consisted of the British 7th Armoured Division and the 4th Indian Infantry ...
The Gulf War started after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq on 2 August 1990. The British military response to the invasion was Operation Granby. General Norman Schwarzkopf was adamant that the use of special operations forces in Operation Desert Storm would be limited. This was due to his experiences in the Vietnam War, where he had seen special ...
During the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War, Montgomery commanded the British Eighth Army from August 1942. He subsequently commanded the British Eighth Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Allied invasion of Italy and was in command of all Allied ground forces during the Battle of Normandy ( Operation Overlord ...