Operation Compass
British, Indian, Commonwealth and Allied forces attacked Italian forces of the 10th Army in western Egypt and Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya. The WDF swiftly defeated the Italians in their fortified posts and at Sidi Barrani and the British exploited their success. The 10th army was cut off as it retreated towards Tripolitania and defeated at the Battle of Beda Fomm. The British took over 138,000 Italian and Libyan prisoners, hundreds of tanks, and more than 1,000 guns and many aircraft.
About Operation Compass in brief
Operation Compass was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War. British, Indian, Commonwealth and Allied forces attacked Italian forces of the 10th Army in western Egypt and Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya, from December 1940 to February 1941. The WDF swiftly defeated the Italians in their fortified posts and at Sidi Barrani and the British exploited their success. The 10th army was cut off as it retreated towards Tripolitania and defeated at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the remnants being pursued to El Agheila on the Gulf of Sirte. The British took over 138,000 Italian and Libyan prisoners, hundreds of tanks, and more than 1,000 guns and many aircraft, against WDF losses of 1,900 men killed and wounded, about 10 per cent of the infantry. After being reinforced from the 5th Army, the10th Army controlled the equivalent of four corps with 150,000 infantry, 1,600 guns, 600 tankettes and tanks and 331 aircraft. The Raggruppamento Maletti was formed at Derna on 8 July 1940, with seven Libyan motorised infantry battalions, a company of Fiat M1139 tanks, aCompany of L333 tankettes, motorised artillery and supply units as the main motorised unit. The new Group of Libyan Divisions had the Maletti Group, the 1st Libyan Division Sibelle and the 2nd Libyan Division Pescatori.
The only non-infantry formation was the partially motorised and lightly armoured Maletti group, with the LX light tank battalion and the II Medium Tank Battalion. The 6th Indian Division replaced the 4th Indian Infantry Division and the 7th Indian Armoured Division which replaced the 6th Indian Division from 14 December 1941. From 14 December to 14 February 1941, the British had about 36,000 soldiers, 120 guns and 275 tanks in Egypt, some outside Egypt, and some outside Libya. The RAF had 142 aircraft in two squadrons, one squadrons of Hurricanes, one Bristol Blenheim Vickers Vickers, three Bristol Gloster Gloster Vickers and one Bristol Welling Vickers Welling, about 46 fighters and 116 bombers. The Western Desert Force was commanded by Lieutenant-General Richard O’Connor with the4th Infantry Division. The 4th Infantry Division became part of the Middle East Command under General Archibald Wavell. The 2nd Libyan Divisions became the Regpo Truppe Truppe Coloniali della Libia and the 1st Sibelle and the 2nd Libyan Divison were part of Middle East Command. The 5th Army was used to reinforce 10th Libya and the 3rd Army was used to reinforce Tripolitania when the French in Tunisia no longer posed a threat.
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This page is based on the article Operation Compass published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
