At dawn on September 13, 1940, a series of loud trumpets broke the silence of the North African desert, and a group of tanks burst out of the Kapço Fortress on the border between Libya and Egypt. This was followed by three infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a machine gun battalion, an engineer company and a mortar company. The assault unit "Aditi", dressed in a black tunic and wearing a short sword and grenade around his waist, walked at the front of the line as the vanguard. This was followed by several trucks, which were filled with marble monuments. These monuments were planned by Benneto Mussolini to record his "great achievement" of taking Egypt from the British. The Second World War had already begun in Europe for a year, and he had hardly won a single war compared to Hitler's victories in Europe. In the present situation, the war on the Western Front is a foregone conclusion, and although there is still Britain struggling to the death, it is only a matter of time before Hitler wins the final victory.
After some deliberation, Mussolini decided to start a war in North Africa to show his strength at the end of the war so that he could get a little of the fruits of victory at the end of the war. He told Marshal Pietro Badoglio, chief of the Italian General Staff: "In order to be able to attend the peace conference as a belligerent, I need thousands of people to dedicate themselves to it. His idea had already been experimented with in France, albeit depressingly. In July, just as France was about to fall into German hands, Mussolini abruptly declared war on the Allies and sent troops into France, which bordered Italy. However, this surprise attack not only did not win much benefit for Italy, but became the laughing stock of others.
Mussolini, of course, was also well aware that in the face of well-trained British troops in Ethiopia, his army was unlikely to repeat the victory of the 1936 battle against Ethiopian forces. Still, given britain's current dilemma, there looks like there is hope of winning. And this also showed Hitler that he also contributed to the development of the Axis cause.
Mussolini, who has given a speech, said that between 1936 and 1940, Italy sent 14,000 officers and 327,000 soldiers to Libya, spending a lot of supplies to supply these troops. He spoke confidently, but in reality the army fell far short of the standards of modern warfare. Such a force can probably only cope with a colonial war, and thus only eliminate the small number of troops participating in the rebellion. Their chariots and armored vehicles were light, the engines were not good enough, and the radius of action was small. The artillery used by the artillery was all old goods left over from the First World War and had a short range. There were not many anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft guns, and even rifles and machine guns were old.
Worst of all, many of the soldiers in the Italian Army were non-motorized infantry. In the desert regions of North Africa, to deal with a motorized army, the non-motorized army is too weak. In mobile warfare, whichever army is tactically not easily pinned down by non-motorized forces is easily victorious.
In September 1940, Graziani's army began its mission. At that time, the British in Egypt did not have the strength to resist the Italian army going to Alexandria. Starting at Byrdy, the Italian army crossed the Egyptian border at Salem and attacked West Dubai Rani along the west side of the coast. The British knew the disparity in strength, so they skillfully retreated from the east, unwilling to confront the Italians. After arriving in West Dubai Rani, Graziani no longer attacked, but consolidated the areas he had already occupied, and established lines of communication along the coast, and then concentrated on replenishing supplies, increasing troops, building water sources, etc. He intended to continue his offensive east from this new base.
Months have passed, and Graziani remains where he is, no longer advancing. Therefore, the British seized this time to complete the protection of Egypt and use it to resist the Italian attack. They brought in soldiers from many parts of the British Empire, especially large mechanized troops, and drove into Egypt with many chariots. The British chariots were much stronger than the Italians.
The British were much smaller than the Italians, but they had a well-equipped, well-quality, near-modern air force, faster and more updated tanks, long-range guns, and most importantly, their attack columns were motorized. The British fleet was the hegemon of the western Mediterranean, and even Italian warships and cruisers did not dare to launch a sea attack. The British followed a railway along the coastline directly to Port Matruh, which was integrated with the Egyptian rail system to facilitate the delivery of supplies to the front line– this was the most important point in the entire African campaign.
At 7 a.m. on 6 December, the Indian 4th Division and the British 7th Division all moved, tanks, gunnery vehicles and trucks moving at a distance of 200 yards. Rocks and camel thorns made their march slow, but O'Connor, who knew the desert well, had arranged for it in advance. His 30,000 troops would stop in the middle of Messematrum and the Italian barracks to rest for a whole day and a night. Since they were constantly under the watchful eye of Italian reconnaissance aircraft, O'Connor even ordered the truck's windshield to be removed so that the sun's reflections would not be detected by enemy pilots. On the night of 8 December, the troops continued to advance, illuminated by specially arranged guiding lights by the patrols, which were well placed to hide their whereabouts. At 1 a.m., a few kilometers behind the Italian barracks in Nibewa, the British stopped advancing.
At 5 a.m. on December 9, the British awoke in the darkness, eating breakfast in silence, waiting for the time to attack. To their east, there was some movement in the Italian barracks in Nibewa. At 7:15, the first British tank rushed out. Immediately after, rows of tanks rumbled in, flanked by small tracked armored vehicles, their Brown light machine guns cocked high and strafing at the stunned Italian sentries on the defensive wall. Then there was the sound of the Scottish bagpipes of the British charge, and at the same time, the Scottish Highlands Allied soldiers rushed into the barracks, their bayonets shining cold in the rising sun. In the confusion, the horses of the Italian cavalry were frightened, and with a long roar of their necks, they trampled on all fours, stirring up a cloud of smoke.
The Italian soldiers had little power to fight back. All 20 of their tanks were parked outside the ring of defense of the barracks, and had now been turned into a pile of smoke-billowing scrap iron by the British Matilde tanks. The Italians could only return fire with machine guns and grenades, and many died tragically under the tracks of British tanks. The tanks rampaged through the barracks, and everywhere they went, they saw only a blur of flesh and blood, which was unbearable.
The fighting lasted until 9 a.m., when the first Italian barracks fell within 3 hours. To everyone's surprise, the British captured a total of 2,000 Italian soldiers. This achievement boosted the morale of the British army and made the British soldiers enthusiastic.
In this attack, there were also many interesting things that happened. Lieutenant Colonel Ostesh Arden led his troops to the Italian barracks in Mactilla, and was about to attack when one of his officers shouted, "There is a white flag, sir!" "Nonsense!" Arden roared. But behind the fortifications, there was indeed a brigade commander and his 500 men standing there in a standard upright posture. "Sir," the brigade commander said to Arden in standard diplomatic French, "we've run out of bullets. However, as he said this, Lieutenant Colonel Arden saw a large amount of unused ammunition beside him.
It took the British only two days to advance to Sidi Barani, and the town was quickly occupied. Once again, as before, the British achieved a surprisingly complete victory. When the first Mathilde tank entered the streets devastated by British Navy shells, it was found that an appendicitis patient who had cut his belly had been abandoned on the operating table, which showed the haste of the Italian army's retreat.
On 12 December, three days after the attack, 39,000 Italians had surrendered or been captured, a number that greatly exceeded the British expectations and overwhelmed them. One tank commander complained to his superiors: "I was forced to stop among 200 — no, 500 — soldiers with their hands raised." For God's sake, send these bloodied infantry into a prisoner-of-war camp. On 12 December, three days after the offensive, teams of 39,000 Italians in dusty green uniforms had surrendered or been captured, a number that greatly exceeded the British expectations and overwhelmed them. One tank commander complained to his superiors: "I was forced to stop among 200 — no, 500 — soldiers with their hands raised." For God's sake, send these bloodied infantry into a prisoner-of-war camp. Teams of Italian soldiers in dusty green uniforms crowded the road leading to Messematru. Faced with so many captives, the officers in charge in Messematruh were forced to issue them with wood and barbed wire to build their own temporary prisoner-of-war camps.
On 16 December, Wavell reached the Libyan border and defeated Graziani's main force at Capzo. General Marti, commander of the Italian African Panzer Army, was also killed. The Italians were captured 30,000. The Italian Tenth Army was almost completely annihilated.
The British achieved a major victory, the Italians were demoralized, and they retreated to the strongholds of Bayerdi and Tobruk, waiting for the next round of the enemy's attack.
On 19 December, Wavell's forces suddenly appeared in the Bayerdi area and besieged the fortress. The British Air Force also attacked fiercely. After that, about 20,000 Italian troops surrendered, and the Commander of the Italian Army fled to Tobruk.
On 8 January 1941, the British continued their offensive to the west, encircling Tobruk. It was a strong stronghold, with a total of 25,000 defenders, strong artillery and enough supplies, but it took the British only 14 days to capture the fort.
After that, the British army began to attack Cyrenaica. The terrain in Cyrenaica was very bad and not conducive to the attack, however, a column led by the Australian army in the northern part of the British army advanced smoothly. On 7 February, the British took Benghazi. In addition, a strong British armored column successfully continued its advance through Menchas. This column encountered the retreating Italian army on the road, and the two sides engaged each other. As a result, the British destroyed more than 100 Italian vehicles and captured more than 10,000 Italians.
On 8 February, the vanguard of the British army took Aighera, and Graziani's army was almost completely wiped out, leaving the rest of the unarmed soldiers, all of whom fled west. A total of 120,000 Italian troops were captured, the number of casualties has not been counted, and 600 armored vehicles and all artillery, trucks and supplies were lost.
Rommel estimated the total number of British prisoners of Italians this time, more accurately than in other battles. The British captured more than 130,000 Italians, 1,300 artillery pieces and 400 tanks (excluding armored vehicles and machine gun carriers).
If Wavell had continued his assault on Tripolitania, it would have been smooth and there would have been no resistance. However, the British did not move on, and they may have taken it for granted that the place would automatically fall into their hands. Of course, Wavell also needs time to replenish supplies. Because of this, the Axis Powers were given the opportunity to make a comeback.
Reference: History of the Second World War