A Short Guide To The War In Africa During The Second World War

The Eighth Army, formed in September 1941, was a diverse formation made up of units from all corners of the British Empire, with infantry divisions coming from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.

When Italy declared war on 10 June 1940, the Italian Army in Libya threatened the vital Suez Canal in British-occupied Egypt. Italian forces attacked Egypt on 13 September. General O’Connor’s Western Desert Force was outnumbered, but his commander-in-chief, General Wavell, ordered a surprise attack at Sidi Barrani three days later. 

In October 1935 Italian troops invaded Ethiopia, forcing the country's Emperor, Haile Selassie, into exile. Ignoring protests from the League of Nations, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaimed a new Italian empire in East Africa, comprising Ethiopia and the pre-existing territories of Italian Somaliland and Eritrea.

When Italy declared war on 10 June 1940, the frontier in the Libyan desert posed a challenge to both sides. The difficult terrain included vast sand seas of giant dunes which made it impossible for large forces to penetrate inland.

Following Italy's entry into the Second World War on 10 June 1940, and France's surrender on 22 June, British Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria in Egypt was outnumbered and surrounded by a largely hostile shore.

In this episode of IWM Stories, John Delaney explores Rommel's first campaign in the desert. How did he pull off such a stunning reversal? How did the British stop him at Tobruk? And is Rommel’s reputation deserved?

The open nature of warfare in North Africa accentuated the importance of armoured fighting vehicles and artillery. British tank design was governed by tactical principles which assigned slow but well-protected 'I' tanks to support the infantry, while speedy but lightly armoured Cruiser tanks fought the enemy armour.

Visual deception played a crucial part in Allied operations during the Second World War in North Africa and the Middle East, where the desert terrain offered little opportunity for concealment. In 1941 the filmmaker Geoffrey Barkas was made Director of Camouflage at General Headquarters (GHQ) Cairo.

At 9.40pm on Friday 23 October 1942, the Battle of El Alamein began with a four-hour ground and air bombardment launched by Britain and its allies. As it subsided, the troops began their advance.

The Second Battle of El Alamein is one of the most famous of the Second World War, an old-school infantry slog through deadly minefields more akin to the First World War than the Second. A battle which would prove the tide of the war had truly turned in the Allies' favour. In this episode, Bryn Hammond examines how the Allies won the Second Battle of El Alamein.

Tobruk was the only deep water port in Eastern Libya and as a consequence it had been heavily fortified by its former Italian garrison. The capture of Tobruk was essential for an advance on Alexandria and Suez.

When fighting commenced in North Africa in June 1940, the Royal Air Force's (RAF) Air Headquarters Egypt immediately mounted bombing missions against Italian targets in Libya and helped repel the Italian offensive into Egypt.

After their successful conquest of Greece in April 1941, the Germans turned their attention to the island of Crete. Its capture would give them a useful base in the eastern Mediterranean and deny its use to the British.

After the Second World War, the disintegration of Britain's empire transformed global politics. Before the war, Britain maintained colonies all over the world, which provided valuable raw materials, manpower and strategic bases. By 1945, however, colonies were an expensive liability for Clement Attlee's newly elected Labour government.