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1942: The Entente Strikes Back - A brief synposis of the Desert War
1942: The Entente Strikes Back - A brief synposis of the Desert War
"Amateurs talk tactics. Armchair general study strategy but the victors study logistics."
- Military proverb
After the triumph of the Axis in the Balkan theatre, the Entente needed a victory to assure a jittery public at home that the war was not lost. They needed to pick a theatre where there was an isolated Axis position and
slowly but surely squeeze it until a victory was assured. The obvious target was Italian Libya, squeezed as it was between French Algeria and English Egypt.
The Entente put together a competent, well-equipped and highly motivated modern force in the joint invasion of Egypt. (1)
Smarting from the Greek defeat, the Entente conceived the imaginatively titled Operation Vengeance as a joint operation between French and English high command to take Libya. Troops which had been evacuated from Greece and even some Greek troops were to take part in the operation. Overall, the Entente had 400,000 troops poised to invade Egypt by early late March 1942. Many of these troops were battle-hardened, refreshed from 2 months of refitting and resting and thirsty for vengeance, particularly the 40,000 "Free Greek" troops that had successfully been evacuated from Greece and later, Crete.
Italian troops remaining in Libya were a mixture of native troops, blackshirt militias and other second and third-rate troops.
Against this, Libyan Governor Italo Balbo had a meagre 100,000 troops left, after having the bulk of his soldiers and equipment stripped to fight in the Balkan theatre. These soldiers were 2nd and 3rd rate troops that did a fine enough job of crushing any local insurgencies but would struggle against any modern army. Part of the reason he had not gotten reinforcements was politics, the paranoid Mussolini wanted to deny Balbo his share of glory - but part of it was genuine logistical difficulties. The Entente had redeployed a large part of their naval assets from the Chinese front to the Mediterranean, following the disaster at Taranto a year before. Although the capture of Malta and later Crete were useful to the Axis, it did not change the fact that the combined Franco-British navy was bigger by close to 2.5:1 to the Regio Marina.
"Balbo fought valiantly. Balbo fought nobly. Balbo fought honourably. And Balbo died."
- Italian propaganda broadcast after the fall of Tripoli
Balbo gave them Entente a tough fight. But with no reinforcements forthcoming, fighting against two fronts and with ill-equipped and demoralized troops - the struggle was ultimately futile. Balbo went down with his province, fighting house to house as Tripoli fell. By the May 22, the invasion of Libya was over and the "Balkan Tragedy" had been avenged at the cost of less than 20,000 casualties for the Entente. This success, combined with the victory in Persia and continued stagnation of the Western Front swung the momentum back towards the Entente.
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_Campaign#/media/File:MatildaII.jpg
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Libya#/media/File:CamelSpahisinItalianLibya.jpg
"Amateurs talk tactics. Armchair general study strategy but the victors study logistics."
- Military proverb
After the triumph of the Axis in the Balkan theatre, the Entente needed a victory to assure a jittery public at home that the war was not lost. They needed to pick a theatre where there was an isolated Axis position and
slowly but surely squeeze it until a victory was assured. The obvious target was Italian Libya, squeezed as it was between French Algeria and English Egypt.
The Entente put together a competent, well-equipped and highly motivated modern force in the joint invasion of Egypt. (1)
Smarting from the Greek defeat, the Entente conceived the imaginatively titled Operation Vengeance as a joint operation between French and English high command to take Libya. Troops which had been evacuated from Greece and even some Greek troops were to take part in the operation. Overall, the Entente had 400,000 troops poised to invade Egypt by early late March 1942. Many of these troops were battle-hardened, refreshed from 2 months of refitting and resting and thirsty for vengeance, particularly the 40,000 "Free Greek" troops that had successfully been evacuated from Greece and later, Crete.
Italian troops remaining in Libya were a mixture of native troops, blackshirt militias and other second and third-rate troops.
Against this, Libyan Governor Italo Balbo had a meagre 100,000 troops left, after having the bulk of his soldiers and equipment stripped to fight in the Balkan theatre. These soldiers were 2nd and 3rd rate troops that did a fine enough job of crushing any local insurgencies but would struggle against any modern army. Part of the reason he had not gotten reinforcements was politics, the paranoid Mussolini wanted to deny Balbo his share of glory - but part of it was genuine logistical difficulties. The Entente had redeployed a large part of their naval assets from the Chinese front to the Mediterranean, following the disaster at Taranto a year before. Although the capture of Malta and later Crete were useful to the Axis, it did not change the fact that the combined Franco-British navy was bigger by close to 2.5:1 to the Regio Marina.
"Balbo fought valiantly. Balbo fought nobly. Balbo fought honourably. And Balbo died."
- Italian propaganda broadcast after the fall of Tripoli
Balbo gave them Entente a tough fight. But with no reinforcements forthcoming, fighting against two fronts and with ill-equipped and demoralized troops - the struggle was ultimately futile. Balbo went down with his province, fighting house to house as Tripoli fell. By the May 22, the invasion of Libya was over and the "Balkan Tragedy" had been avenged at the cost of less than 20,000 casualties for the Entente. This success, combined with the victory in Persia and continued stagnation of the Western Front swung the momentum back towards the Entente.
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_Campaign#/media/File:MatildaII.jpg
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Libya#/media/File:CamelSpahisinItalianLibya.jpg
- CCA
- Word Count: 520