World War II Italian Libya

italian zaptié camel cavalry in 1940.

after enlargement of italian libya aouzou strip, fascist italy aimed @ further extension south. indeed italian plans, in case of war against france , great britain, projected extension of libya far south lake chad , establishment of broad land bridge between libya , italian east africa. during world war ii, there strong support italy many muslim libyans, enrolled in italian army. other libyan troops (the savari [cavalry regiments] , spahi or mounted police) had been fighting kingdom of italy since 1920s. number of major battles took place in libya during north african campaign of world war ii. in september 1940, italian invasion of egypt launched libya.

italian libya fourth shore southern part of imperial italy (orange borders), fascist project enlarge italy s national borders

starting in december of same year, british eighth army launched counterattack called operation compass , italian forces pushed libya. after losing of cyrenaica , of tenth army, italy asked german assistance aid failing campaign

with german support, lost libyan territory regained during operation sonnenblume , conclusion of operation brevity, german , italian forces entering egypt. first siege of tobruk in april 1941 marked first failure of rommel s blitzkrieg tactics. in 1942 there battle of gazala, when axis troops conquered tobruk , pushed defeated british troops inside egypt again. defeat during second battle of el alamein in egypt spelled doom axis forces in libya , meant end of western desert campaign.

wrecked italian aircraft @ destroyed castel benito airport in tripoli in 1943.

in february 1943, retreating german , italian forces forced abandon libya pushed out of cyrenaica , tripolitania, ending italian jurisdiction , control on libya.