Western Desert Campaign : Ask Biography

Home | Military Conflict | Western Desert Campaign

The Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War was the initial stage of the North African Campaign during the Second World War. The campaign was heavily influenced by the availability of supplies and transport. The ability of the Allied forces, operating from besieged Malta to interdict Axis convoys was critical. Allied interdictions denied the German commander, Erwin Rommel, the fuel and the reinforcements he desperately needed at critical moments. In early 1942, the U.S. Army Air Force supplied a small contingent of bombers in support of the campaign, referring to it as the Egypt-Libya Campaign.

From the start, the Western Desert Campaign was a continuous back-and-forth struggle. In September 1940, the first offensive, the invasion of Egypt, was initiated by the Italian forces in Libya against British and Commonwealth forces stationed in neutral Egypt. The Italian offensive was halted and, in December 1940, the British made a counterattack. What started as a five-day raid turned into Operation Compass, resulting in massive losses for the Italian forces. The Italian′s Axis partner, Germany, provided a contingent of ground forces (Heer) and air forces (Luftwaffe) to prevent a total collapse, and Germany became the dominant partner.

Axis forces would twice more launch large-scale assaults against the Allies. Each time the Axis forces pushed the Allied forces back to Egypt, but both times the Allies retaliated and regained the ground lost. On the second (and final) Axis push, the Allies were driven far into Egypt; however, the Allies recovered at El Alamein and then managed to drive the Axis forces west and completely out of Libya. The Axis forces were driven back until they reached Tunisia when the "Western Desert Campaign" effectively ended and the 8th Army and Rommel′s forces became involved in the "Tunisia Campaign" which had begun in November 1942.