Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The North Africa Campaign

Starting point is 00:00:00 Before the Allied invasions of Europe in World War II, the ground war against Germany and Italy was first fought in North Africa. Although it doesn't receive the attention as other parts of the Second World War get, the war in North Africa was pivotal to the ultimate resolution of the war in Europe. Had things gone differently, the entire course of the war would have changed. Learn more about the North Africa campaign, why it was fought and how it was resolved on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Starting point is 00:00:58 Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. The discussion of the war in North Africa has to start with why there was even a conflict there in the first place. There are multiple points at which you can start the story, but the one I'll use will be the conquest of Libya by Italy in 1911. In 1911, the Ottoman Empire still controlled Libya, like much of the Middle East and North Africa. The conflict marked Libya's attempt to establish itself as a colonial power by seizing Libya, which was the closest point in Africa to Italy across the Mediterranean. Italy's military strategy involved leveraging its naval superiority to cut off the Ottoman supply lines, while ground forces moved to capture key cities such as Tripoli and Benghazi.

Starting point is 00:01:46 The Italo-Turkish war demonstrated just how weak the Ottoman Empire had become by the early 20th century. The war concluded with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1912, wherein the Ottoman Empire ceded its rights over Libya to Italy. When Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922, Libya was part of the Italy that he took control of. Libya was sandwiched between French-controlled Algeria and Tunisia to the west, and British-controlled Egypt to the east. One of Mussolini's goals was to turn Italy into a colonial power, as most of Africa had already been divided up between European powers, particularly Britain and France.

Starting point is 00:02:24 Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. The Italian invasion of Ethiopia will be the subject of a future episode, but I mention it to show that Italy saw Africa as a venue for expansion and conquest. Italy, despite being aligned with Germany, did not declare war on Britain and France immediately after the Nazi invasion of Poland. It wasn't until the German invasion of France that Italy decided to declare war. In fact, they waited several weeks after the invasion had started before their declaration of war on June 10, 1940.

Starting point is 00:02:57 The British interest in North Africa was primarily the protection of the Suez Canal, which was vital for their connection to India and Australia. Once Italy declared war, the British and Egypt went on the defensive, but did engage in some small raids against Italian positions across the Egypt-Libia border. The British also attacked several French ports along the Mediterranean that were in the hands of the German-controlled French-Vichy government. These were mostly minor skirmishes. The real war in North Africa began on September 13th when Italy invaded Egypt from Libya with the intent of taking the Suez Canal.

Starting point is 00:03:32 The invasion did not go well, as would be indicative of much of the Italian effort during the war. The British were prepared and the Italians never were prepared. And the Italians never, got anywhere near the canal. They only got as far as the town of City Barani, about 95 kilometers or 60 miles over the Libyan border. On December 10th, the British launched Operation Compass. Under the command of General Richard O'Connor, a collection of Commonwealth forces called the Western Desert Force engaged in a counterattack against the Italian 10th Army in Libya. The operation was a smashing success. The British rolled over the Italians, capturing everything along the Libyan coast, going up to the city of Al-Al-Algala near the bottom of the Gulf of Libya.

Starting point is 00:04:12 The British captured over 130,000 Italian troops, effectively ending the Italian 10th Army by February 7, 1941. The advance was halted, however, by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who ordered British troops to Greece to defend against the Italians who had invaded in October. Mussolini assembled troops to reinforce the remaining Italian units, and he also asked Adolf Hitler for help. Hitler quickly created an expeditionary force to help the Italians because he didn't want the access to lose their presence in Africa completely. The unit was dubbed the Africa Corps, and its commander was General Erwin Rommel. The first units began arriving in Tripoli in February.

Starting point is 00:04:54 The Africa Corps was ordered by the Vermacht High Command to help the Italians and to defend what remaining ground they had in Libya. They were not supposed to take offensive operations. Hitler initially only sent a single armored division to Africa, which left the Italians to do most of the fighting. This would become a common theme during the war, with Germany having to bail Italy out of almost every engagement it took part in, including eventually having to occupy all of Italy itself. On paper, Rommel was subordinate to the Italian commander, General Italo Garibaldi. Whether Hitler knew it or not, he picked perhaps his best general to command the Africa Corps.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Starting on March 24, 1941, Rommel and his Africa Corps began an advance against the British. He took the city of Al-Algala, the westernmost point that the British had taken, and then began pushing them back. Rommel technically did not follow orders by advancing against the British. However, he had Hitler's support. The British were not prepared because they had moved units to Greece and because they had received signal intelligence, technically correct, which ordered Rommel to stay on the defensive.

Starting point is 00:06:05 Rommel took back almost all of the lost territory in Libya, including the major city of Benghazi. It was during this advance that he was given the name the Desert Fox by the British. On April 10th, he laid siege to the city of Tobruk, which was near the Egyptian border. The British were dug in with 36,000 defenders. Rommel wanted the city because if he could take the port, it would shorten his supply lines. He requested additional support from Hitler, but was denied because the Germans were deep in preparations for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The British launched Operation Battle Axe in June,

Starting point is 00:06:40 which was an attempt to break the siege of Tobruk, but it failed. In August, Rommel was given command of the newly organized Panzer Army Africa, which had Italian units officially now under his command. In November, the British tried once again to lift the siege of Tobruk with Operation Crusader led by General Alan Cunningham. This time, the British were successful, and they succeeded in lifting the siege of Tobruk and forced Rommel to retreat to El Al Gala in December, the furthest point of their previous advance.

Starting point is 00:07:10 It was during this period that the United States entered the war. Rommel was far from beaten. He regrouped in L. Al Gala while the British were preparing for another offensive. In May 1942, Rommel launched an offensive, outflanking the British defenses in a daring maneuver known as the Battle of Gazzala. By June, Rommel had captured Tobruk, taking 35,000 British prisoners, and significant supplies, which was a severe blow to the Allies. With the British on the ropes, Rommel pushed forward in an attempt to take Alexandria and then the Suez Canal. He advanced well into Egypt, and it looked like he was poised to take Alexandria. However, he was eventually stomped on July 1st outside the city of El Alamein,

Starting point is 00:07:53 about 100 kilometers or 60 miles west of Alexandria, by forces led by British General Claude Ochenleck. On August 13th, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery took command. of the British 8th Army. By the autumn of 1942, the situation both sides found themselves in had changed dramatically. The Germans were now bogged down in Russia and had no extra troops or equipment to send to Africa. On the Allied side, the Americans were preparing to finally send troops across the Atlantic. On October 23rd, Montgomery launched Operation Lightfoot, which was a major offensive operation to push Rommel back. British forces led by Montgomery met Rommel again at the Second Battle of El Alamein. By November 5th, the British forces had broken through the German and Italian

Starting point is 00:08:39 lines. On November 8th, Operation Torch commenced, with British and American forces under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower landing in Morocco and Algeria. During the rest of 1942, the British saw continual success pushing the Germans back out of Egypt, capturing Tobruk and Benghazi, and on January 23rd, 1943, they pushed the Germans and Italians all the way back out of Tripoli. Rommel, knowing that he was going to lose Tripoli, his main logistical port, moved his forces to Tunisia behind the Marath line, a defensive line originally created by the French to protect them from an Italian invasion. Over on the West, the Americans initially encountered resistance from French Vichy forces. However, the French forces' loyalties were mixed, and the commanders

Starting point is 00:09:26 quickly switched sides to support the free French forces under Charles de Gaulle. On February 19th, the Americans had their first major engagement of the war against the Germans at the Battle of Cazarin Pass in Central Tunisia. Cazarin Pass was a disaster for the American Second Corps. However, they learned from the defeat and adapted quickly. One of the changes was the appointment of General George S. Patton as the commander of the Second Corps in March 6th. This was the same commander who had led the landings of Americans.

Starting point is 00:09:56 American forces in Casablanca and accepted the surrender of the Vichy French forces there. By this time, the Germans and Italians were getting squeezed on both sides of Tunisia. The British attacked Tunisia from Libya and began the Battle of Marath lines on March 16th. On March 23rd, the Americans got payback at the Battle of El-Gatarr under the leadership of Patton. Three days later, the British launched Operation Supercharged II, which was a flanking maneuver that went around the German defensive positions on the Marath line. On April 6th, members of the U.S. First Army linked up with the British 8th Army just south of Tunis. At this point, the writing was on the wall for the Axis.

Starting point is 00:10:36 They were stuck in a small pocket around the city of Tunis, and it was just a matter of time before they were overrun by the Allies. On April 22nd, the Allies launched Operation Vulcan, which was intended to be the last final push against the Germans and the Italians. However, the Axis forces were dug in and put up a solid defense, using everything from anti-tank mines to Molodov cocktails. By April 30, if the Allies realized that they needed to reassess their approach, and on May 6th, they launched Operation Strike.

Starting point is 00:11:06 Strike was much more successful. The British made a concentrated assault at one single point, broke through, and then rushed in forces through the opening. On May 7th, the British took Tunis, and on the same day, the Americans took the city of Bizarth to the north. The remaining Axis forces were now surrounded, and the last one surrendered on May 12, 1943. The Axis had been completely removed from the African continent. A total of 275,000 German and Italian soldiers were taken as prisoners of war. The losses were devastating to

Starting point is 00:11:40 the Germans who were in desperate need of troops back on the European mainland. With complete control of North Africa, the Allies now had a springboard for the July invasion of Sicily, which was followed by the September invasion of the Italian mainland. Along with British control of Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus, it ensured that the Allies would have full control of the Mediterranean and deny its use to the Axis. But most importantly, the North African campaign marked the first major loss of territory by the Axis,

Starting point is 00:12:10 and it was the first example of allied military cooperation, which would eventually be displayed in full with the invasion of Normandy just one year later. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Ben Long and Cameron Kiefer. Today's review comes from listener KRW1515 on Apple Podcasts in Australia. They write, love the show. As of today, I'm writing this, having just listened to the Hollywood Sign episode.

Starting point is 00:12:42 If it's running the show, I would like to say hello to you once I get there, as I will be a member of the Completionist Club in the not too distant future. Also, if you could, do an episode on the 1983 America's Cup, which was won by the Landown under Australia. Thanks, Carrie. Thanks, KRW. First, welcome to the Completionist Club. You'll find Tim Tams and Chicken Parma

Starting point is 00:13:02 available at all our Australian Completionist Club locations. As for an episode on the America's Cup, I definitely think that might be possible later this year when the event actually takes place. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you two can have it read on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The North Africa Campaign

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