Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
The Eighth Army was a field army of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed as the Western Army on 10 September 1941, in Egypt, before being renamed the Army of the Nile and then the Eighth Army on 26 September. It was created to better control the growing Allied force based in Egypt and to direct its efforts to lift the siege of Tobruk via Operation Crusader.
It later directed Allied forces through the remaining engagements of the Western Desert campaign, oversaw part of the Allied effort during the Tunisian campaign and finally led troops throughout the Italian campaign. During 1943, it made up part of the 18th Army Group before being assigned to the 15th Army Group.
Throughout its campaigns, it was a multi-national force and its units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Cyprus, the Free French Forces, Greece, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa, Mauritius and the Netherlands, as well as the United Kingdom. Significant formations that the army controlled included the British V, X, XIII, and XXX Corps, as well as the I Canadian Corps and the II Polish Corps.
Background
The Suez Canal, in Egypt, was seen as a vital link of the British Empire connecting Britain with its colonial possessions in the Far East, especially British India. It also held economic and prestigious importance. To maintain this, Egypt was occupied in 1882 and a protectorate was subsequently established. During the inter-war period, the Middle East and the canal gained further importance as oil production expanded and as aerial links between Britain and British India were developed. In 1935, British policy shifted to view Italy as the principal threat towards British interests in the Middle East, due to their colonial ambitions as well as their military build-up and the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. The Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 followed, before tensions simmered with a joint declaration, on 2 January 1937, by Italy and Britain to maintain the status quo around the Mediterranean. Relations quickly deteriorated and British reinforcements were dispatched to Egypt. Troops were moved from near Cairo and from the canal zone to Mersa Matruh, west of Alexandria in the Western Desert, to be in a position to protect Egypt from an Italian invasion from their Libyan colony.On 10 June 1940, Italy entered the Second World War. Later in the year, between 13 and 16 September, Italy conducted the Italian invasion of Egypt. A counterattack, Operation Compass, took place in December, which destroyed the Italian 10th Army and captured the Libyan province of Cyrenaica. The attack was undertaken by the Western Desert Force, which was renamed XIII Corps after the conclusion of the operation. After Operation Sonnenblume the dispatch of Axis reinforcements to Africa, Italo-German forces riposted in March 1941, which drove the main British body into Egypt and destroyed part of the 2nd Armoured Division. A sizeable Australian force was surrounded in the Libyan port of Tobruk. This led to the siege of Tobruk and required the bulk of the German and Italian troops to maintain and hindered further large Axis offensive operations. On 15 May, Operation Brevity was launched as British troops, from inside Egypt, attacked towards the Egyptian–Libyan border area. This minor effort failed to meet its objectives and ended the following day. Operation Skorpion a small German counterattack, at the end of the month, recaptured the ground lost during Brevity. Operation Battleaxe, which started on 15 June, was a determined two-day effort to advance from Egypt and lift the siege of Tobruk. Italian-German forces repulsed the assault and no terrain was gained. Geopolitical considerations followed, as pressure built on the British commanders to launch a new offensive to break the siege. These took account of the majority of the German military being involved in Operation Barbarossa the invasion of the Soviet Union and the need to show that British forces were doing their part in bringing about the defeat of the Axis powers. Closer to the front and after months of political debate, it was decided that the Australian garrison in Tobruk had to be relieved. This took place between September and October, as the Australians were gradually replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division which was shipped into the port.
History
Formation
During 1941, XIII Corps was the primary British formation in Egypt. The process of forming a second, initially known as the Armoured Corps before being renamed XXX Corps, had also started. Due to the increased size of the British forces in Egypt and the forming second corps, it was decided in September 1941, that a field army headquarters was needed to direct these formations. On 10 September, the Western Army headquarters was established in Cairo. The name was subsequently changed to the Army of the Nile, before being changed to the Eighth Army on 26 September. Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, sometimes referred to the army as the Western Desert Force.Churchill suggested General Henry Maitland Wilson for command of the army but the final decision was left in the hands of General Sir Claude Auchinleck the GOC Middle East Command who oversaw all British-led forces in the region. Auchinleck selected Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham, who had led the British effort from Kenya during the East African campaign. On 29 August 1941, due to the success he had achieved, he was ordered to Egypt to take command of the forming Eighth Army, which he did on 24 September. The Eighth Army was responsible for operations in the Western Desert and was supported by the existing command, British Troops in Egypt, that controlled the lines of communication, the Egyptian anti-aircraft defences and internal security behind the front.
The 7th Armoured Division, which formed part of the army, was nicknamed the Desert Rats after the Jerboa, their choice of mascot and insignia. George Forty, a historian who has written about the division, commented that the fame of the 7th Armoured Division resulted in its nickname being "loosely attached to any member of the forces who served in the Western Desert". Robin Neillands, in his work on the Eighth Army, wrote "It is worth pointing out here that the term 'Desert Rat', though often used to describe any soldier of the Desert Army or the men who fought in Tobruk – the Australians have a 'Rats of Tobruk' Association – should strictly be applied only to the men of the British 7th Armoured Division".
Crusader to Gazala
One of the first tasks undertaken by the Eighth Army, with X Corps that had recently arrived in Egypt, was to conduct preliminary work on defensive positions at El Alamein. This lasted until late October, when the corps moved to Syria and British Troops in Egypt took over responsibility. From his appointment, Cunningham closely worked with Auchinleck to formulate the Crusader plan, which was to retake Cyrenaica and lift the siege of Tobruk. The Eighth Army established forward supply bases, field maintenance centres and constructed a pipeline to provide water. On 18 November, the battle commenced. It saw the 118,000 men and 738 tanks of the Eighth Army, the main force coming from Egypt and also including the Tobruk garrison, engage the Italian-German force of 119,000 men and 552 tanks. The fighting started on 18 November and Crusader achieved its objectives by the end of the year.On 25 November, after a German counterattack into Egypt during Crusader had been repulsed, Cunningham was dismissed by Auchinleck. His replacement was Auchinleck's deputy chief of the general staff, Major-General Neil Ritchie, who was chosen due to his familiarity with the Crusader plan. The official history of the campaign recorded that the decision was made due to Auchinleck perceiving Cunningham as being too defensive minded. This resulted in a loss of confidence over his "ability to press to the bitter end the offensive he had been ordered to continue". Evan McGilvray and Philip Warner, historians who have written about Auchinleck, added additional factors such as Auchinleck's concern that Cunningham was stressed, exhausted and had problems with his sight that would require time away from command. Michael Carver, who fought in the battle and was later a field marshal and historian, concurred with the health assessment. He also noted that while Cunningham was "an imaginative choice", it was later clear his "appointment was a mistake" due to his lack of experience and confidence in the mobile requirements of the fighting in North Africa. Neillands highlighted that Ritchie was thrust into a position where he, a major-general, was now charged with overseeing those who outranked him. This was compounded by a lack of experience in controlling formations or desert fighting and that for the ten-day period after his appointment, Auchinleck remained at Eighth Army headquarters and was effectively in command.
Following Crusader, Ritchie and Auchinleck planned Operation Acrobat, an attack to capture the remainder of Italian Libya, Tripolitania. In late January 1942, the Axis forces counterattacked. Ritchie initially dismissed the seriousness of the Axis move and Auchinleck deemed it wiser to yield some territory while the Eighth Army continued to build its logistical base for Acrobat. The 1st Armoured Division bore the brunt of the attack and was pushed back, while it covered the retreat of the remainder of the Eighth Army to Gazala where it established a defensive line. In February, Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen, the commander XIII Corps, tendered his resignation as he believed Ritchie had ignored his advice during the retreat. At Gazala, Ritchie planned a new offensive while supply bases were established and work was conducted to lengthen the supporting railroads into Libya. Auchinleck informed his superiors in the UK, that there was no timetable for such an attack, it would have to wait until sufficient tank strength had been established. A policy was also adopted that if forced to retreat, there would be no repeat of the siege of Tobruk. The same month, due to the Japanese entry into the war in December 1941, the 70th Infantry Division was withdrawn from the Eighth Army and sent to Asia. A warning that additional troops could be removed loomed over the army. Political pressure mounted for the Eighth Army to launch an offensive, which would support Malta and defeat the Axis powers in Africa prior to development of any potential Japanese threat to the Middle East and the army's supply lines; supply convoys ran from the UK, around the Cape of Good Hope, and then through the Indian Ocean to the Middle East.
In May, an Axis attack on the Eighth Army was expected although an optimistic attitude was held that it would be repulsed, and the Italian-German defeat would allow for the capture of the remainder of Cyrenaica. The Battle of Gazala started on 26 May and resulted in a defeat for the Eighth Army. This included the Axis capture of Tobruk and 32,000 men and the Eighth Army was forced to retreat. Carver argued that Ritchie was not responsible for the loss of the battle, that was shouldered by his subordinates "for the dilatory fashion in which they exercised command". Niall Barr, who wrote about the desert fighting in 1942, stated that Richie was too slow to react at key moments and that his "passivity doomed Bir Hakeim to slow strangulation and capture", which contributed to the defeat. The official history explained this was the result of Auchinleck's influence over the Eighth Army and Ritchie. The latter, with no experience in desert warfare or command, retained the mentality of his prior positions rather than asserting his own authority and consulted with Auchinleck before taking action. This position is echoed by David French, who noted that Richie's subordinates believed Auchinleck held sway, that their orders came directly from Auchinleck without Richie making changes based on local conditions; Ritchie held lengthy conferences that did not deliver precise instructions. The Eighth Army retreated into Egypt with the intent to rebuild. Barr noted that this could have worked, had the Italian-German forces maintained their strategy of Operation Herkules, the capture of Malta. Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel, commander of the Panzer Army Africa, made the decision to pursue the Eighth Army, which turned the retreat into a rout and made any attempt to fight a delaying battle on the frontier impossible. As the army retreated further, Ritchie was determined to fight the final battle of the campaign at Mersa Matruh.