Timeline of the North African campaign


This is a timeline of the North African campaign of World War II.

1940

1941

  • 5 January: Bardia captured by British and Australian force
  • 22 January: Tobruk captured by British and Australian force
  • 30 January: Australians capture Derna, Libya
  • 5 February: Beda Fomm captured by British
  • 6 February:
  • * Fall of Benghazi to the Western Desert Force
  • * Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel is appointed commander of Afrika Korps
  • 7 February: What remains of the Italian Tenth Army surrenders
  • 9 February: Churchill orders halt to British and Australian advance at El Agheila to allow withdrawal of troops to defend Greece
  • 14 February: First units of the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel start to arrive in Libya during Operation Sonnenblume
  • 24 March: Allied forces at El Agheila defeated; Erwin Rommel starts his advance.
  • 4 April: Australian & British forces withdraw from Benghazi; Benghazi and Msus captured by Axis.
  • 6 April: British 3rd Armored Brigade is captured in Derna
  • 8 April: British, Indian and Australian forces captured at Mechili
  • 10 April: Siege of Tobruk begins with Australian, British and Indian forces defending
  • 15 April: British forces are pushed back to Sollum on Egyptian border with Libya
  • 30 April: Australian forces lose a small part of their positions in Tobruk during the Battle of Salient, roughly a 6th of Tobruk is now held by Germans
  • 3 May: Australian counterattack at Tobruk fails
  • 15 May: British troops launch Operation Brevity to gain more territory from which to launch Operation Battleaxe later in the year
  • 16 May:
  • * Italian forces attack Australian forces in Tobruk forcing them to withdraw
  • * Operation Brevity called off. Allied forces fall back onto the Halfaya Pass, captured the previous day
  • 26 May: German forces launch Operation Skorpion and move up to Halfaya Pass
  • 27 May: German forces recapture Halfaya Pass; British troops are forced to withdraw
  • 15 June: British and Indian troops launch Operation Battleaxe which fails
  • 5 July: Auchinleck replaces Wavell as C-in-C Middle East Command
  • 15 August: German Panzer Group Afrika activated with Rommel in Command
  • 18 September: German air raid on Cairo in which 39 Egyptian civilians are killed and nearly 100 injured, bringing condemnation against the Axis from the Arab and Muslim press. Radio Berlin later apologizes to its Arab listeners.
  • 1 October: 5th Light Division renamed 21st Panzer Division
  • 18 November: Auchinleck's Operation Crusader begins with British, Indian, South African and New Zealander forces
  • 19 November: British forces attack Italian positions at Bir El Gubi, but are defeated.
  • 21 November: British armoured division defeated at Sidi Rezegh and withdraws
  • 22 November:
  • * New Zealand forces attack Bir Ghirba but fail
  • * Indian forces capture Sidi Omar
  • 23 November:
  • * New Zealand forces capitalize on Indian advances to wreck Afrika Korps HQ at Bir el Chleta
  • * Rommel launches Panzer attacks on the British XXX Corps but faces resistance from SA, NZ and British forces
  • * British and NZ forces withdraw towards Bir el Gubi
  • 25 November:
  • * Panzer attack on Indian forces at Sidi Omar is repulsed
  • * In the second attack in the evening, Indian forces destroy the 5th Panzer Regiment of the 21st Panzer Division
  • 26 November: Ritchie replaces Cunningham as commander Eighth Army
  • 27 November: New Zealand troops at Sidi Azeiz defeated by overwhelming advance of Panzers and German infantry
  • 28 November: 15th Panzer despite being outnumbered 2:1 forces British tanks to retreat, exposing the New Zealand forces at Ed Duda on the Tobruk by-pass
  • 1 December: New Zealand troops in Sidi Rezegh suffer heavy casualties from Panzers
  • 3 December:
  • * German infantry suffers big defeat at the hand of New Zealand forces on the Bardia road near Menastir
  • * German forces suffer losses against Indian forces and withdraw at Capuzzo
  • 4 December:
  • * NZ forces repulse German attack on Ed Duda
  • * Indian forces face attrition in an uphill attempt to capture Point 174 against entrenched Italian forces without artillery support
  • 7 December: Another British assault on Italian positions at Bir El Gubi results in failure.
  • 9 December: Tobruk siege relieved by Eighth Army consisting of British, Indian, New Zealand and South African forces; White Knoll captured by the Polish Carpathian Brigade from the elements of the Italian Brescia Division
  • 13 December:
  • * 8th Army attacks Gazala line
  • * NZ forces stopped at Alem Hamza
  • * Indian forces take Point 204
  • * Indian infantry face Afrika Korps and against heavy odds destroy 15 of 39 Panzers
  • 14 December: Indian troops repel repeated Panzer attacks on Point 204
  • 15 December: German advance overruns British forces en route to Point 204 but Indian forces at Point 204 hold on
  • 16 December: Rommel facing reduced Panzer numbers orders withdrawal from the Gazala line
  • 24 December: British forces capture Benghazi
  • 25 December: Agedabia reached by the Allies
  • 27 December: Rommel inflicts many losses on British tanks who have to withdraw allowing Rommel to fall back to El Agheila
  • 31 December: Front lines return to El Agheila

1942

1943

1944

1945

  • 8 May: Sétif massacre of Algerian demonstrators for independence on the day of German surrender