Fighting in the Mediterranean
and in North Africa
June 1940 – September 1941
Since the beginning of the 20th century, nothing has threatened the sea route from England to India and other English colonies. The British had a system of bases in the Mediterranean Sea, in Egypt and the Indian Ocean, guarding the shipping route to India and the oil-bearing areas of the Middle East (oil production developed in Iran and Iraq in the 1930s).
In 1935-36 Italy took over Ethiopia using its bases in Eritrea and Italian Somalia. Great Britain's sea routes came under attack from the Italian navy and air force over a considerable distance. Italy also had naval and air bases in Libya, in the south of the Apennine Peninsula, in the Dodecanese Islands, and since 1936, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, in the Balearic Islands.
By 1940, armed conflict was brewing in Northeast Africa.
Strengths of the parties
British troops
By the summer of 1940, British troops were located over a large territory: 66 thousand in Egypt (of which 30 thousand were Egyptians); 2.5 thousand - in Aden; 1.5 thousand - in British Somalia; 27.5 thousand - in Kenya; a small amount is in Sudan. Only in Egypt did the British have tanks and anti-tank artillery. The British Air Force was significantly inferior to Italian aviation. In Egypt and Palestine the British had 168 aircraft, in Aden, Kenya and Sudan - 85 aircraft. The commander in chief of British forces in the Middle East was General Archibald Percival Wavell.
Italian troops
In the summer of 1940, there were two Italian armies in Libya: the 5th Army (commanded by General Italo Garibaldi; eight Italian divisions and one Libyan division) and the 10th Army (commanded by General Guidi; four Italian divisions, two of them Blackshirts) , and one Libyan), which was stationed in Eastern Cyrenaica. A total of 236 thousand people, 1800 guns and 315 aircraft. The commander-in-chief of this group was the Governor-General of Libya, Marshal Italo Balbo. Italian tanks and armored vehicles were inferior to similar British armored vehicles in armament, armor protection and speed.
Fighting in North Africa
from June to November 1940
On June 10, 1940, a month after the German offensive began in France, Italy declared war on Great Britain and France. On June 11, Italian aircraft carried out their first raid on the British naval base on the island of Malta.
After the surrender of France, the creation of the Vichy puppet government in the unoccupied part of it and the signing of an alliance with Germany, a real threat arose that the ships of the French fleet would be used by the fleets of Germany and Italy. Therefore, on July 3, 1940, the British attacked the French fleet, which was located in the Algerian port of Mers-El-Kebir and other ports (Operation Catapult). The British sank or captured almost all of France's warships.
In Northeast Africa, the commander-in-chief of the British forces, General Wavell, used counterattacks to harass the enemy. During the first three months of the war, the Italians lost 3.5 thousand people killed, wounded and captured in border skirmishes, the British lost only 150 soldiers. On June 28, the commander-in-chief of the Italian troops in Libya, Marshal Balbo, died: his plane was mistakenly shot down by Italian anti-aircraft gunners while landing in Tobruk. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani became the new commander-in-chief.
On September 13, 1940, the Italian 10th Army (commanded by Marshal Rodolfo) crossed the Libyan-Egyptian border and invaded Egyptian territory. British troops under the command of General O'Connor, together with parts of Australia, British India and the military contingents of the Free French, were significantly inferior to the Italian troops in manpower and equipment. The British had 36 thousand people, 275 tanks, 120 guns and 142 aircraft against the Italian 150 thousand soldiers and officers, 600 tanks, 1600 guns and 331 aircraft. The British did not offer serious resistance, limiting themselves to individual counterattacks by mobile units. They avoided open combat and retreated, trying to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy with artillery fire.
After a short offensive that lasted only 4 days, Italian troops occupied Sidi Barrani on September 16 and completed their advance. They took up defensive positions and began to build fortified camps.
The British troops continued their retreat and stopped at Mersa Matruh. A no-man's land 30 kilometers wide formed between the warring parties, and the situation stabilized.
Italian troops suspended their offensive in anticipation of the outbreak of the Italo-Greek War, only to then resume it with the aim of capturing Alexandria and the Suez Canal. Marshal Graziani believed that the British leadership would be distracted by events in Greece, transfer most of its troops there and weaken its attention to Egypt, and this would allow Italian troops to seize the Suez Canal.
On October 28, 1940, Italy attacked Greece from Albania. The Greek army not only stopped the Italian offensive, but also launched a counteroffensive. The Greeks inflicted a crushing defeat on the Italians, drove them out of their territory and occupied Southern Albania.
The failure of the Italian offensive against Greece had a negative impact on Italy's position in North and East Africa and the situation in the Mediterranean.
On November 11, 1940, the British inflicted a significant defeat on the Italian fleet at the naval base in Taranto. Most of the Italian battleships were damaged. From this time on, sea transport from Italy to Africa became difficult.
First British offensive - Libyan operation
(December 8, 1940 – February 9, 1941)
After the Italians captured Sidi Barrani, there was no active hostilities in North Africa for almost three months. Italian troops made no attempts to resume the offensive.
Meanwhile, British troops in Egypt were replenished by two divisions. Under these conditions, the English General Wavell decided to launch an offensive in order to secure the Suez Canal, calling in his order this offensive “a raid by large forces with a limited purpose.” British troops were given the task of pushing Italian troops back beyond Egypt and, if successful, reaching Es-Sallum. No further advance of British troops was planned.
According to the British offensive plan (Libyan offensive operation, code name - “Compass”), it was planned to deliver a cutting strike between the most distant Italian camps at Nibeiwa and Bir Sofari, and then turn north to the rear of the main group of Italian troops.
On the night of December 7-8, 1940, the British made a forced march from Mersa Matruh 45 km to the west, approaching the Italian positions. Remaining undetected, the leading British units rested all day on December 8, and turned around to attack on the night of December 9.
Early on the morning of 9 December, British troops attacked the Italian camp at Nibeiwa. At the same time, the British fleet began shelling Sidi Barrani, Maktila and the road along the coast, and aircraft bombed Italian airfields. Small British units, supported by 72 guns, attacked the Italian camp at Nibeiva from the front, thereby diverting the attention of the Italians. The main body of the British 7th Armored Division had meanwhile passed through the exposed area between Bir Safafi and Nibeiwa and attacked the Italian garrison at Nibeiwa from the rear. This attack took the Italians by surprise and panic arose.
After capturing the camp at Nibeiwe, British tanks turned north. They managed to capture 2 more Italian camps near Sidi Barrani. By the end of the day the British had captured most of the Italian positions. The morale of the Italian troops was broken. On December 16, the Italians left Es-Sallum, Halfaya, and the chain of forts they had built on the border of the Libyan plateau without a fight. However, British losses were insignificant.
The remnants of the 10th Italian Army retreated to the fortress of Bardia, which was surrounded and besieged by the British. The advance at Bardia stopped temporarily because the only infantry division was transferred to Sudan. When troops from Palestine arrived to replace her, the attacks continued.
Operation Compass, beginning of the offensive against Bardia
Source: bg.wikipedia (Bulgarian)
Operation Compass, completion of the offensive against Bardia
On January 3, 1941, the assault on Bardiya began. On January 6, the Bardia garrison capitulated. On January 21, the British began their assault on Tobruk.
Beginning of the assault on Tobruk, January 21, 1941
Assault on Tobruk, second half of January 21, 1941
Capture of Tobruk, January 22, 1941
On January 22, 1941, Tobruk was captured. Here the offensive stopped again. At this time, the issue of landing English troops in Greece, which was at war with Italy, was being decided. However, the Greek government considered the landing of British troops in Greece undesirable due to fears of possible German intervention in the Italo-Greek War. Thus, the British offensive in Libya continued.
The British received information that Italian troops were preparing to leave Benghazi and retreat to El Agheila. On February 4, 1941, a British group under the command of General O'Connor made a rush to Benghazi to prevent the Italians from withdrawing. On February 5, British tanks and armored vehicles, having defeated several retreating Italian columns, took up positions at Beda Fomma, on the retreat route of the main enemy forces.
Since February 6, as a result of the ensuing tank battles with the retreating Italian troops, the British managed to destroy and damage up to 100 Italian tanks. After this, the Italian infantry began to surrender. About 20 thousand people were captured, 120 tanks and more than 200 guns were captured.
Italian troops in Libya were defeated, the way to Tripoli was opened, but the British government again demanded to stop the offensive. By this time, the Greek army had defeated the Italian troops, and the new Greek prime minister agreed to the landing of British troops. The British government wanted to create a springboard in Greece for the subsequent seizure of the entire Balkan Peninsula. However, as the previous Greek government had foreseen, the British landing in Greece was followed by a German invasion of the Balkans.
On February 10, 1941, British troops stopped their advance at El Agheila, occupying all of Cyrenaica. They then began transferring a significant portion of their troops to Greece.
As a result, the danger of complete ousting from North Africa passed for Italy. But she lost all her colonies in East Africa.
During the Libyan operation from December 1940 to February 1941, Great Britain and its allies lost 500 people killed, 1,373 wounded, 55 missing, as well as 15 aircraft. The Italians lost 3 thousand killed; 115 thousand people were captured; 400 tanks, of which 120 were captured; 1292 guns, of which 200 were captured; 1249 aircraft.
Rommel's first offensive (March–April 1941)
The plight of the Italians in North Africa forced them to ask Germany for help. Germany wanted to take advantage of the deterioration of the Italian position in Libya in order, by providing military assistance to Italy, to create its own strategic bridgehead in North Africa, which was necessary to capture Egypt and the Suez Canal, and subsequently all of Africa. In addition, the capture of Suez provided an opportunity to develop success in the direction of the Middle East. A German corps was transferred to Libya during February 1941.
In mid-February 1941, the disorderly retreat of Italian troops was stopped, and the Italian-German joint force began to advance back to El Agheila. On February 22, they came into combat contact with British troops located in El Agheil and on the eastern border of the Sirte Desert. The British command initially did not pay much attention to the transfer of a large German military contingent to Libya.
According to German intelligence, the British had only two armored brigades of the 2nd Armored Division at El Ageila, which were scattered along a wide front in small groups, and the 9th Australian Division was stationed in the Benghazi area.
The German command considered the situation favorable, and on March 31, 1941, the German Afrika Korps, led by Rommel, went on the offensive, which was unexpected for the British. At the same time, one British armored brigade was completely destroyed.
On the night of April 4, German and Italian troops occupied Benghazi without a fight. Already on April 10, advanced German units approached Tobruk, and on April 11, Tobruk was surrounded. It was not possible to take Tobruk on the move, and the main forces of the Italian-German group were sent to Egypt. On April 12, they occupied Bardia, and on April 15, Sidi Omar, Es-Salloum, the Halfaya Pass and the Jarabub Oasis, driving British troops out of Libya. The British retreated to the Egyptian border, losing all their strongholds except the fortress of Tobruk. Further advance of the Italian-German troops was stopped.
The Afrika Korps offensive on Egypt until April 25, 1941.
German Pz.Kpfw III tanks crossing the desert, April 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-783-0109-11, Nordafrika, Panzer III in Fahrt.jpg Photo: Dörner.
L3/33 Carro Veloce 33 Tankette and a convoy in the desert,
Tank Corps "Africa", April 1941
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-783-0107-27. Photo: Dorsen.
On April 6, 1941, troops from Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria began invading Yugoslavia and Greece. On April 11, the Nazis declared independence in Croatia. Croats began to leave the Yugoslav army en masse, which undermined its combat effectiveness. On April 13, Belgrade was captured, and on April 18, Yugoslavia capitulated.
Before April 27, Italo-German troops in Greece defeated the Greek army and forced the evacuation of the English expeditionary force. In total, about 70 thousand British, Australian and Greek soldiers and officers were evacuated to the island of Crete and Egypt.
From April 18 to May 30, 1941 British troops occupied Iraq. In June, British troops, supported by French units of the Fighting France movement, occupied Syria and Lebanon. In August-September 1941, Great Britain and the USSR occupied Iran, which then joined the Anti-Hitler coalition.
In June 1941 The British attempted to relieve Tobruk with large forces. However, their plans became known to the enemy. On June 15, 1941, British troops launched an offensive in the area of Es Salloum and Fort Ridotta Capuzzo. They were able to occupy several settlements. Using intelligence data, German tank units launched a counterattack on the night of June 18 and reoccupied Sidi Omar, where their advance was stopped.
To continue the offensive in North Africa, the Italian-German command did not have reserves, since the main German forces were concentrating for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Summer 1941 The British fleet and air force, located in the Mediterranean Sea and using the island of Malta as their main base, seized supremacy at sea and in the air. In August 1941, the British sank 33%, and in November - over 70% of the cargo that was sent from Italy to North Africa.
Italian M13/40 tanks in the Libyan desert, 1941.
The outbreak of World War II gradually pulled many countries and peoples into its bloody orbit. The decisive battles of this war took place on the so-called. The Eastern Front, where Germany fought the Soviet Union. But there were two fronts - Italian and African, on which fighting also took place. This lesson is devoted to events on these fronts.
World War II: African and Italian fronts
The battles of World War II took place not only in Europe, but almost throughout the world. In 1940-1943. Allied troops (Great Britain and the USA, “Fighting France”), after heavy fighting, oust the Italian-German troops from Africa, and then transfer the fighting to Italian territory.
Background
In the spring of 1940, World War II, which began with Germany's attack on Poland, enters a new phase: Germany conducts successful military campaigns against the countries of Western and Northern, and later Southern Europe, establishing control over most of the continent. Since the summer of 1940, the main events have taken place in the Mediterranean.
Events
Africa
June 1940 - April 1941- the first stage of hostilities in Africa, which began with an Italian attack on the British colonies in East Africa: Kenya, Sudan and British Somalia. During this stage:
. the British, together with the forces of the French General de Gaulle, take control of most of the French colonies in Africa;
. British troops take control of Italian colonies in Africa;
. Italy, suffering setbacks, turned to Germany for help, after which their combined forces launched a successful offensive in Libya. After this, active hostilities cease for a while.
November 1941 - January 1942- the resumption of hostilities, British and Italian-German troops are fighting each other in Libya with varying success.
May - July 1942- successful Italian-German offensive in Libya and Egypt.
In July, the Italo-German group under the command of Rommel approached Cairo and Alexandria, the main cities of Egypt. Egypt was a British protectorate after World War I. Egypt was of strategic importance: if it was captured, the Nazi coalition would come close to the Middle Eastern oil fields and cut off the enemy’s important communication line - the Suez Canal.
July 1942- the advance of the Italian-German troops was stopped in the battles near El Alamein.
October 1942- in new battles near El Alamein, the British defeat the enemy group and go on the offensive. Subsequently, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill would say: “Before El Alamein, we did not win a single victory. We haven't suffered a single defeat since El Alamein."
In 1943, the British and Americans forced Rommel to capitulate in Tunisia, thereby freeing North Africa and securing the ports.
In July 1943, when the grandiose Battle of Kursk was going on in the east, Mussolini was arrested by order of the King of Italy, and a joint Anglo-American landing force landed on island of Sicily, thereby opening the Italian front. The allies advanced towards Rome and soon entered it. Italy capitulated, but Mussolini himself was freed by a German saboteur Otto Skorzeny and delivered to Germany. Later, a new state was created in northern Italy, led by an Italian dictator.
The North African and Italian military campaigns became the main military actions of 1942-1943. in the West. The successes of the Red Army on the Eastern Front allowed the allied Anglo-American command to conduct a number of successful operations and knock out Hitler's main ally, Italy. The successes of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA inspired anti-fascist forces in the occupied states to more actively fight. Thus, in France, military forces operated under the command of General de Gaulle. In Yugoslavia, partisans of a communist and a general (and then a marshal) fought against Hitler’s troops. Josipa Broz Tito. In other conquered countries there was a movement Resistance.
Every year in the occupied lands, fascist terror became more and more unbearable, which forced the local population to go fight the occupiers.
Bibliography
- Shubin A.V. General history. Recent history. 9th grade: textbook. For general education institutions. - M.: Moscow textbooks, 2010.
- Soroko-Tsyupa O.S., Soroko-Tsyupa A.O. General history. Recent history, 9th grade. - M.: Education, 2010.
- Sergeev E.Yu. General history. Recent history. 9th grade. - M.: Education, 2011.
Homework
- Read § 12 of A.V. Shubin’s textbook. and answer questions 1-4 on p. 130.
- Why did Germany and its allies begin to suffer defeats in 1942-1943?
- What caused the Resistance movement?
- Internet portal Sstoriya.ru ().
- Internet portal Agesmystery.ru ().
- Essays on World War II ().
Italian Marshal Rudolfo Graziani was nicknamed "Native Killer" after his campaign to pacify Libya long before the fighting began in North Africa. The captured native leaders had their hands and feet tied and then dropped from planes from a height of about 100 meters directly onto the rebel camps. He later used poisonous gases and biological weapons in attempts to pacify Ethiopia.
The Libyan tribes hated the Italians, who drove them into the desert from the fertile lands and pastures along the coast. In addition, the Italians, suspecting some Arab of assisting the British, invariably hung him on a hook by the jaw. This was their favorite punishment. That is why the nomads subsequently provided invaluable assistance to the allies.
In the desert between Benghazi and Tripoli, there were frequent skirmishes between German and British reconnaissance groups. Once a whole battle took place with the participation of armored vehicles - 3 armored cars on each side.
They say that two opposing parties met on the coast in the El-Ageila area and, barely missing each other on a narrow section of the road, rushed next to each other, raising clouds of dust. The British commander exclaimed: “Shatter me! Have you seen? These are the Germans!”
Then 3 British armored cars turned around and rushed towards the enemy - 1 car along a narrow road, and 2 others to the right and left of it along the sands. German intelligence officers did the same. The result was discouraging for both sides: while 2 armored cars went into a frontal attack, pouring fire on each other, 4 flankers got stuck in the sand.
Then the lead vehicles returned, and after the redeployment, when everyone managed to get to solid ground, the attack signal sounded again. Firing from weapons of all calibers, the detachments converged on parallel courses, and then each returned to their old place - the disposition was restored.
Since no one was able to achieve obvious success, observers recorded no losses or hits on the target, the commanders decided not to continue the battle any further, and returned to the locations of their troops with a sense of duty accomplished.
During the siege of El Mekili, Erwin Rommel ordered that bundles of trees and bushes be tied to all auxiliary vehicles and to some light Italian tanks on long cables. Italian tanks marched in the first line, one after another, followed by auxiliary vehicles, a field kitchen and headquarters vehicles.
Bunches of trees and bushes raised huge clouds of dust. To the British it looked like a full-scale attack by a large force. The British not only retreated, but also removed additional forces from other areas of the defense. At the same time, Rommel attacked from a completely different direction with German tank divisions. The British were completely disoriented and defeated.
Before the first attack on Tobruk, which began on April 30, 1941, General Paulus, Halder's deputy, flew to Rommel. The visit was prompted by the fact that Halder was not interested in any actions in Africa that might require reinforcements from German troops engaged in the main theater of war and preparing at that time for an attack on Russia.
He also had an instinctive distaste for Hitler's tendency to support dynamic commanders like Rommel who did not want to act according to the templates developed by the High Command. General Paulus flew to Africa to “prevent this soldier from going completely crazy,” as Halder sarcastically wrote about Rommel in his diary.
Before Operation Battlex, which began on June 15, 1941, Erwin Rommel mounted his Flac 88 88mm anti-aircraft guns behind U-shaped sand banks and dug them into the ground. Moreover, they were dug so deep that the trunk rose above the sand level by only 30-60 cm.
Then a light awning the color of the sand was stretched around each gun position so that even with binoculars it was impossible to identify the firing positions in the sand. When the British saw many such sand dunes, it did not cause them concern, since they did not know a single German heavy weapon with such a low silhouette.
Rommel then sent his light tanks in a dummy attack on the British positions. The British cruiser tanks, sensing an easy victory, rushed towards them, while the German light tanks turned around and retreated behind the line of 88mm guns. When the distance between the Flaks and the Allied tanks was reduced to a minimum, the trap slammed shut and the guns opened fire.
The first message received from the tank battalion commander via radiotelephone: “They are tearing my tanks to pieces,” became the last report. This tank trap was rightly called by the British soldiers “hellfire pass”; at one point of the breakthrough, out of 13 Matilda tanks, only 1 survived.
If even a 76-mm captured gun was a threat to Allied tanks, then the 88-mm gun became something unimaginable. This Flak-88 gun was created by Krupp in 1916 as an anti-aircraft gun.
The 1940 model was also considered an anti-aircraft gun and was used in this role before Rommel began using them against tanks in France. These guns were not as mobile as the 50 mm, but their firing range was significantly greater. The 88-mm gun sent its 10 kg projectile over a distance of 3 km with exceptional accuracy.
For example, in the battle of Sidi Omar, during the Battle of the Crusader, or as it is also called the Battle of Marmarika, in November 1941, the British tank regiment lost 48 of 52 tanks. All of them were destroyed by 88 mm guns. None of the British tanks even managed to get close enough to fire at the German guns.
A soldier of the 9th Uhlan Regiment wrote: “A direct hit (from an 88-mm gun) was reminiscent of a huge sledgehammer hitting a tank. The shell punched a neat round hole about 10 cm in diameter, and a whirlwind of red-hot fragments burst into the turret. Such a hit usually meant death.. Until the very end of the war, 88-mm guns remained our most dangerous enemy..."
A. Moorehead recalled about the battle for Marmarika that it came to completely anecdotal situations. For example, a German soldier is driving an English truck with captured South Africans, loses control on a difficult section of the highway and crashes into an Italian car, from the back of which the New Zealanders jump out and free the South Africans.
Or trucks with German infantry at dusk join a British convoy and drive side by side with the enemy for several tens of kilometers until they notice their mistake and hide in the desert.
From the diary of the German corporal O. Seibold: “October 21. We are in Mozhaisk... An African division arrives in vehicles painted in desert color. This is either a bad sign, or a sign that we will still overcome the 100 km remaining to the Kremlin ...".
From the documents of the Bryansk Front about the actions north of Kastorny: “From the testimony of captured Nazis, we learned that German and Italian units were operating in this direction. The troops of the notorious fascist General Rommel were fighting here, hastily transferred to the Soviet-German front from Libya. It also became clear why against These days we were driven by German tanks painted yellow - the color of desert sand...".
V. Kazakov in his work “In the Battle of Moscow” wrote: “Having familiarized himself with the latest intelligence data, Rokossovsky established that in front of the front of the 16th Army the situation in the last days (November 10, 1941) had hardly changed. The exception was the 5th Tank Division enemy. She arrived 2 days ago from Africa..."
However, many authors were mistaken when they said that the 5th Panzer Division was removed from the front in Africa, where it had never fought (There was a 5th Light Division in Africa). In fact, the Wehrmacht command only planned to give it to help Rommel, but soon decided to throw it near Moscow. This did not tip the scales in favor of the Reich, but it did deprive Rommel of the long-awaited and so precious reinforcements that he so needed.
Given the fact that Italian tanks were not suitable for serious combat operations, by 1942 they were called “self-propelled coffins.” In a small circle, Rommel said that his hair stood on end when he got acquainted with the equipment that Mussolini sent to his troops.
There was even a joke in Afrika Korps:
Question: Which soldiers are the bravest in the world?
Answer: Italian.
Question: Why?
Answer: Because they go into battle with the weapons they have.
In June 1942, when Rommel's 15th Panzer Division surrounded the 10th Indian Brigade on the Aslag Ridge, Brigadier General Buchera escaped with 2 Indians. They spent the night in a broken down truck. In the morning they tried to sneak back to their units.
During a hasty escape, Butcher noticed a German battery and realized that there were German artillery positions around and the fugitives decided to hide. Butcher soon found a trench and covered the two Indians with sand. They used reeds for breathing. Then the General himself hid in a similar way.
A few minutes later another German battery arrived. As the battle continued, the RAF attacked the German guns and one of the gunners jumped into the same trench.
After the British planes had flown away, a gunner saw one of Butcher's boots sticking out of a pile of sand. He decided to take them for himself, and for this he needed to dig up the supposed corpse. One can only imagine the German's amazement when instead he discovered a British Brigadier General completely alive! After this, both comrades surrendered.
Due to a shortage of tanks, Rommel's troops often fought with captured tanks. From the memoirs of a British officer: “We lost Pease’s tank - during a sharp turn, its right track and suspension turned into a pile of separate parts. When a shell exploded close, my driver hit the gun mount and fell under the levers with a crushed jaw.
Dusk was coming. We picked up the crew of the broken down car and rushed back to the appointed place where the squadron’s night camp was located. As soon as we drove off, 2 German T-IIIs headed towards the abandoned A-13. The Hans also loved trophies.
Around midnight, a German evacuation team dragged Pisa's tank to a mobile repair unit. After 5 days we saw him again - with a black cross on his side and with a crew consisting of Axis soldiers.
After the capture of Tobruk and 33,000 prisoners, a group of South African officers demanded that they be placed in a special prison camp, separate from the colored ones.
Rommel rudely rejected this demand, replying that blacks were also soldiers of the Union of South Africa. If they are good enough to wear the uniform and fight alongside the whites, they will enjoy equal rights in captivity. This is how the Allies hated not only the Germans, but also each other.
During the Allied retreat to Alexandria in 1942, some of the British battery's soldiers were surrounded and forced to surrender. The German captain keeping them under siege captured a high-ranking British officer (this prisoner was Desmond Young, who later, as a Brigadier General, wrote one of the best books about Field Marshal Rommel).
A German officer at gunpoint demanded that Jung order the other units to surrender and lay down their arms, but Jung sent him to the “damn grandmother.” Suddenly, dust rose in a column, a headquarters vehicle appeared... and Rommel himself emerged from it.
The captain reported the situation. “The Desert Fox” thought and said: “No, such a demand would undermine the spirit of chivalry and would conflict with the honest rules of warfare.” He ordered his subordinate to find another solution to the problem, and then offered Jung iced tea with lemon from his own flask.
During the first clash on November 26, 1942 between American and German tank crews in World War II, a tragicomic incident occurred. During the battle, 6 American "Stuarts" were hit and immediately burst into flames. The Germans also had at least 6 T-4 tanks and several T-3 tanks knocked out.
They either lost their tracks or had their engine compartment shutters pierced. However, not a single German tank was destroyed. The shells bounced off their armor like peas. This puzzled the Americans. But they didn’t know that real armor-piercing shells were quietly lying in the port, and that only training blanks were in the tanks.
The American tank "Grant" was a thunderstorm for German tankers. Despite this, it had many shortcomings, especially in the sands of North Africa.
The biggest drawback was the rubber tracks. During the battle, the rubber burned out on the hot desert sand, causing the caterpillar to fall apart, turning the tank into a stationary target.
For example, Soviet tank crews, having tested the “Grants” on the sands, dubbed them “a mass grave for six.” An example is the report of the commander of the 134th Tank Regiment, Tikhonchuk, dated December 14, 1942:
“American tanks work extremely poorly in the sand, their tracks constantly fall off, they get stuck in the sand, they lose power, which is why their speed is extremely low.”
The British talked about spoils from battles in North Africa. The dead Germans gave them tobacco, chocolate and canned sausages. Fallen brothers in arms supplied them with cigarettes, jam and sweets.
Italian trucks were considered a "Jackpot". They supplied them with such delicacies as canned peaches and cherries, cigars, Chianti and Frascati wine, Pellegrino sparkling water and even sweet champagne.
In the desert, as everyone thinks, there were no women, although this is not so - about 200 women worked in the rear hospital in Derna. Their skills were greatly needed by German soldiers during the upcoming battles. But these were not the only women in Africa!
It is a known fact that in Tripoli on Via Tassoni, building 4, there was a Wehrmacht rear brothel, which most “Africans” never saw. Recruited Italian women worked there and agreed to go to the desert, but according to eyewitnesses, none of them were distinguished by beauty.
In a narrow circle of people close to him, Marshal often recalled Hitler’s critical statements about the fact that Paulus should have shot himself as a sign of devotion to the Fuhrer, and not surrendered.
Rommel always said that he understood and approved of Paulus's actions. If the Fuhrer’s order had not recalled him from Africa, and he had managed to survive the brutal battles, he, like Paulus, would have shared the bitter fate of his soldiers in enemy captivity:
“To surrender along with your army requires much more courage than simply putting a bullet in your forehead.”
Both world wars affected Africa. In each of them, the African continent, seemingly so far from European political conflicts, was forced to take an active part. However, the contribution of Africans to the victory over fascism remains largely underestimated.
For Africans, World War II began in 1935 when Italy invaded Ethiopia. In some ways, it continued—in the form of a struggle for independence—long after 1945, as Africans demanded recognition of their contribution to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. The Second World War had a profound impact on the understanding of class, race, and political problems throughout the world. In fact, the Second World War became a catalyst for crisis in the colonial empires and served to transform the nature of political activity throughout the African continent. If before 1945 the struggle of African peoples against colonial oppression was, for the most part, waged not so much for self-government as for some degree of participation in existing governments, then after the war the demand for independence became the basis of the program of all African organizations that counted on popular support. “1945 was the greatest watershed in modern African history. The most important factor contributing to the growing spirit of resentment in Africa during this period was the return home of African soldiers who had served in the Second World War. African troops were rarely completely reliable for the imperialists, and their uprisings and protests played an important role in the development of African national identity. Particularly great unrest occurred among African troops during the Second World War. Fighting in distant countries, they were imbued with the spirit of the anti-fascist war and returned home completely different.” In their countries, former war participants resolutely did not want to return to low-paid hard work; during the war and post-war years there were mass rallies, demonstrations, and mutinies of military personnel and former soldiers.
Not much is said about the African campaigns of World War II in Russia. However, by the beginning of the war, Africa (especially the northeast) had become a strategic springboard for which a fierce battle ensued. In many ways, the fighting on the “dark continent” predetermined the delay in the opening of the second front. While the Allies were fighting for Africa, the Red Army had already launched a counteroffensive.
American soldiers land on
shore at Azreve in Algeria during an operation
"Torch"
The North African Campaign (June 10, 1940 - May 13, 1943) was military action between Anglo-American and Italian-German forces in North Africa - Egypt and the Maghreb during World War II. During its course, the famous battles of the British with the troops of the German General Rommel, known as the “desert fox,” and the landing of American-British troops in Morocco and Algeria (landing operation “Torch”, November 1942) took place. The East African campaign officially lasted less than a year and a half - from June 10, 1940 to November 27, 1941, but Italian soldiers continued to fight in Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea until the end of 1943, until they received the order to surrender. De Gaulle and British troops landed on Madagascar, which was a supply base for Japanese submarines in the Indian Ocean, in May 1942, and by November of the same year the island was liberated from Vichy and Japanese troops.
Academician A.B. Davidson wrote that during the Second World War, military operations in Tropical Africa were carried out only on the territory of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somalia. “In 1941, British troops, together with Ethiopian partisans and with the active participation of the Somalis, occupied the territories of these countries. There were no military operations in other countries of Tropical and Southern Africa. But hundreds of thousands of Africans were mobilized into the metropolitan armies. Even more people had to serve the troops and work for military needs. Africans fought in North Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East, Burma, and Malaya. On the territory of the French colonies there was a struggle between the Vichyites and supporters of the Free French, which, as a rule, did not lead to military clashes. The policy of the metropolises in relation to the participation of Africans in the war was twofold: on the one hand, they sought to use the human resources of Africa as fully as possible, on the other hand, they were afraid to allow Africans into modern forms. Most of the mobilized Africans served in the auxiliary troops, but many still underwent full combat training and received military specialties as drivers, radio operators, signalmen, etc.”
By the beginning of the war, Africa (especially the northeast) had become a strategic bridgehead, for which a fierce battle ensued.
Over a million African soldiers fought for the colonial powers in the Second World War. Few of them initially understood the reasons for the war and the meaning of what they were fighting for. Only a few soldiers knew more about Hitler and fascism.
One veteran, John Henry Smith from Sierra Leone, recalled that his teacher gave him Hitler's Mein Kampf to read. “We read what this man was going to do to black Africans if he came to power. It was a book that would make every African rebel against something like it happened to me.” So John became a volunteer and joined the Royal Air Force, where he served as a navigator.
Africans in World War II found themselves, as in 1914, drawn into a war that was not theirs. Since 1939, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from West Africa were sent to the European front. Many residents of the British colonies served as porters or did other work to support the troops. Although there were Africans who were willing to volunteer to fight fascism, in most cases there was a forced mobilization of Africans to the front.
African soldiers French
colonial army
Whether as soldiers or prisoners of war, Africans at the front were in close contact with European soldiers and the realities of European life. They realized that Europeans are the same mortal, vulnerable people, no higher or better than themselves. It should be noted that the attitude towards black soldiers on the part of their white comrades in arms and commanders was often biased and unfair. Well-known South African politician Ronnie Kasrils noted in his article dedicated to the visit of South African President J. Zuma to Moscow to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany that “racial discrimination in the South African army was so deeply rooted that there were deaths, black and white , were buried separately." He gave examples of the feats that some South African soldiers had performed and noted that if they had not been black, they would undoubtedly have received the highest British military award, the Victoria Cross. Instead, at the end of the war, black soldiers received greatcoats and bicycles as rewards.
The war experience greatly changed Africans' awareness of their own situation. Many veterans, upon returning home, took part in liberation movements, but some of them were reproached by independence fighters for fighting on the side of the colonialists and oppressors. Many of the still living African World War II veterans feel bitter because their contribution to the victory over fascism was not appreciated. Deutsche Welle quotes 93-year-old war veteran Albert Kuniuku from Kinshasa (DR Congo), chairman of the Veterans Union: “I receive a monthly war pension of 5,000 Congolese francs (equal to 4.8 euros, 5.4 dollars ). This is not worthy of someone who defended Belgian interests."
Africans in World War II found themselves, as in 1914, drawn into a war that was not theirs.
Africans also knew about the role of the Soviet Union in the fight against fascism. The more educated, politically active Africans who took part in the war apparently had a sufficient understanding of this. However, funny things happened. The oldest employee of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, veteran of the Great Patriotic War P.I. Kupriyanov, at the celebration of Victory Day within the walls of the Institute in 2015, told a funny story: a few years after the end of the war, he visited Liberia, where an elderly Liberian one day came to his hotel, who during wartime had listened on the radio about the successes of the Red Army and came look at the Soviet soldier. He noted with surprise that the Soviet soldier was quite young, not very tall, and his skin color was not red. From listening to the radio, he formed the image of a giant soldier with a red skin tone, because only such amazing people, as it seemed to a simple African, could crush Hitler’s army.
Congolese bugler, 1943
In the article already mentioned above, South African politician Ronnie Kasrils noted that “the victory over fascism saved the world from slavery and disaster. It also led to the collapse of the colonial system and contributed to Africa’s independence and the emergence of armed liberation movements such as ours, which received support from the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp.” He noted that attempts are being made to downplay and distort the role of the USSR in the victory over fascism, to rewrite history, and pointed out the danger of such attempts. They are dangerous because hiding the truth about World War II for the sake of geopolitical interests leads to the forgetting of history lessons by modern youth around the world. R. Kasrils noted that fascism is now on the rise in different parts of Europe and that the world must work together to prevent its new spread.
Despite efforts to present England and America as the main victors, and despite the real importance of the Allied victories in North Africa, the Battle of Britain, and the opening of the second, Western, front, R. Kasrils emphasized that the main theater of war was the Eastern Front, the confrontation between the USSR and Nazi Germany , where the outcome of the war was decided. “Propaganda and lies are generated by the West in order to hide the true nature of the Second World War and the enormous debt that humanity owes to the Russian people and the peoples of the former USSR. They, without any doubt, took the brunt of the blow and saved the world from fascism.”
For African countries, as well as for Russia, it is important to remember the history of their participation in the Second World War as it was, without allowing its distortions, downplaying the role of those who fought against fascism, and forgetting their important contribution to the common victory over this evil.