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Battle of El Agheila
The Battle of El Agheila was a brief engagement of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. It took place in December 1942 between Allied forces of the Eighth Army (General Bernard Montgomery) and the Axis forces of the German-Italian Panzer Army (Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel), during the long Axis withdrawal from El Alamein to Tunis. The Eighth Army planned to outflank and trap the Axis forces as they withdrew to Tunis.
The Eighth Army plan was thwarted when a frontal attack by the British 7th Armoured Division was repulsed by an Italian rearguard action and the outflanking New Zealand units became dispersed in the desert. The engagement ended with the German-Italian Panzer Army withdrawing into Tripolitana towards Tunisia, where the Tunisia Campaign had begun with the Operation Torch the Allied invasion of French North Africa (8–16 November 1942).
On 4 November 1942, Rommel decided to end the Second Battle of El Alamein and withdraw west towards Libya. In doing so, he defied the "Stand to the last" orders of Adolf Hitler, to save the remainder of his force. The Afrika Korps reached the village of Fuka the next day. Italian forces had arrived earlier, having withdrawn from El Alamein from 3 to 4 November and formed a defensive line. The Italians resumed their withdrawal on the same day, after an Allied attack and the Germans followed suit. Montgomery rested some of his formations after their efforts at El Alamein, leading with the 4th Light Armoured Brigade. Rain on the afternoon of 6 November impeded the Eighth Army pursuit as the Axis forces continued their withdrawal.
A new defence line was established at Mersa Matruh on the following day, some 110 mi (180 km) west of El Alamein. Rommel received a warning from Hitler of an expected Allied landing between Tobruk and Benghazi but on 8 November, he discovered that this was wrong. There were Anglo-American landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch). The Eastern Task Force—aimed at Algiers—landed with 20,000 troops and began moving east towards Rommel. Facing the prospect of a large Allied force to his rear, he decided to withdraw in one bound to El Agheila. Axis forces retired from Sidi Barrani on 9 November and Halfaya Pass (on the Libyan–Egyptian border) the last position in Egypt, on 11 November. Cyrenaica was abandoned without serious resistance.
Rommel wanted to save 10,000 short tons (9,100 t) of equipment in Tobruk but it fell to the Eighth Army on 13 November. An attempt by Montgomery to trap the Tobruk garrison by an encirclement toward Acroma, west of Tobruk, failed and the garrison retreated along the Via Balbia toward Benghazi with few losses. Derna and the airfield at Martuba were captured on 15 November and the RAF quickly occupied the airfield to provide air cover for Operation Stoneage, a Malta convoy, on 18 November. The Axis forces had withdrawn 400 mi (640 km) in ten days. Despite the importance of Benghazi to the Axis supply system, Rommel abandoned the port to avoid a repeat of the disastrous entrapment suffered by the Italians at the Battle of Beda Fomm in February 1941. Rommel ordered the demolition of port facilities and supplies in Benghazi, writing afterwards that
...in Benghazi, we destroyed the port facilities and platforms and the chaos overwhelmed the civilians in this miserable town.
— Rommel
Benghazi was occupied by the Eighth Army on 20 November and three days later, the Axis forces retreated from Agedabia to Mersa Brega. During their withdrawal to Mersa Brega, Axis forces faced many difficulties, including Allied air superiority. The Desert Air Force (DAF) attacked Axis columns that were crowded on the coast road and short of fuel. To delay the Eighth Army advance, Axis sappers laid mines in the Mersa Brega area; steel helmets were buried to create false readings on the mine detectors used by the Eighth Army.
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Battle of El Agheila
The Battle of El Agheila was a brief engagement of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. It took place in December 1942 between Allied forces of the Eighth Army (General Bernard Montgomery) and the Axis forces of the German-Italian Panzer Army (Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel), during the long Axis withdrawal from El Alamein to Tunis. The Eighth Army planned to outflank and trap the Axis forces as they withdrew to Tunis.
The Eighth Army plan was thwarted when a frontal attack by the British 7th Armoured Division was repulsed by an Italian rearguard action and the outflanking New Zealand units became dispersed in the desert. The engagement ended with the German-Italian Panzer Army withdrawing into Tripolitana towards Tunisia, where the Tunisia Campaign had begun with the Operation Torch the Allied invasion of French North Africa (8–16 November 1942).
On 4 November 1942, Rommel decided to end the Second Battle of El Alamein and withdraw west towards Libya. In doing so, he defied the "Stand to the last" orders of Adolf Hitler, to save the remainder of his force. The Afrika Korps reached the village of Fuka the next day. Italian forces had arrived earlier, having withdrawn from El Alamein from 3 to 4 November and formed a defensive line. The Italians resumed their withdrawal on the same day, after an Allied attack and the Germans followed suit. Montgomery rested some of his formations after their efforts at El Alamein, leading with the 4th Light Armoured Brigade. Rain on the afternoon of 6 November impeded the Eighth Army pursuit as the Axis forces continued their withdrawal.
A new defence line was established at Mersa Matruh on the following day, some 110 mi (180 km) west of El Alamein. Rommel received a warning from Hitler of an expected Allied landing between Tobruk and Benghazi but on 8 November, he discovered that this was wrong. There were Anglo-American landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch). The Eastern Task Force—aimed at Algiers—landed with 20,000 troops and began moving east towards Rommel. Facing the prospect of a large Allied force to his rear, he decided to withdraw in one bound to El Agheila. Axis forces retired from Sidi Barrani on 9 November and Halfaya Pass (on the Libyan–Egyptian border) the last position in Egypt, on 11 November. Cyrenaica was abandoned without serious resistance.
Rommel wanted to save 10,000 short tons (9,100 t) of equipment in Tobruk but it fell to the Eighth Army on 13 November. An attempt by Montgomery to trap the Tobruk garrison by an encirclement toward Acroma, west of Tobruk, failed and the garrison retreated along the Via Balbia toward Benghazi with few losses. Derna and the airfield at Martuba were captured on 15 November and the RAF quickly occupied the airfield to provide air cover for Operation Stoneage, a Malta convoy, on 18 November. The Axis forces had withdrawn 400 mi (640 km) in ten days. Despite the importance of Benghazi to the Axis supply system, Rommel abandoned the port to avoid a repeat of the disastrous entrapment suffered by the Italians at the Battle of Beda Fomm in February 1941. Rommel ordered the demolition of port facilities and supplies in Benghazi, writing afterwards that
...in Benghazi, we destroyed the port facilities and platforms and the chaos overwhelmed the civilians in this miserable town.
— Rommel
Benghazi was occupied by the Eighth Army on 20 November and three days later, the Axis forces retreated from Agedabia to Mersa Brega. During their withdrawal to Mersa Brega, Axis forces faced many difficulties, including Allied air superiority. The Desert Air Force (DAF) attacked Axis columns that were crowded on the coast road and short of fuel. To delay the Eighth Army advance, Axis sappers laid mines in the Mersa Brega area; steel helmets were buried to create false readings on the mine detectors used by the Eighth Army.