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12/02/1940
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Anthony Eden greets the
first Australian and New Zealand troops arriving in Suez. |
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| 11/06/1940 |
South Africa declares war
on Italy. RAF bomb airfields and petrol dumps in Italian East
Africa and Libya. British armoured cars cross into Libya from
Egypt and ambush a number of Italian trucks near Fort Capuzzo.
Italian aircraft bomb Aden and Port Sudan. |
| 12/06/1940 |
RAF bomb docks in Tobruk,
Libya. |
| 14/06/1940 |
Spanish troops enter Tangier. British
troops capture Fort Capuzzo and Maddalena, destroy the fixed
guns and emplacements and then retire back to Egypt. |
| 22/06/1940 |
Italians bomb Alexandria, Egypt. |
| 26/06/1940 |
Turkey announces that she will stay
out of the war. |
| 27/06/1940 |
French C-in-C in Syria accepts armistice
terms. |
| 28/06/1940 |
Marshal Balbo, the Governor-General
of Libya is killed when his plane is shot down by another Italian
aircraft. |
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| 01/07/1940 |
Marshal Balbo's replacement,
Marshal Graziani, is appointed as C-in-C of the Italian forces
in Libya. |
| 04/07/1940 |
Italian bombers raid Alexandria.
Italian forces attack from Abyssinia and Eritrea and capture
the British outposts of Kassala and Gallabat on the Sudanese
border. |
| 13/07/1940 |
Italians attack British
garrison at Moyale in Abyssinia. |
| 25/07/1940 |
Italy bombs the British
naval base at Alexandria and the base at Haifa. |
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| 02/08/1940 |
Italy reported to be massing
troops on Libya-Egypt border. |
| 04/08/1940 |
The Italians begin their
invasion of British Somaliland. Using some 25,000 troops, they
push the small British garrison back towards the port of Berbera.
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| 05/08/1940 |
The Italian air force raids Berbera,
Aden, Burao and Zeila. Italian troops In Italian Somaliland
then occupy Zeila, thereby sealing the border between French
and British Somaliland and opening up the coastal track to Berbera. |
| 06/08/1940 |
Italian forces reach Odweina in British
Somaliland. Battles at Tug Argan and at Hargeisa. |
| 09/08/1940 |
Italian ground forces make slow progress
in British Somaliland. Both the Italians and the British conduct
air raids against each other. |
| 17/08/1940 |
British warships bombard Italian ports
in Libya. The 5th Indian Division is deployed to the defence
of Sudan. |
| 18/08/1940 |
The last of the British rearguard in
British Somaliland slip away in darkness, race into Berbera
and embark on the morning. British bombers attack Italian units
at Laferug and the airfield at Addis Abeba. Italian aircraft
attack Berbera, but there are no more military targets. |
| 19/08/1940 |
Mussolini orders Marshal
Graziani to invade Egypt. Italian troops enter the Port of Berbera,
the capital of British Somaliland, where they are welcomed by
strafing RAF Blenheims. British transport 5,300-5,700 combat
troops and 1,000 civilians to Aden, Yemen. August 5-19, British
ground losses were 38 KIA, 102 wounded and 120 missing. RAF
flew 184 sorties, dropped 60 tons of bombs, lost 7 aircraft
destroyed and 10 badly damaged, lost 12 aircrew KIA and 3 wounded.
Italian losses were 465 KIA, 1530 wounded and 34 missing. |
| 22/08/1940 |
Churchill dispatches a
heavily armed convoy with 150 tanks to reinforce the middle
east. |
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| 09/09/1940 |
Italians bomb Tel Avis,
killing 111 people. |
| 13/09/1940 |
5 Italian divisions and 200 tanks in
Cyrenaica under Marshal Graziani, cross the Libyan/Egyptian
border and advance toward Sidi Barrani in Egypt. The 7th Armoured
and 4th Indian Divisions have orders to withdraw as far as Mersa
Matruh and then stand and fight. |
| 16/09/1940 |
Italian advance in Egypt
continues as they capture Sidi Barrani, 60 miles from frontier.
At this point the Italians halt their offensive and begin to
construct a number of fortified camps. |
| 21/09/1940 |
Wavell, orders planning to begin for
a British counter-attack against the Italians, with the aim
of driving them out of eastern Libya and capturing Tobruk. |
| 23/09/1940 |
An British/Free French attempt to capture
Dakar in Vichy French West Africa fails when the staunchly pro
Vichy garrison fights back, inflicting damage on the invasion
fleet, causing it to abort. |
| 24/09/1940 |
The convoy of 150 tanks
dispatched by Churchill on the 22nd August, arrives at Port
Said in Egypt. |
| 25/09/1940 |
An attack by Free French
forces landed by ships of the Royal Navy against the west African
port of Dakar is repulsed by Vichy French troops. |
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26/11/1940
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The Western Desert Force,
begins Training Exercise No.1. This was a dress rehearsal for
'Operation Compass'. Surprise was vital and so not even the
troops involved were told of the rehearsals significance. |
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| 06/12/1940 |
The Western Desert Force,
begins Training Exercise No.2. This was a 60 mile approach march
to their concentration point, designated Piccadilly, approximately
20 miles south of Maktila. |
| 08/12/1940 |
The Western Desert Force
is now fully concentrated for 'Operation Compass'. |
| 09/12/1940 |
The Western Desert Force which is 30,000
strong and under the command of Wavell takes to the offensive
'Operation Compass'. The 4th Indian division captures the Italian
camps at Nibeiwa, Tumar East and West, while the 7th Armoured
drives south of the camps at Sofafi and Rabia and turns north
towards Buq Buq on the coast road. As column also advances along
the coast road from Mersa Matruh towards Maktila as British
warships bombard both Maktila and Sidi Barrani. |
| 10/12/1940 |
Sidi Barrani is surrounded. Italian
troops from the camps at Sofafi and Rabia flee west as the 7th
Armoured divisions thrust threaten to encircle them. |
| 11/12/1940 |
Sidi Barrani is captured along with
over 20,000 Italians, bringing the total captured to nearly
38,000 in 2 days, along with 237 guns and 73 tanks. At this
time, Wavell decides to withdraw the 4th Indian Division and
send it to the Sudan. It will be replaced by the 6th Australian
Division, although it will take some days for it to be ready. |
| 17/12/1940 |
While pursuing the retreating Italians,
the British forces in North Africa take Sollum, Fort Capuzzo
and several other crucial Italian defensive positions. They
also capture another 38,000 Italians along the way. |
| 19/12/1940 |
Mussolini requests German assistance
for his hard-pressed troops in Cyrenaica, asking for a Panzer
Division, Luftwaffe units and various logistical support. |
| 20/12/1940 |
No Italian troops are now
left on Egyptian soil, except as prisoners. |
| 21/12/1940 |
Bardia is surrounded by
the 6th Australian Division, although the Italians are determined
to fight it out. |
