Middle East Theatre of World War II

Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly... coterminous with the Middle East, which describes a geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than its location within Asia. Due to this perceived Eurocentrism, international organizations such as the United Nations, have replaced Middle East and Near East with Western Asia. This region and Europe are collectively referred to as Western Eurasia. The world's earliest civilizations developed in Western Asia. For most of the last three millennia, the region has been united under one or two powerful states; each one succeeding the last, and at times, eastern and western based polities. The main states in this regard were the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, the Seleucid Empire, the Parthian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Sassanid Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, the Safavid Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. Western Asia is the birthplace of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and other monotheistic religions. Western Asia is located directly south of Eastern Europe.
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Italian North Africa was the aggregate of territories and colonies controlled by Italy in North Africa from 1911 until World War II. In 1939, Benito... Mussolini coined the name Fourth Shore, in Italian Quarta Sponda, to refer to Italian North Africa. Italian North Africa, unlike Italian East Africa existed in two phases: from 1911 to 1934, as Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, and after 1934, as Libya. Indeed, from 1934 to 1939, Italian North Africa was then known as Libya as the North African territories were consolidated into one colony, Italian Libya. Successively Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1939 called coastal Libya the Fourth Shore of Italy: it was united to metropolitan Italy. The term Fourth Shore derives from the geography of Italy being a long and narrow peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean with two principle shorelines, the First Shore on the east along the Adriatic Sea and the Second Shore on the west along the Tyrrhenian Sea.
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Italian East Africa was an Italian colonial administrative subdivision established in 1936, resulting from the merger of the Ethiopian Empire with... the old colonies of Italian Somaliland and Italian Eritrea. In August 1940, British Somaliland was conquered and annexed to Italian East Africa. Italian East Africa was eventually disestablished as a consequence of the events of World War II. In 1936, Italian East Africa covered Italian Eritrea, the just conquered Ethiopia and the former Italian Somaliland. The colony was divided into the six governorates of Italian East Africa: Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, plus four provinces of Ethiopia each run by an Italian governor. Each governor was answerable to the Italian viceroy, who represented the Emperor Victor Emmanuel III.
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Tunisia , officially the Republic of Tunisia , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the... west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres , with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast. Tunisia is the smallest of the nations situated along the Atlas mountain range. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres of coastline. Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
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The Battle of Gazala was an important battle of the Second World War Western Desert Campaign, fought around the port of Tobruk in Libya from 26... May-21 June 1942. The combatants on the Axis side were the Panzer Army Afrika, consisting of German and Italian units and commanded by the "Desert Fox" Colonel-General Erwin Rommel; the Allied forces were the Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie under the close supervision of the Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Sir Claude Auchinleck. Rommel pushed his armoured forces round the southern flank of the Gazala position to engage the British armour in the rear of the Allied defences. Despite successes in this engagement, Rommel's armour found itself in a precarious position: interference to supply lines resulting from the continuing resistance of Free French at Bir Hakeim, which anchored the southern end of the Allied Gazala defences, left his tanks short of fuel and ammunition. Ritchie was slow to take advantage of this and Rommel concentrated his force to punch westwards to open a supply corridor through the Gazala line north of Bir Hakeim.
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Battle of Tobruk or Nadura Hill Battle was a small engagement in the Italo-Turkish War. It is famous due to the involvement of Kemal Ataturk. Tobruk... was a port with strategic importance. Georg August Schweinfurth declared in 1883: "A nation that possesses Tobruk will dominate the eastern Mediterranean Sea." The First Fleet of the Italian naval forces, commanded by vice-admiral Augusto Aubry, approached Tobruk on October 3, 1911 and invaded the city the next day without encountering any serious opposition. Turkish and Libyan forces were organized by Enver Bey after trivial clashes on November 9, 1911. The leader of the Libyan-Arabian forces was Sheik Muberra, who was backed by his "Meryem" tribe. In the first week of December 1911 nearly 2000 Italian soldiers against 200 Turco-Arab volunteers had captured the Nadura Hill in Mureyra Valley and were busy with reinforcements and digging trenches. Captain Mustafa Kemal was then in command of Tobruk region and foresaw the jeopardizing consolidation of Italian forces.
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Operation Compass was the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during World War II. British and Commonwealth forces... attacked Italian forces in western Egypt and eastern Libya in December 1940 to February 1941. The operation was a complete success. Allied forces advanced from inside Egypt to central Libya, captured 115,000 Italian prisoners, and destroyed thousands of tanks, artillery pieces, and aircraft, while suffering very few casualties. Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940. During the next several months there were raids and skirmishes between Italian forces in Libya and British and Commonwealth forces in Egypt. Marshal Italo Balbo was Governor-General and military commander of Italian North Africa . Italian dictator Benito Mussolini urged Balbo to attack the British in Egypt. Mussolini's aim was to capture the Suez Canal and link up with Italian East Africa. But for many reasons, Balbo was reluctant. After Balbo's death in a mysterious "friendly fire" accident on 28 June, Mussolini urged his replacement, General Rodolfo Graziani, to attack.
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The Second Battle of El Alamein took place over 13 days from 23 October – 4 November 1942 and the Allies' victory marked a major turning point... in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. It followed the First Battle of El Alamein which had stalled the Axis advance into Egypt, after which, in August 1942, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery had taken command of the British Eighth Army from General Claude Auchinleck. The Allied victory turned the tide in the North African Campaign and ended Axis hopes of occupying Egypt, taking control of the Suez Canal, and gaining access to the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. By 12 July 1942, after its success at the Battle of Gazala, the Panzer Army Africa , composed of German and Italian infantry and mechanised units under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, had struck deep into Egypt, threatening the British Empire's control of the Suez Canal. General Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within 50 mi of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within 40 mi of El Alamein on the coast.
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