Camp Nibeiwa

Operation Compass, the codename for Wavell’s offensive against Italian-held Libya, was kicked off with several assaults on Italian frontier camps. These fortified camps were built to cover the approaches to the coastal road which the British advance would need. On the night of 7-8 December, under the veil of strict …

1940-12-09

G20

Operation Compass, the codename for Wavell’s offensive against Italian-held Libya, was kicked off with several assaults on Italian frontier camps. These fortified camps were built to cover the approaches to the coastal road which the British advance would need. On the night of 7-8 December, under the veil of strict secrecy and low cloud cover, the British were able to gain their way into assault positions without being detected by the Italians. At 0500 on the 9th, a detached battalion of the 4th Indian Division fired on Camp Nibeiwa’s eastern perimeter in order to confuse the defenders as to the direction of the attack. At 0715 hours, British divisional artillery shelled Nibeiwa in a brief but intense bombardment.

Bir Ebna, Egypt

Operation Compass was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Indian, Commonwealth and Allied forces attacked Italian forces of the 10th Army (Marshal Rodolfo Graziani) in western Egypt and Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya, from December 1940 to February 1941. The Western Desert Force (WDF) (Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor) with about 36,000 men, advanced from Mersa Matruh in Egypt on a five-day raid against the Italian positions of the 10th Army, which had about 150,000 men in fortified posts around Sidi Barrani in Egypt and in Cyrenaica. The WDF swiftly defeated the Italians in their fortified posts and at Sidi Barrani and then exploited the success, forcing the rest of the 10th Army out of Egypt and capturing the ports along the Libyan coast. The 10th Army was cut off as it retreated towards Tripolitania and defeated at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the remnants being pursued to El Agheila on the Gulf of Sirte. The British took over 138,000 Italian and Libyan prisoners, hundreds of tanks, and more than 1,000 guns and many aircraft, against WDF losses of 1,900 men killed and wounded, about 10 per cent of the infantry. The WDF was unable to continue beyond El Agheila, due to worn out vehicles and the diversion in March 1941 of the best-equipped units in Operation Lustre for the Battle of Greece. Italian reinforcements were rushed to Libya to defend Tripoli, assisted by the Deutsches Afrikakorps and Luftwaffe.

British

Italian

Scenario Type = Standard