In World War II, the North African campaign was a roughly three-year struggle between Axis and Allied forces for control of the North African portion of the Mediterranean Basin. With the help of Australian troops, among many others, Great Britain advanced from Egypt to meet up with American troops advancing from the west such that, in early 1943, North Africa was Allied-controlled.
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During World War II, the armies involved in the North African campaign were basically two in number. On the one side, the Axis forces consisted of German and Italian troops. On the other side, the Allied forces initially consisted of British, Indian, Australian, New Zealand, and Free French troops (among others); then, in late 1942, American forces joined the campaign through the successful implementation of 'Operation Torch' in western North Africa.
In 1935, Italy instigated a war so they could conquer Ethiopia. Then they expanded into Somalia and attacked British Somalia. After Germany became a threat to world peace, Italy pushed to conquer more countries in North Africa. England felt that their shipping lanes through the Suez Canal would be threatened and fought to defend their colonies in North Africa. Then Germany sent troops to aid Italy. Eventually, General Rommel was sent as the tactical commander and he was later placed in overall command when he was promoted to Field Marshall. The war continued there for more than a year until the Americans and more Allied air power arrived to defeat the Germans and Italians.
Answer The Axis forces were decisively defeated at the Second Battle of El Alamein, by British Commonwealth forces, before US Forces had engaged the enemy (which were in large part, wavering Vichy French in NW Africa).
The Anglo-American forces moving in from the west did however force remaining Axis forces into Tunisia where they were finally defeated.
The main purpose of the Axis campaign was to secure oil supplies from the Middle East, and to deny Allied use of the Suez Canal.
The US led operation TORCH which was the invasion of North Africa, pushing the German forces led by Rommel back into Germany. This allowed the US to gain control of the Mediterranean Sea and surround Italy with naval forces causing Italy to surrender.
Because north Africa had valuable resources
A turning point in the North African campaign.
Gen Erwin Rommel was the leading German general in the North African campaign in WW2, and later one of the main German generals defending the coast of Normandy.Gen Erwin Rommel was the leading German general in the North African campaign in WW2, and later one of the main German generals defending the coast of Normandy.
The theater of World War II most closely associated with the surrender of the Germans in North Africa was the North African Campaign. This campaign primarily took place between 1940 and 1943 and involved Allied forces, led by the British Eighth Army, battling against Axis forces, led by German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The campaign culminated in the decisive Battle of El Alamein, which forced the German and Italian forces to retreat and ultimately surrender in May 1943.
Tobruk is a city in Libya. It was significant in the North African campaign of the second World War and also in the 2011 Libyan civil war.