20th Century
The Desert War – October 1941
We reach October 80 years ago and it is still fairly quiet on the ground in North Africa but the Royal Navy is still busy. The big news this month is that there is a [more…]
Tobruk
20th Century
The Desert War – September 1941
Into September 80 years ago and only one piece of news from the lingering battle for East Africa where the Italian garrison at Wolchefitt Pass in Abyssinia surrendered to the King’s African Rifles. Meanwhile back [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – August 1941
August 1941 was extraordinarily quiet in the theatres we are concentrating on. This month it is only news from Libya and precious little of it there is. But things were happening in Italy. In Tobruk [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – June 1941
And so to June, the first anniversary of the Desert War and it was a hot month in more ways than one in Libya and Egypt. There is also a small report on East Africa [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – May 1941
An even busier month than April, lots going on in North Africa, Crete and Abyssinia. The Germans and Italians continued to besiege Tobruk, German paratroops invaded Crete and yet more parts of Abyssinia fell to [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – April 1941
April was a very busy month 80 years ago, Libya, Greece, Iraq and East Africa were all full of action. On the 1st, just as Rommel began his attack, there was a coup d’état in [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – March 1941
Into March and while there is a bit of a lull in Libya, The Balkans start to figure large and Italian East Africa gets smaller and smaller. Let’s start with a look at Libya. The [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – February 1941
The second month in 1941 was not up to the joys of January for the Allies. The Germans started arriving in North Africa and the push into Libya did not go much further. There was [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – January 1941
The start of a new year and things are getting much warmer in the Mediterranean, North Africa and East Africa. The Luftwaffe arrived in Italy ready to bomb us at sea while Operation Compass continued [more…]