November 12, 1942

[Martin Antonenko]

No Place Changed Hands More Often ...


On November 12, 1942, British and Commonwealth troops occupied the former border fortress "Fort Capuzzo" on the border of the former Italian colony of Libya and the then British-occupied Egypt ...:



This could mean the end of today's post - but the fact that it is not is because this place has a very special story:

No other place changed hands more often during World War II!

In 1931 they had built a 271 km long barbed wire fence from the Mediterranean port of Bardia to the Giarabub oasis. At the same time, three large fortresses were built along the border fence: Fort Capuzzo ...





... Fort Maddalena, Fort Giarabub, and six smaller checkpoints.

Fort Capuzzo was named after the Italian aviator Ferruccio Capuzzo, who died in 1925 during the reconquest of Libya (he is on the right in the following photo) ...:



Around 200 soldiers were constantly stationed in Capuzzo until June 1940, from the mid-1930s mainly askaris of the Regio corpo troop coloniali della Libia (photo above). Until June 1940 the crew was equipped with an old Beretta M1918, a single machine gun and a small howitzer ...:



The first time Fort Capuzzo was conquered by the British on June 14, 1940 ...:



This was preceded by a violent air raid that destroyed large parts of the facility ...:



In the course of an Italian counter-offensive, Mussolini's soldiers took back the bombed complex just a few days later - on June 29, 1940, it was up to the latitudes to give heel money!

The Italian soldiers repaired the greatest damage and began to make themselves comfortable again in Fort Capuzzo ...:



Again a few days later, on August 18, 1940, however, the Italians had to donate again! British troops of the 8th Army had advanced north of the fortress into Libya - the fortress threatened to be cut off!

The British took over the empty facility again and set up a fuel and water supply depot there ...:



One month later, on September 13, 1940, the Italians again occupied the fortress that the British had previously had to evacuate ...



... and it was only on this day that the Italian army actually crossed the border to Egypt for the first time. The British withdrew to their military base in Mersa Matruh about 250 km behind the border and the Italians stopped the further advance in Sidi Barrani on September 16, 1940, without the two armies coming into any significant clash on Egyptian territory.

After three days, the "Italian invasion of Egypt" ended about 100 km behind the Egyptian-Libyan border.

Operation Compass began on the night of December 7th and 8th. In particular, the Italian army had nothing to oppose the new Matilda tanks ..:



By December 15, the British forces advanced to the Halfaya Pass, crossed the Egyptian-Libyan border near Sollum and occupied Fort Capuzzo on December 16, 1940 without a fight. ..:



Shortly before, the Italian units had received orders to evacuate the fort and retreat to the Bardia garrison.

**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Part II


On April 12, 1941, Fort Capuzzo changed hands again, because on March 31, 1941, the commander of the German Africa Corps, Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel launched a major attack despite the prohibition of major offensives and pushed the British back to Egypt in less than two weeks. In addition to Rommel's tactical and operational skills, the German Panzer III and IV, among others, were superior to the British competition.

On April 10th, the fighting began for Fort Capuzzo, which was strongly defended by the British occupation and captured on April 12th by the allied German-Italian troops ...:



During "Operation Brevity", Fort Capuzzo briefly came back into the possession of the British Army. This counter-offensive planned by Archibald Wavell began on May 15 and had to be canceled one day later without success. Fort Capuzzo was taken by a British tank squadron right at the start of the operation, but a German combat group surprisingly intervened again and recaptured the fort on the afternoon of May 16.

Operation "Battleaxe" began on June 15, 1941 and by noon on the first day the 7th Royal Tank Regiment reached the strategically important position of Fort Capuzzo, which was defended by three motorized Italian infantry divisions ... .:



With the support of the RAF, Fort Capuzzo was captured by evening, but the British had lost a considerable number of tanks and their infantry followed slowly. The next day at 6:00 a.m., the German 15th Panzer Division attacked the fort. Attempts to bypass the British flank failed, but the 7th Royal Tank Regiment lost more than half of its remaining tanks. In the early morning hours of June 17, the British occupation in Fort Capuzzo increased the risk of encirclement, so Wavell gave his troops the order at 11:00 a.m. to retreat from Capuzzo to the Halfaya Pass. Operation Battleaxe ended with another British defeat after only three days.


The following photo shows captured British soldiers at Fort Capuzzo ...:



From late August 1941, more and more Commonwealth supplies and equipment were arriving in Egypt via the Suez Canal, including US tanks and many weapons. The next British capture of Fort Capuzzo came during Operation Crusader, which began on November 18. During this offensive, the British troops had 724 tanks and 1,072 operational aircraft, compared to the German-Italian forces with 558 tanks, 120 German and 200 Italian aircraft.

Characterized by extreme hardship, the renewed battles for Capuzzo started on November 19th.

The German and Italian defenders had to evacuate the fort on November 22nd due to the enormous superiority and leave it to the 2nd New Zealand Division ...:







Während die alliierte Propaganda die Operation Crusader als ersten Sieg über die Achsenmächte verklärte, wandelte Rommel einen am 21. Januar 1942 begonnenen und zunächst nur zur Aufklärung geplanten Vorstoß bei El Agheila in einen überraschenden Gegenangriff um. Am 28. Januar eroberten die deutschen und italienischen Verbände Bengasi zurück und setzten am 3. Februar erneut zur Offensive auf Tobruk an.

Dabei fiel Fort Capuzzo am 2. Februar 1942 erneut an die Deutschen…:





On November 10th, due to the general situation (the Allies landed in their rear as part of Operation Torch), the Germans must begin a general retreat and also evacuate Fort Capuzzo.

Two days later the British are back ...:





It is the 16th and last change of ownership of the former fortress in this war, at this point there is not much left of Fort Capuzzo...

 

[Nap]

Thank you Martín , Often changed hands at the end nothing to fight for could have been left

Cheers

Nap