The Battle for Sidi Barrani

DATE: 07/05/2023

TIME (GMT): 19:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Tobruk

TYPE: COOP

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Jarvis for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 71 / 84

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RATING: (26)

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The Battle for Sidi Barrani was a battle between Commonwealth and Italian forces which took place from the early hours of the 10th of December to the 11th of December, 1940. In the previous months, the Italian Army had began its invasion of Egypt, however, this campaign had almost immediately been bogged down by a lack of supply and transport for its invasion force. By September, when it had become clear that they had overstretched their supply lines, the Italians began to dig in and prepare defences, giving the British an opportunity to resupply and reinforce its units, being joined by Australian and Indian formations. The plan to kick the Italians out of Egypt and advance into Libya would be named Operation Compass. On the launch of the Operation on the 9th of December, an infantry and armoured force advanced through a gap in the Italian line at Bir Enba, which had been discovered by the Long Range Desert Group naming it the Enba gap, catching the Italian armoured unit completely off guard, the camp being annihilated within hours.

By the morning of the 10th of December, the 4th Armoured Brigade reached the port of Buq Buq and had completed its encirclement of Italian forces in North East Libya. At this point, a force of up to 40,000 Italian and Libyan colonial soldiers had been encircled, who were facing constant naval bombardment and a rapidly collapsing salient. The 16th Infantry Brigade, later joined by Matilda tanks from the 7th Armoured Brigade, gradually began its advance towards Sidi Barrani, however, due to weather conditions and the tanks being late, the initial thrust would be pushed back, before launching a second wave with the support of artillery and tanks. As a result of the Italian armoured force being wiped out on the 9th, they had little counter to the British heavy tanks, and despite using machine guns, grenades and even artillery pieces at close range, the British, Indian and Australian force was still advancing. Facing a hopeless situation, the Italian held positions would fold first and begin to retreat into the town, while the Libyan colonial forces attempted to hold on before being annihilated when Commonwealth infantry stormed their positions; leading to the defensive line around Sidi Barrani collapsing and Sidi Barrani being captured by the end of the day.

The Battle for Sidi Barrani and its surrounding areas had been a major victory for British forces. As a result of this opening battle within the grander Operation Compass, the Italian 63rd Infantry Division, 64th Infantry Division and several armoured, artillery and colonial formations had been completely annihilated by the Commonwealth forces; with 47 officers and 2,147 soldiers of the Italian and Libyan army being confirmed to have been killed, and 2,208 soldiers being wounded. Commonwealth dead and wounded had been light in comparison, with 624 soldiers being killed, wounded or becoming prisoners of war. An unexpected variable for the Commander of the Western Desert Force, General Richard O'Connor, had been the sheer amount of Italian and Libyan soldiers which had surrendered, so much so, that the 4th Armoured Brigade at Buq Buq had to be reinforced just to safely handle the thousands of POWs it had captured, or who had arrived from the East and Sidi Barrani to surrender, braving naval gunfire from Royal Navy ships. In total, the recorded number of POWs had been 38,300 soldiers; one of the largest Italian mass surrenders of the Second World War.