The Desert War
Three years of advance and retreat across two thousand kilometres of Libya and Egypt — a war of machines, fought in a landscape with nowhere to hide.
The desert was the purest armoured battlefield of the war: no rivers, few towns, and supply lines that decided battles before they began. From Operation Compass in December 1940 to the Axis surrender in Tunisia in May 1943, the campaign swung back and forth along the North African coast — Tobruk, Gazala, El Alamein.
It was also a proving ground. British infantry tanks met German anti-tank screens; American armour reached the front through Lend-Lease months before American soldiers did; and above it all, four air forces fought for the sky and for the convoys that fed the armies. The machines of that war, from both sides, are collected below.
From Compass to Tunisia
9 December 1940Operation Compass opens against the Italian Tenth Army in Egypt
10 April 1941Axis forces begin the siege of Tobruk
18 November 1941Operation Crusader begins and eventually relieves Tobruk
26 May 1942The Battle of Gazala opens; the Axis advance reaches Egypt
23 October 1942The Second Battle of El Alamein begins
13 May 1943The last Axis forces in Tunisia surrender
The armour · 21
Infantry Tank Mk II Matilda II
“Queen of the Desert” — near-invulnerable in 1940–41
Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine
The dependable workhorse of the Eighth Army
Cruiser Tank Mk VI Crusader
Gave its name to the offensive that relieved Tobruk
M3/M5 Stuart
The “Honey” — first American tank in British service
M3 Lee
The Grant — the first Allied answer to the panzers, Gazala 1942
M4 Sherman
Made its combat debut at Second El Alamein, October 1942
Infantry Tank Mk IV Churchill
Kingforce at Alamein, then the hills of Tunisia
M10 Wolverine
First blooded against German armour at El Guettar, March 1943
Carro Veloce L3/35
The tankette Italy went to war with — two machine guns against the Western Desert
Carro Armato M13/40
Italy’s medium of 1940–41, from Bardia to Bir el Gubi
Carro Armato M14/41
The most-built Italian tank — the medium of Gazala and Alamein
Carro Armato M11/39
Overrun encamped at Nibeiwa on the first morning of Compass — and driven back at Tobruk under kangaroos
Semovente da 75/18
The best Italian armoured vehicle of the desert
Semovente L40 da 47/32
The little tank destroyer with the Ariete and Littorio divisions, through to the fall of Tunis
Autoblinda AB 41
The fast Autoblinda scout car — the eyes of the Italian army in the desert
Panzerkampfwagen II
The light tank that opened the war — still scouting for the Afrika Korps
Panzerkampfwagen III
Backbone of the Afrika Korps
Panzerkampfwagen IV
The long-gun “Mark IV Special” — the DAK’s heavy hitter
Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger
Arrived in Tunisia for the final act
Marder III
The Afrika Korps got its first Marders in May 1942; Panzerjäger-Abteilung 39 lost them all by October
Camionetta Desertica AS.42
The Sahariana — Italy’s LRDG-style raider, 400 litres of petrol in jerrycans and no armour at all
The supply line · 2
Soldati-class Destroyer
What the desert war ran on: the Italian destroyers escorting fuel and tanks to Libya
HMS Upholder (P37)
And what cut it: the troopships sunk on the crossing, Conte Rosso to Oceania
The air war · 24
Fiat CR.42 Falco
Italy’s biplane fighter opened the desert air war, 1940
Gloster Gladiator
The RAF biplane that met it on even terms — the last fighter duels fought between two biplane forces
Fiat CR.32
The older Rosatelli biplane — 36 in Libya in June 1940, first into action over El Adem
Fiat G.50 Freccia
The Freccia — Italy’s first monoplane fighter over Libya
Macchi C.200 Saetta
The Saetta — Regia Aeronautica workhorse of the campaign
Macchi C.202 Folgore
The Folgore restored parity when it reached Libya, late 1941
Macchi C.205 Veltro
The Veltro’s combat debut, over the Tunisian convoy routes
Reggiane Re.2001 Falco II
The Falco II — Reggiane’s DB 601 fighter over the Malta convoys; bombed HMS Victorious at Pedestal, 1942
Fiat BR.20 Cicogna
The Cicogna — night bomber over the desert from March 1941, worn out by sand
Savoia-Marchetti S.M.79 Sparviero
The Sparviero — scourge of the Malta convoys
Savoia-Marchetti S.M.82 Marsupiale
Flew the same bridge with twice a Ju 52’s load — over a hundred lost on it between November 1942 and April 1943
Messerschmitt Bf 109
JG 27 and Marseille — the Luftwaffe’s desert aces
Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Zerstörer of ZG 26 — escort and fighter-bomber over the desert
Focke-Wulf Fw 190
Fw 190 fighter-bombers struck Allied airfields and ports over Tunisia, 1943
Junkers Ju 52/3m
The Tunisian air bridge — and Cape Bon, 18 April 1943
Junkers Ju 87 Stuka
The Stuka — siege artillery of Tobruk
Junkers Ju 88
Bomber and anti-shipping threat across the Mediterranean
Heinkel He 111
Long-range bomber and torpedo-carrier over the Malta convoys
Hawker Hurricane
The RAF’s workhorse from Compass to Alamein
Supermarine Spitfire
Arrived in 1942 to take back the desert sky
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
The shark-mouthed Tomahawk and Kittyhawk — the Desert Air Force’s fighter-bomber workhorse
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
Flew into Tunisia with Operation Torch — the “fork-tailed devil”
North American B-25 Mitchell
Mitchells of the Twelfth Air Force over Tunisia
Vickers Wellington
Night raids on Tobruk, Benghazi and the ports feeding the Afrika Korps