Military operations in North Africa during World War I

In the summer of 1915, the Ottoman Empire persuaded the Grand Senussi

Further west, the inhabitants of areas recently conquered or seized by European powers from the Ottoman Empire, exploited the unsettled conditions caused by the war in Europe to regain control of their lands. Uprisings such as the

Background

German and Ottoman strategy

In 1914, the Central Powers began a peripheral strategy, which had antecedents in the concept of

European colonial powers had apprehensions about the possibility of jihad before 1914; Clemenceau had predicted it in 1912, if war broke out between the Great Powers. In August 1914, Charles Lutaud, the Governor of Algeria expected a rebellion and on 5 November, tried to forestall the Ottoman call to arms, by presenting the Ottomans as German puppets. The French were assisted by Royal Navy code breaking, to anticipate landings from German U-boats and negate the intriguing of the Central Powers. French prestige after the Moroccan Crises reduced the likelihood of attempts to overthrow the colonial regime and German prisoners of war, were used as forced labour in Morocco and Algeria, to display French military prowess. Most of the French regular troops were sent to France in 1914 and replaced by Territorial troops in Morocco but on the frontier of Algeria and Libya, Senussi operations against the Italian army led the French to allow the garrisons of Ghadames and Ghat to retreat into Algeria and then be rearmed to re-capture Ghadames in January 1915, as part of the French policy of drawing Italy into the war.^[3]

North Africa in 1914

Before 1906, when the Senussi became involved in resistance against the French, they had been a "relatively peaceful religious sect of the Sahara Desert, opposed to fanaticism". When the Italians invaded Libya in 1911, occupying the coast, the Senussi resisted the Italians from the interior of the country. During their resistance against the Italians, the Senussi maintained generally friendly relations with the British in Egypt.

Attempts were made by Germany and the Ottomans to influence conditions in the French colonies, by intriguing with potentates who had been ousted by the French. Spanish authorities in the region informally tolerated the distribution of propaganda and money but a German plot to smuggle 5,000 rifles and 500,000 bullets through Spain was thwarted. The Teskilat-i Mahsusa maintained several agents in North Africa but had only two in Morocco.

A major uprising against the French took place in the south of Upper Senegal and Niger in 1915–16. The conflict remains little known because of wartime censorship. After the war, in 1919, the affected region was split off to form its own colony, Upper Volta (modern Burkina Faso).^{[citation needed]}

Egypt–Libya

Senussi Campaign

Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 5 November 1914 and in the summer of 1915, Turkish envoys, including

The Senussi raised 5,000 infantry and other irregular troops, equipped with Turkish artillery and machine-guns, for campaigns along the coast. An offensive led to attacks on Sollum, Mersa Matruh and Da'aba on the way to Alexandria and from Siwa through the band of oases of Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga 100 mi (160 km) west of the Nile. The Senussi crossed the Egyptian–Libyan border on 21 November 1915 to begin the coastal campaign.^[10] At the border, 300–400 men attacked a frontier post and were repulsed. In February 1916, Sayed Ahmed accompanied the Senussi against the band of oases. Several oases were captured and then lost in October 1916 to British forces; the Senussi retired from Egypt in February 1917.^[11] In November Senussi forces occupied Jaafar.^[12]

Coastal operations

On 6 November the German submarine U-35 torpedoed and sank a steamer HMS Tara in the Bay of Sollum. The U-boat surfaced, sank the coastguard gunboat Abbas and badly damaged Nur el Bahr with its deck gun. On 14 November the Senussi attacked an Egyptian position at Sollum and on the night of 17 November a party of Senussi fired into Sollum, as another party cut the coast telegraph line. Next night a monastery at Sidi Barrani, 48 mi (77 km) beyond Sollum was occupied by 300 Muhafizia and on the night of 19 November, a coastguard was killed. An Egyptian post was attacked 30 mi (48 km) east of Sollum on 20 November. The British withdrew from Sollum to Mersa Matruh, 120 mi (190 km) further east, which had better facilities for a base and the Western Frontier Force was created.^[13][a]

On 11 December, a British column sent to Duwwar Hussein, was attacked along the Matruh–Sollum track and in the Affair of Wadi Senba, drove the Senussi out of the wadi.^[15] The reconnaissance continued and on 13 December at Wadi Hasheifiat, the British were attacked again and held up until artillery came into action in the afternoon and forced the Senussi to retreat. The British returned to Matruh until 25 December and then made a night advance to surprise the Senussi. At the Affair of Wadi Majid, the Senussi were defeated but were able to withdraw to the west.^[16] Air reconnaissance found more Senussi encampments in the vicinity of Matruh at Halazin, which was attacked on 23 January, in the Affair of Halazin. The Senussi fell back skilfully and then attempted to envelop the British flanks. The British were pushed back on the flanks as the centre advanced and defeated the main body of Senussi, who were again able to withdraw.^[17]

In February 1916, the Western Frontier Force was reinforced and a British column was sent west along the coast to re-capture Sollum. Air reconnaissance discovered a Senussi encampment at Agagia, which was attacked in the action of Agagia on 26 February. The Senussi were defeated and then intercepted by the Dorset Yeomanry who charged across open ground swept by machine-gun and rifle fire as the Senussi withdrew. The British lost half their horses and 58 of 184 men but prevented the Senussi from slipping away. Jaafar Pasha the commander of the Senussi forces on the coast was captured and Sollum was re-occupied by British forces on 14 March 1916, which concluded the coastal campaign.^[18]

Band of Oases

On 11 February 1916 the Senussi and Sayyid Ahmed ash-Sharif occupied the oasis at Bahariya, which was then subject to bombing raids by RAF aircraft. The oasis at Farafra was occupied at the same time and then the Senussi moved on to the oasis at Dakhla on 27 February. The British responded by forming the Southern Force at Beni Suef. Egyptian officials at Kharga were withdrawn and the oasis was occupied by the Senussi, until they withdrew without being attacked. The British reoccupied the oasis on 15 April and began to extend the light railway, which terminated at Kharga to the Moghara Oasis. The mainly Australian Imperial Camel Corps patrolling on camels and in light Ford cars, cut off the Senussi from the Nile Valley. Preparations to attack the oasis at Bahariya were detected by the Senussi garrison, which withdrew to Siwa in early October. The Southern Force attacked the Senussi in the Affairs in the Dakhla Oasis (17–22 October), after which the Senussi retreated to their base at Siwa.^[19]

In January 1917, a British column including the Light Armoured Car Brigade with

On 1 March 1916 hostilities began between the Sudanese government and the Sultan of Darfur.[21] The Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition was conducted, to forestall an imagined invasion of Sudan and Egypt, by the Darfurian leader Sultan Ali Dinar, which was believed to have been synchronised with a Senussi advance into Egypt from the west.^[22] The Sirdar (commander) of the Egyptian Army, organised a force of c. 2,000 men at Rahad, a railhead 200 mi (320 km) east of the Darfur frontier. On 16 March, the force crossed the frontier in lorries from a forward base established at Nahud, 90 mi (140 km) from the border, with the support of four aircraft. By May, the force was close to the Darfur capital of El Fasher. At the Affair of Beringia on 22 May, the Fur Army was defeated and the Anglo-Egyptian force captured the capital the next day. Dinar and 2,000 followers had left and as they moved south, were bombed from the air.^[23]

French troops in Chad, who had returned from the Kamerun campaign, prevented a Darfurian withdrawal westwards. Dinar withdrew into the Marra Mountains 50 mi (80 km) south of El Fasher and sent envoys to discuss terms but the British believed he was prevaricating and ended the talks on 1 August. Internal dissension reduced the force with Dinar to c. 1,000 men; Anglo-Egyptian outposts were pushed out from El Fasher, to the west and south-west after the August rains. A skirmish took place at Dibbis on 13 October and Dinar opened negotiations but was again suspected of bad faith. Dinar fled south-west to Gyuba and a small force was sent in pursuit. At dawn on 6 November, a combined Anglo-Egyptian forced attacked in the Affair of Gyuba and Dinar's remaining followers scattered and the body of the Sultan was found 1 mi (1.6 km) from the camp.^[24] After the expedition, Darfur was incorporated into Sudan.^[25]

Notes

Footnotes

1. ^ Strachan 2003, pp. 694–696.
2. ^ Strachan 2003, pp. 696–705.
3. ^ Strachan 2003, pp. 757–758, 760–761.
4. ^ Strachan 2003, p. 745.
5. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 409–411.
6. ^ Strachan 2003, pp. 756–757.
7. ^ Strachan 2003, p. 767.
8. ^ ^{a b} Fuglestad 1973, pp. 82–121.
9. ^ Evans-Pritchard 1954, p. 121.
10. ^ Carver 2003, p. 186.
11. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 65.
12. ^ McGuirk 2007, pp. 5, 8; Wavell 1968, pp. 37–38.
13. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 106–107.
14. ^ Bostock 1982, p. 28.
15. ^ Skinner & Stacke 1922, p. 210.
16. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 110–113, 113–118.
17. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 119–123.
18. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 123–129.
19. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 135–140.
20. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, pp. 140–144.
21. ^ Skinner & Stacke 1922, p. 211.
22. ^ Strachan 2003, pp. 749, 747.
23. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, p. 151.
24. ^ Strachan 2003, p. 749.
25. ^ Macmunn & Falls 1996, p. 153.

References

Books

• Bostock, H. P. (1982). The Great Ride: The Diary of a Light Horse Brigade Scout, World War I. Perth: Artlook Books.
  OCLC 12024100
  .
• Carver, M. (2003). The National Army Museum Book of The Turkish Front 1914–1918: The Campaigns at Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia and in Palestine. London: Pan Macmillan.
  ISBN 978-0-283-07347-2
  .
• OCLC 317457540
  .
• Macmunn, G; Falls, C. (1996) [1928]. Military Operations: Egypt and Palestine, From the Outbreak of War with Germany to June 1917. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents By Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. I (facs. repr. Battery Press Nashville, TN and Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books ed.). London:
  ISBN 978-0-89839-241-8
  .
• McGuirk, R. (2007). The Sanusi's Little War: The Amazing Story of a Forgotten Conflict in the Western Desert, 1915–1917. London: Arabian Publishing.
  ISBN 978-0-9544772-7-1
  .
• Sheppard, E. W., ed. (1968) [1933]. A Short History of the British Army (4th ed.). London: Constable.
  OCLC 35621223
  .
  • Wavell, A. "The Palestine Campaigns". In Sheppard (1968).
• Skinner, H. T.; Stacke, H. Fitz M. (1922). History of the Great War Based on Official Documents: Principal Events 1914–1918. London: HMSO.
  OCLC 17673086
  . Retrieved 7 February 2014 – via Archive Foundation.
• Strachan, H. (2003) [2001]. The First World War: To Arms. Vol. I (pbk. repr. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-926191-8
  .

Journals

• Fuglestad, F. (1973). "Les révoltes des Touaregs du Niger 1916–1917".
  ISSN 0008-0055
  .

Further reading

Books

• Bowman-Manifold, M. G. E. (1923). An Outline of the Egyptian and Palestine Campaigns, 1914 to 1918 (2nd ed.). Chatham: W. & J. Mackay for The Institution of Royal Engineers.
  OCLC 224893679
  .
• Campagna di Libia [The Italo-Turkish war 1911–1912]. Ufficio Storico. Translated by Tittoni, R. (Frank Hudson, Kansas City, MO ed.). Rome: Corpo di stato maggiore. 1914.
  OCLC 3080890
  . Retrieved 10 July 2014 – via Archive Foundation.
• Report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee as Approved by The Army Council Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty. Vol. The Official Names of the Battles and Other Engagements Fought by the Military Forces of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914–1919 and the Third Afghan War, 1919. London: HMSO. 1921.
  OCLC 29078007
  .

Encyclopaedias

• Austin, W. S. (1923). "The Senussi Campaign". In Drew, H. T. B. (ed.). The War Effort of New Zealand. Auckland: Whitcombe and Tombs. pp. 42–62.
  OCLC 2778918
  . Retrieved 28 February 2014.

Journals

• Banks, I. (2007). "Ghosts in the Desert: The Archaeological Investigation of a Sub-Saharan Battlefield". Journal of Conflict Archaeology. III (1): 6–19.
  ISSN 1574-0781
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North African operations during World War I.

• Le Operazione Militari in Libia e Nel Sahara 1914–1918 di Alberto Rosselli (in Italian)
• La disfatta di Gasr Bu Hàdi
• North Africa, in Turkey in the First World War web site.