MTO Background

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El Alamein Mine Explosion

WWII Hub

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Background, © 2025 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 15 Jun 2025

The following summarizes WWII in the Mediterranean area beginning in 1939.

======================== WWII Mediterranean Area Land Combat =========================
Before the November 1942 involvement of US ground forces:

The loss of France to Axis forces, 1940 (a portion of France, called Vichy France, became a client state of Germany).
The loss of the Balkans to Axis forces, 1939–1941.
Securing Syria and Lebanon by British Empire forces, 1941.
Combat in Libya and Egypt between British Empire and Axis troops, late 1940–early 1943.

By the Western Allies within the Mediterranean Theater: (this is the subject of Big Pigeon's MTO module)

Invasion of Morocco and Algeria by British and American forces, November 1943.
Combat in Tunisia, November 1942–May 1943.
Invasion and conquest of the Italian island of Sicily, July–August 1943.
Invasion and campaigns northward on the Italian peninsula, September 1943–May 1945.

By British and Soviet Union forces, acting independently:

The liberation of the Balkans, 1944–1945.

As a result of gains by axis forcess in the first three years of WWII, only the following Mediterranean Sea areas remained in Allied hands throughout all of World War II:

Gibraltar, at the southern tip of Spain.
Malta, an island south of Sicily.
Cyprus, an island west of Syria.
Palestine, which included today's Israel.
Northeast Egypt.

All were held by British military forces.

In particular, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia were French colonies, occupied by Vichy French military friendly to Nazi Germany.

The Mediterranean Sea and Nearby Countries

Clockwise around the Mediterranean from the west using the above map:

Spain was recovering from its devastating civil war of 1936-1939. The authoritarian government of Francisco Franco remained neutral during World War II, although a division of Spanish volunteers did fight against Russia on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1943.
Southern France was part of the area of France controlled by the Vichy French government, which was sympathetic to German ideology.
Italy was part of the Axis group of countries.
Albania had been absorbed as a protectorate of Italy in 1939.
Yugoslavia and Greece had been subdued in early 1941 by German and Italian forces.
Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II.
Syria and Lebanon were under control of Vichy France until captured by British forces in June and July of 1941.
Palestine was in British hands.
Egypt was a client state of Britain. However, coastal northwestern Egypt was occupied at times by Italian and German forces.
Libya was an Italian colony.
Morocco and Algeria were French colonies loyal to Vichy France until the November 1942 Allied invasion.
Tunisia, also a Vichy French colony, was occupied by Axis military from November 1942 until May 1943.

...................................... Italy in the Mediterranean, 1911–1942 ......................................

1911 - Italy seized the coast of today's Libya from the Ottoman Empire.
Oct 1922 - Benito Mussolini, leader of the Italian Fascist movement, became Italy's youngest Prime Minister.
1934 - Libya officially became an Italian colony.
Oct 1935 - Italy invaded Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia) in east Africa.
1936 - Ethiopia added to the Italian Empire.
Apr 1939 - Italy invaded and occupies Albania.
Jun 1940 - Italy invaded southeastern France.
Jun 1940 - British forces crossed the border from Egypt into Libya, beginning the long see-saw North African Campaign.
Sep 1940 - Italy invaded Egypt from Libya.
Oct 1940 - Italy invaded Greece from Albania.
Oct 1940 - Axis powers pact - Germany, Italy, Japan.
Feb 1941 - First German ground units, led by Erwin Rommel, joined Italians in Libya. Note: This joint Italian-German force had five different official names during its lifetime. It was generally referred to as the Afrika Korps, even though the Afrika Korps was only the core German component. General Rommel commanded this joint force for about 2/3 of its lifetime.
21 Jun 1942 - Afrika Korps captured the major British base of Tobruk in eastern Libya. Note: This was perhaps the third worst British defeat in WWII.
Oct 1942 - Second Battle of El Alamein in northwest Egypt begins.
Nov 1942 - British won the second Battle of El Alamein - followed by the British drive westward to eject the Afrika Korps from Egypt and then from Libya and into Tunisia.
Nov 1942 - Joint British-US forces invaded Morocco and Algeria and movee eastward into Tunisia.

Benito Mussolini - El Duce, Fascist leader of Italy 1922-1943

Mussolini April 1945 - Second from Left

...................................... The Loss of the Balkans, 1939–1941 ......................................

The Balkans occupy the large European peninsula east of Italy shown on the accompanying map.

Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria were German allies for most of WW II.
Italy occupied Albania in 1939 and in late 1940 attempted to invade Greece.
Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece in April 1941. British Empire forces retreated to the Greek island of Crete, which the German Army then overran around 1 June 1941.
For the following three and a half years, Yugoslavia remained carved into pieces, each occupied by Germany or one of the adjoining Axis nations. One of the larger pieces, Croatia, joined the Axis powers.

The Balkans in 1939

................................................. The Near East, 1941 .................................................

Until World War I ended in 1918, mostof the land shown on the right of the accompanying map had been part of the Turkish Empire. In complex post-WWI negotiations among the Great Powers:

Lebanon and Syria became French protectorates.
Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia joined Egypt as British protectorates.

In the mid-1930s, a crude oil pipeline was constructed from Iraq to refineries in Tripoli, Lebanon and Haifa, Palestine.

When French fell to the German Blitzkrieg in the spring of 1940, the French military in Syria and Lebanon remained loyal to Vichy France.

The Eastern Mediterranean in WW II

The Anglo-Iraqi War, May 1941:

A coup in Iraq in April led to British action against Iraqi military forces. At the request of Iraqi leaders, German aircraft then intervened, using bases in Vichy controlled territory.
However, British forces prevailed in this short-lived conflict.

The Syria-Lebanon Campaign, June-July 1941:

To prevent future German or Vichy intervention in the Near East, British forces, primarily from bases in India, attacked Syria and Lebanon on 8 June.
Vichy forces surrendered on 14 July.
As a result of the British victory, Syria and Lebanon were now garrisoned by Free French forces.

................................. The Desert War in Libya and Egypt, 1940–1942 .................................

Italy forcibly acquired Libya from Ottoman Turkey shortly before WWI.
From the middle of 1940 until October 1942, British Empire forces fought Axis forces in a series of see-saw battles across the coastal areas of eastern Libya and western Egypt.
Until February 1941, these Axis forces in Libya were entirely Italian.
Starting in February 1941, Libyan Axis forces were augmented by the German Afrika Korps, led by General Erwin Rommel.

Axis vs British Empire Forces in NE Africa, 1940-42

Axis vs British Empire Forces in Northeast Africa, 1940-42

This series of battles in northeast Africa ended at the climatic Second Battle of El Alamein 150 miles west of Cairo, Egypt in October and November 1942. At El Alamein, General Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army won a decisive victory over the combined German and Italian forces.

Second Battle of El Alamein

....................................................... The Axis Forces Retreat to Tunisia .......................................................

After the November 1942 British victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt, German and Italian forces began a long retreat westward across Libya.
Rommel's retreat had just begun when British and American forces invaded Morocco and Algeria in northwest Africa on 8 November 1942.
In early 1943, Rommel's forces passed into Tunisia, where they joined the Axis forces that had been sent to Tunisia after the Allied invasion of French North Africa. Montgomery's Eighth Army and the other Allied forces already in northwest Africa became part of the new North Africa Theater, later renamed the Mediterranean Theater.

Rommel's Retreat from El Alamein to Tripoli

=========== Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Germany > The MTO > MTO Background webpage ===========

The webpage header photo El Alamein Mine Explosion is courtesy of World War II Wiki.
The Axis vs British Empire Forces in North Africa, 1940-42 map is courtesy of asisbiz.com.
The Second Battle of El Alamein slide was found at https://slideplayer.com/slide/4321227/ and is courtesy of Angelica Higgins.
The Rommel's Retreat from El Alamein to Tripoli map is courtesy of legendsofmen.com.