Tenth Army (Italy)

The Italian Tenth Army was based in the eastern side of Libya in Cyrenaica. The Tenth Army faced the British forces in neutral Egypt and was one of two Italian armies in Italian North Africa. The other army, the Italian Fifth Army, was based in Tripolitania on the eastern side of Libya and faced French Tunisia.

When Italy joined World War II, the Tenth Army consisted of ten divisions. About four divisions were used when the army advanced into Egypt on 13 September 1940. Four infantry divisions and the "Malleti Group" marched one hundred kilometers in four days. The Italians stopped when they got to Sidi Barrani. The Malleti Group included most of the M11/39 medium tanks available in North Africa and numerous L3 tankettes. Defensive positions were prepared by the Italians in the form of several fortified camps.

In Operation Compass, the British counter-attacked in what initially was to be a raid against the Italian camps. Ultimately, the Italian positions in Egypt were completely overrun and the rest of the Tenth Army was constantly pushed further and further back into Italian Libya. Many Italian soldiers were forced to surrender once the British troops encircled them in static fortified garrisons at places like Bardia and Tobruk.

At the battle of Beda Fomm (6 February-7 February 1941), most of the remainder of the retreating Tenth Army was isolated by a small advance guard of Richard O'Connor's 7th Armoured Division.

O'Connor had had a force leave the coastal roads at Gazala and take an unreconnoitred shortcut across the desert to block the Italian army's retreat, while the Australian 6th Division continued the coastal pursuit. The 7th Armoured force was delayed by the harsh terrain, so a lighter, faster element was detached to complete the interception, leaving the tracked vehicles to follow. The first elements arrived at Msus late on the afternoon of 4 February and cleared the local garrison. During the following night and day, the advance continued and the British artillery and infantry were in position across the coast road by 4 pm on 5 February. The head of the retreating Italian column arrived 30 minutes later.

The Italians were stunned to find the British force blocking them at Beda Foum, whose strength they greatly over-estimated. With the Australians in pursuit, a desperate battle ensued, in which newly arrived M13/40 medium tank battalions were thrown against the British positions, at great loss. In the afternoon of the 6th February, the 7th Armoured Division's tanks had arrived and were now harassing the Italian eastern flank.

On the morning of 7 February, the Italians attempted a final, desperate attempt to break through. By this stage, the British units were almost out of food, petrol and ammunition. The British blocking line was almost breached, but they held and, convinced of the overwhelming size and strength of the blocking force, the encircled Italian units surrendered. The Tenth Army was destroyed. [cite book
last = John Keegan (ed)
first = John
authorlink =
coauthors = Kenneth Macksey
title = Churchill's Generals
publisher = Cassell Military
date = 1991
location = London
pages = pp 194-196
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0-304-36712-5 ]

Italian order of battle, Libya 1940

Commander - Marshal Rodolfo Graziani (to be replaced by General Mario Berti when he replaced Marshal Italo Balbo as the Governor-General of Libya)
Tenth Army (HQ Bardia)

Generale d'Armata Italo Gariboldi (Generale d'Armata Giuseppe Tellera from 23 December 1940)
10th and 12th Bersaglieri Regiments
12th, 26th and 55th Artillery Regiments
Various machine gun battalions (from 55th Savona, 17th Pavia, 27th Brescia and 27th Bologna Divisions)

Babini Armoured Brigade (57 M13 tanks, 3 Bersaglieri Battalions, Motorcycle Battalions, Artillery Regiment, 2 Antitank Companies, Engineer Company and logistics units)

XX Corps(HQ Giovanni Berta - now Al Qubah)

Generale di Corpo d'Armata Ferdinando Cona
60th Sabratha Division (Derna)
85th and 86th Infantry Regiments + 42nd Artillery Regiment (later 3rd Articelere AR)

Gruppo divisioni libiche (Libyan Group) (HQ Sidi Barrani)
Generale di Corpo d'Armata Sebastiano Gallina
2nd Ragrupamento Carristi (Tank Group) (M11/39s & L3s)

Colonello Trivioli
1st Libica Sibelle Division (Al Maktilah)
2nd Libica Pescatori Division (Tummar)
3rd Libica – Gruppo Malletti (Nibeiwa)
4th 3 Gennaio CCNN Division (Sidi Barrani)

XXI Corps(HQ Sofafi)
Generale di Corpo d'Armata Lorenzo Dalmazzo
V Btn (M13/40s), IV & LX Btns (L3s)
63rd Cirene Division (Rabia / Sofafi)
157th and 158th IR + 45th AR
64th Cantanzaro Division (Buq Buq)
141st and 142nd IR + 203rd AR

XXII Corps(HQ Tobruk)
Generale di Corpo d'Armata Petassi Manella
Fortress troops and artillery in Tobruk.
1st Ragrupamento Carristi (Tank Group) (M11/39s, M13/40s & L3s)

Colonello Aresca
61st Sirte Division (Tobruk)
69th and 70th IR + 43rd AR

XXXIII Corps(HQ Bardia)
Generale di Corpo d'Armata Annibale Bergonzoli
Frontier Guards and Fortress troops in Bardia.
1st 23 Marzo CCNN Division (along the coast between Buq Buq and Sidi Barrani)
219th and 233rd CCNN + 201st AR
2nd 28 Octobre CCNN Division (Sollum)
231st and 238th CCNN + 202nd AR
62nd Marmarica Division (covering the escarpment between Sofafi and Halfaya)
115th and 116th IR + 44th AR

Regia Aeronautica(as of 10 June 1940)
5th Squadra
Generale Felip Porro
10 Stormo: 31 x SM79
14 Stormo: 43 x SM81, 12 x SM79, 1 x BR20
15 Stormo: 21 x SM81, 37 x SM79, 3 x BR20
33 Stormo: 31 x SM79
2 Stormo: 60 x CR32, 25 x CR42
10 Gruppo: 27 x CR42
50 Stormo: 68 x BA65, 17 x RO.17, 23 x CA.31

Colonial Garrison
1 Gruppo: APC su Ghibli e av sahariana 32 x Ghibli
2 Gruppo: APC vari tipi battagli sahariana 27 various models

Air Observation64 Gruppo: 5 x RO 1 Bis, 9 x RO.37 Bis
73 Gruppo: 1 x RO 1 Bis, 8 x RO 37 Bis
143 Squadron (Mare): 6 x Cant Z.501 (flying boats)

References

ee also

* Military history of Italy during World War II
* Italian invasion of Egypt