Operation Compass is now buried in dusty history books and military archives, slipping into ‘ancient history’ along with the fall of the Roman Empire, Henry VIII’s six wives, the French Revolution, and all that other stuff that happened long ago. Histories of World War II seldom mention it and it is overshadowed by greater events and more famous battles, but it is one of the most interesting operations of the war and worthy of our attention. It was fought from December to February, in the winter of 1940/41.
Two things stand out: first, Compass resulted in an unexpected and completely lopsided victory, in which the winners were outnumbered by the losers by 5 to 1; second, it was fought with such antiquated weapons that it now seems remarkable that it was fought at all.
The Battle
Compass took place over two months from December 1940 to February 1941, now 84 years ago—ancient history indeed. Compass began as a limited five-day operation by the British Western Desert Force to push the Italian 10th army out of its fortified positions on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Operations against these positions began on December 10th, 1940.
The Italians were routed and retreated. The British pursued them, encircling and capturing Tobruk and chasing the retreating Italians all the way round the coast to Benghazi and Ajedabia. Meanwhile a small armored ‘flying column’ known as Combe Force, under the command of Colonel John Combe, raced across the desert to cut the Italians off.
The Italians surrendered on February 9th.
The Western Desert Force had 35,000 men and included an Indian Division and an Australian Division. The Italian 10th Army had approximately 150,000 men, 10 times as many guns as the British, and twice as many aircraft and tanks.
Italian prisoners marching into captivity
This was therefore one of the most disproportionate victories of the war. The 10th Army suffered 20,000 killed and wounded and 130,000 taken POW. WDF losses were less than 2,000.
The Weapons
Operation Compass was fought with a hodge-podge of whatever equipment and supplies happened to be in Egypt at the time. One should remember that the British had lost most of their armor at Dunkirk and the best of their remaining equipment was being held in England for fear of a German invasion.
The initial British attacks on the Italian fortified bases included bombardment from the sea by Royal Navy ships including the monitor HMS Terror and the Insect class gunboats HMS Aphis and HMS Ladybird—essentially whatever ships the navy could scrape together,
Monitors were obsolete warships designed to serve as floating gun platforms. Terror was commissioned in 1916. They were light-cruiser-sized, slow, and not very seaworthy, but armed with the same massive 15-inch guns that battleships used.
Aphis and Ladybird were Insect class gunboats launched in 1915 and 1916 respectively. Gunboats were designed to operate in rivers and had a shallow 4-foot draft, and powerful engines to overcome river currents. (I wonder if the sailors serving in the Insect class HMS Tarantula could ever truly relax, or whether those serving in HMS Gnat had a tendency to scratch.)
Air support was similarly thrown together. The principal fighter available was the Gloster Gladiator biplane, a superb, rugged aircraft which had the misfortune of coming into production just as the new generation of vastly superior monoplanes such as the Spitfire and the Messerschmitt 109 were entering service. Air support was also provided by the small, unsuccessful Bristol Bombay bomber, which carried its bombs in racks under the wings. It is said that the crews sometimes carried additional bombs in the fuselage and tossed them out of the door, but I don’t know if this is true.
The tanks and armored vehicles used by both sides were an eclectic collection of obsolete designs stretching back to World War I. The Italian tanks in particular were underpowered, under-armored, and under-gunned.
In contrast, the 25-ton British Matilda II tank was a modern design. Alas, it could proceed across the desert only at a stately 9 mph. Speaking of stately, I would have chosen to fight in style—in a 1915 Rolls Royce Armored Car!
Operation Compass was one of the great victories of World War II. The British commanding general was Archibald Wavell. On November 28th, before the initial battle to dislodge the Italian garrisons began, he wrote with remarkable foresight:
‘I do not entertain extravagant hopes of this operation, but I do wish to make certain that if a big opportunity occurs we are prepared morally, mentally and administratively to use it to the fullest.’
Wavell’s remarkable success was short-lived. Following this disaster, Hitler sent Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, to Africa, and Wavell suffered his own decisive defeat.
