| Original caption: “Latest pictures of the British advance in the Western Desert. Masses of Italian prisoners being marched back (in some cases with only one soldier guard) after being captured. The ruins in the background are that of Sidi Barrani.” In constructing the fortifications around Sidi Barrani after their September 1940 offensive into Egypt, Italians had left an unprotected-and unpatrolled gap of 15 miles between 2 main positions. It was here, 30 miles from the sea, that Commonwealth forces decided to test the mettle of Mussolini’s legions early in December. Planning for the attack was both meticulous and imaginative. With great secrecy, the field commander, Lieutenant General Richard O’Connor (August 21, 1889 – June 17, 1981), General Officer Commanding the Western Desert Force, cached 5 days’ worth of food, gasoline, and ammunition in desert cisterns between Mersa Matruh and the Italian camps. Then, on the morning of December 7, he sent his 2 highly mobile divisions – the United Kingdom Royal Army 7th Armored and the Indian 4th Infantry Division, supported by a regiment of the 7th’s Matilda tanks— forward on a front more than a mile wide. They collected the hidden supplies and spent the night in the open desert, resting for the attack. The following day, an Italian Fiat CR.42 Falco reconnaissance plane spotted the attacking formations as they approached the Italian line. They made no attempt to attack the nearest Italian positions but drove straight through the gap between the 2 fortified camps. The pilot was Lieutenant Colonel Vittorio Revetra (???? – ????), Commander of the Regio Aeronautica’s fighter squadrons, and he immediately radioed Marshal Graziani at Headquarters. To Revetra’s astonishment, Graziani serenely told him to “let me have that in writing.” Although Graziani later asserted that he passed the word to his subordinates in the field, no 1 attempted to do anything about the advancing enemy. That night, the British and Indians penetrated the gap between the Rabia and Nibeiwa camps and halted a few miles to the west. Shortly after 7 the next morning, December 9, the Italian defenders of Nibeiwa were brewing coffee and baking rolls for breakfast when the 1st Matildas burst into camp. Shells from the tanks’ 2-pounder guns smashed a score of Carro Armato M13/40 tanks parked just outside the compound. Return fire from Italian antitank guns merely bounced off the British armor. The camp commander, General Pietro Maletti (May 24, 1880 – December 9, 1940), rushed from his tent with a submachine gun and went down mortally wounded, a bullet in his lung. Other Italian officers exhibited less courage as the Allies took control of Nibeiwa and wheeled north toward the other positions. At Maktila, on the coast, a white flag went up after the 1st bursts of gunfire. “Sir, we have fired our last cartridge,” the camp commander solemnly advised a British officer. He was standing next to a huge supply of ammunition. Over the next 3 days, practically the entire Italian force in Egypt was cut off. So many Italians were surrendering – 39,000 of them, including 4 generals – that a British battalion commander simply reported his Prisoner of War haul as “five acres of officers, two hundred acres of other ranks.” These extraordinary doings brought a change in British plans: O’Connor had originally intended only a 5-day raid to test the Italians; now the probe became a major offensive. Photo by Number 1 Film and Photo Section General Officer Commanding Captain Geoffrey Keating (August 25, 1914 – January 30, 1981), Number 2 Army Film and Photography Unit, 8th Army. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0728.jpg |
| Image Size | 390.96 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2643 x 1862 |
| Photographer | Geoffrey John Keating |
| Photographer Title | Number One United Kingdom Royal Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | December 16, 1940 |
| Location | |
| City | Sidi Barrani |
| State or Province | Matrouh |
| Country | Egypt |
| Archive | Imperial War Museum |
| Record Number | E 1378 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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