Action at Mechili 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 24 January 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Libya | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Operation Compass | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 32.1833, 22.2667 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The action at Mechili was an engagement between units of the British 7th Armoured Division of the Western Desert Force and Italian forces of the 10th Army during Operation Compass.
The Italian Army redeemed itself from the campaign's previous disastrous fiascoes. The previous British advantages in reconnaissance, maneuver, and artillery support were greatly reduced due to the British supply shortages in fuel and artillery ammunition, the battle field was now hilly and broken terrain, and they had not yet set up forward air fields. The Italian army positioned well, set up effective fields of fire, maneuvered well, had successful local counter-attacks, and inflicted casualties commensurate with what they received. They delayed the British for days, and retreated in good order with lively and effective rearguard actions.
At the coast the British pursued West along the Via Balbia and inland pursued WSW to cut the Italian retreat at the Battle of Beda Fomm.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action at Mechili (revision 1380852828), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Derna (1912) 1912 · 73 km
- Battle of Derna (1805) 1805 · 73 km
- Siege of Derna 2016 · 73 km
- Battle of Derna (2018–2019) 2019 · 73 km
- Battle of Bayda 2011 · 81 km
- Battle of Gazala 1942 · 114 km
Other battles of the Operation Compass
All 4 battles of the Operation Compass →
Browse more: battles in Libya · Africa · World War II era battles