Battle of Agordat (1941) 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 26 January 1941 – 31 January 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Eritrea | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | East African Campaign | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 15.5486, 37.8867 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Agordat was fought near Agordat in Eritrea from 26 to 31 January 1941, by the Italian army and Royal Corps of Colonial Troops against British, Commonwealth and Indian forces, during the East African Campaign of the Second World War. The British had the advantage of breaking Italian codes and cyphers before the offensive and received copious amounts of information from Italian sources on the order of battle and plans of the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) and the Italian army.
After the garrison of Italian and colonial troops at Kassala in Sudan was ordered to withdraw in mid-January, the British offensive into Eritrea due in February 1941 began in mid-January instead. Agordat was an excellent defensive position and the British advance was slowed by delaying actions and mined roads but the attack began on 28 January on the left (northern) flank, which was repulsed. Determined fighting took place on the hills and plain below until 31 January, when the British attacked behind four Matilda tanks and Bren Gun Carriers, which easily destroyed the Italian Fiat M11/39 tanks and forced the infantry to retreat.
To avoid being cut off the Italians began a disorderly retreat to Keren, leaving behind 1,000 prisoners, several guns and 14 knocked out tanks; another 1,000 men were taken during the British…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Agordat (1941) (revision 1378202364), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Keren 1941 · 66 km
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- 2010 Eritrean–Ethiopian border skirmish 2010 · 134 km
- Battle of Halai 1894 · 157 km
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Other battles of the East African Campaign
- Battle of Nambanje 1917
- Battle of Narungombe 1917
- Battle of Rumbo 1917
- Battle of Lioma 1918
- Northern front, East Africa, 1940 1940
- Battle of Culqualber 1941
- Battle of Gondar 1941
- Battle of Keren 1941
- Siege of Saïo 1941
- Battle of Kidodi
All 25 battles of the East African Campaign →
Browse more: battles in Eritrea · Africa · World War II era battles