https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Raid_on_BardiaRaid on Bardia - Revision history2026-08-17T23:48:11ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raid_on_Bardia&diff=364661&oldid=prev2603:8080:B09:DD1:25C3:FC0B:3B03:4327: robot: Create/upgrade articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.2022-11-04T04:08:43Z<p>robot: Create/upgrade articles. If there is a mistake please report on my <a href="/wiki/User_talk:Bot" title="User talk:Bot">talk page</a>.</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Amphibious landing in North Africa during the Second World War}}<br />
{{Infobox military conflict<br />
| conflict = Raid on Bardia<br />
| partof = the [[Siege of Tobruk]], during the [[Second World War]]<br />
| image = File:British LCA commandos.jpg<br />
| image_size = 300px<br />
| caption = British commandos in landing craft<br />
| date = 19/20 April 1941<br />
| place = [[Bardia]], [[Cyrenaica]]<br />
| coordinates = {{coord|31|46|N|25|06|E|display=INLINE,title}}<br />
| casus = <br />
| territory = <br />
| result = Allied victory<br />
| combatant1 = {{flag|United Kingdom}}<br />{{flag|Australia}}<br />
| combatant2 = {{flag|Nazi Germany|name=Germany}}<br />{{flagcountry|Fascist Italy (1922–1943)}}<br />
| commander1 = {{flagicon|UK}} [[Lieutenant Colonel]] Colvin<br />
| commander2 = {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[Erwin Rommel]]<br />{{flagicon|Fascist Italy (1922–1943)}} [[Rodolfo Graziani]]<br />
| strength1 = [[No. 7 Commando|A Battalion Layforce]]<br />[[Royal Tank Regiment|RTR Troop]]<br />{{HMS|Glengyle||6}}<br />{{HMS|Coventry|D43|6}}<br />{{HMAS|Stuart|D00|6}}<br />{{HMAS|Voyager|D31|6}}<br />{{HMAS|Waterhen|D22|6}}<br />{{HMS|Triumph|N18|6}}<br />
| strength2 = <br />
| casualties1 = 1 killed<br />70 captured<br />
| casualties2 = 1 artillery battery destroyed<br />1 supply dump destroyed<br />
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Western Desert}}<br />
}}<br />
<br />
The '''Raid on''' '''Bardia''' was an amphibious landing at the coastal town of [[Bardia]] in [[North Africa]] by [[British Commandos]] over the night of 19/20 April 1941 during the [[Second World War]]. The raid was carried out by [[No. 7 Commando]], also known as A Battalion [[Layforce]], together with a small detachment from the [[Royal Tank Regiment]]; the raiders were supported by five navy ships and a submarine. The raid destroyed an Italian [[artillery battery]] and a supply dump. It was deemed a success despite the loss of 71 men. The more lasting strategic effect of the raid was the diversion of a German armoured brigade from the front line to provide rear area security.<br />
<br />
==Background==<br />
{{main|Layforce}}<br />
In January 1941, an ''ad hoc'' force of 2,000 commandos, known as Layforce, was sent from [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]] to take part in raiding operations in the [[Mediterranean]].<ref name= ch15>Chappell, p.15</ref> Under the command of [[Colonel]] [[Robert Laycock]], the force comprised [[No. 7 Commando]], [[No. 8 (Guards) Commando]], [[No. 11 (Scottish) Commando]], a [[troop]] from [[No. 3 Commando]] and the [[Folbot]] section. On their arrival in Egypt in March 1941, the force was strengthened by the amalgamated [[No. 50 Commando]] and [[No. 52 Commando]]. To disguise from the [[Axis powers]] that a large force of commandos had arrived in the theatre, 7, 8, 11 and 50/52 Commandos were camouflaged as A, B, C and D Battalions Layforce.<ref>Chappell, pp.15–20</ref><ref>Saunders, p.52</ref><br />
<br />
==Prelude==<br />
<br />
===''Unternehmen Sonnenblume''===<br />
{{Main|Operation Sonnenblume}}<br />
<br />
In early 1941, [[Operation Compass]] was a big British and Commonwealth victory against the Italian troops in Egypt and Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya. General [[Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell|Archibald Wavell]] ordered a large part of [[XIII Corps (United Kingdom)|XIII Corps]] (Lieutenant-General [[Richard O'Connor]]) to [[Greece]] as part of [[Operation Lustre]] in the [[Battle of Greece]]. [[Adolf Hitler]] responded to the Italian disaster by ordering ''Unternehmen Sonnenblume'' (Operation Sunflower), the dispatchof the new [[Afrika Korps]] to North Africa as reinforcements for the Italians, to prevent their collapse. The ''Afrika Korps'' had fresh troops, better equipment and tanks and a charismatic commander, [[Erwin Rommel]]. When Rommel arrived in North Africa along with six Italian divisions, including the ''[[102nd Motorized Division "Trento"|Trento]]'' and ''[[132nd Armored Division "Ariete"|Ariete]]'', his orders were to remain on the defensive.<ref>Wilmott (1944), p. 65</ref><ref>Bauer (2000), p. 121</ref><br />
<br />
In the first Italo-German offensive, the Axis force raided and quickly defeated the British at [[El Agheila]] on 24 March, exploited the success and by 15 April had pushed the British back to the Libyan–Egyptian border at [[Sallum|Sollum]] and [[Siege of Tobruk|besieged Tobruk]]. Lieutenant-General [[Philip Neame]], the new commander of XIII Corps (re-named HQ Cyrenaica Command after the transfers to Greece), O'Connor, and Major-General [[Michael Gambier-Parry]], commander of the [[2nd Armoured Division (United Kingdom)|2nd Armoured Division]], were captured. The Western Desert Force HQ took over under Lieutenant-General [[Noel Beresford-Peirse]], who was recalled from East Africa. An armoured brigade group of the 2nd Armoured Division had been used to provide forces for the Greek campaign and the rest of the division in Cyrenaica had lost most of its tanks to mechanical breakdowns and fuel shortage. Several Axis attempts to seize Tobruk failed and a front line was formed on the Egyptian border.<ref>Playfair 1956 pp. 15–43, 2, 153–159</ref> In April 1941, the plans for the deployment of Layforce were changed; their first operation would be a raid on [[Bardia]].<ref name=ch15/><br />
<br />
==Raid==<br />
[[File:HMS Glengyle.jpg|right|thumb|alt=A black and white photograph of HMS Glengyle, an infantry assault ship|HMS ''Glengyle'', an infantry assault ship]]<br />
The Bardia raid was planned for the night of 19/20 April for A Battalion, Layforce to disrupt Axis lines of communication and inflict as much damage as possible to installations and equipment. The plan called for the simultaneous landing of A Battalion and a troop of tanks from the [[Royal Tank Regiment]] on four beaches by [[Landing Craft Assault]] (LCA). The landing force would be transported to the area by {{HMS|Glengyle||6}}, escorted by the [[anti-aircraft cruiser]] {{HMS|Coventry|D43|6}} and the [[destroyer]]s {{HMAS|Stuart|D00|6}}, {{HMAS|Voyager|D31|2}} and {{HMAS|Waterhen|D22|2}}. Off Bardia, one LCA could not be lowered and there were difficulties releasing the others. When they did get going and approached the beaches, they were expecting to see lights to guide them in, which were to have been set up by the Folbot section but the Folbot section had been delayed ''en route'' when [[friendly fire]] caused {{HMS|Triumph|N18|6}}, the [[submarine]] transporting them, to submerge and take evasive action.<ref>Saunders, p.53</ref><br />
<br />
The main landing force, running late, were landed on the wrong beaches.<ref name= ch16>Chappell, p.16</ref> The landings were unopposed and the commandos made their way inland to destroy their objectives. Bardia was found to be empty of Italian or German forces and faulty intelligence resulted in some objectives being missed, as they were not where they were supposed to be or they did not exist. The commandos managed to destroy an Italian supply dump and an Italian coastal [[artillery battery]] before returning to their LCAs to re-embark. The raid would have passed without loss to the commandos but for the death of a commando officer by friendly fire from an over-alert commando and the capture of 70 men who, after getting lost, ended up on the wrong evacuation beach and became [[prisoners of war]].<ref name= ch16/><br />
<br />
==Aftermath==<br />
<br />
===Analysis===<br />
Despite the limited results and seventy casualties, the raid on Bardia had considerable strategic effect. The Germans diverted the greater part of an armoured brigade from Sollum, where it was beginning to exert heavy pressure on the [[Western Desert Force]] and kept it for some time guarding rear areas.<ref>Mountbatten, p. 35</ref> Layforce was less fortunate, being used as normal infantry, a role for which it was neither equipped nor trained. As one of the few reserve forces available, it were sent to take part in the [[Battle of Crete]]; fighting as the rearguard they lost 600 men before being evacuated.<ref>Mountbatten, p. 39</ref> C Battalion was not sent to Crete but instead to [[Lebanon]], where they lost over 120 men fighting in the [[battle of the Litani River]].<ref name=ch16/> The steady drain of manpower without the replacement system of normal [[British Army]] battalions meant that Layforce was left in an ineffective state and was disbanded in July 1941.<ref>Chappell, p. 17</ref><br />
<br />
===Commemoration===<br />
The author [[Evelyn Waugh]], who took part in the raid, related in an article he wrote for ''[[Life Magazine]]'' in November 1941, that the Germans "sent a strong detachment of tanks and armoured cars to repel the imagined invasion". In his diary published in 1976, a very different picture emerged of incompetence by the commandos, against virtually no opposition.<ref>Aitchison & Lewis, pp. 62–63</ref><br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* [[List of British military equipment of World War II]]<br />
* [[List of German military equipment of World War II]]<br />
* [[List of Italian military equipment in World War II]]<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
{{Reflist|2}}<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{refbegin}}<br />
* {{cite book |first1=Jean |last1=Aitchison |last2=Lewis |first2=Diana M. |title=New Media Language |publisher=Routledge |chapter=Reportage, Literature and Willed Credulity by John Carey |year=2003 |isbn=0-415-28303-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/newmedialanguage0000unse }}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Chappell |first=Mike |title=Army Commandos 1940–1945 |year=1996 |series=Elite |number=64 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=London |isbn=1-85532-579-9}}<br />
* {{cite book |last1=Saunders |first1=Hilary St. George |last2=Mountbatten |first2=Louis |authorlink=Louis Mountbatten |title=Combined Operations: The Official Story of the Commandos |publisher=[[HMSO]] |location=London |edition=Read Books |year=2007 |orig-year=1943 |isbn=978-1-4067-5957-0}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Saunders |first=Hilary St. George |title=The Green Beret: The Commandos at War |orig-year=1949 |year=1959 |publisher=Landsborough |location=London |oclc=878525272}}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
{{portal|World War II}}<br />
* [http://www.combinedops.com/Bardia_North_Africa.htm BARDIA NORTH AFRICA]<br />
* [http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=257 Bardia Raid]<br />
<br />
{{British Commando raids of the Second World War|state = collapsed}}<br />
{{World War II}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bardia, Raid on 1941}}<br />
[[Category:Conflicts in 1941]]<br />
[[Category:1941 in Libya]]<br />
[[Category:World War II British Commando raids]]<br />
[[Category:Battles involving the United Kingdom]]<br />
[[Category:Libya in World War II]]<br />
[[Category:North African campaign]]<br />
[[Category:Western Desert campaign|*]]<br />
[[Category:Battles involving Italy]]<br />
[[Category:Military history of Italy during World War II]]<br />
[[Category:Amphibious operations of World War II]]<br />
[[Category:April 1941 events]]<br />
[[Category:Amphibious operations involving the United Kingdom]]</div>2603:8080:B09:DD1:25C3:FC0B:3B03:4327