Battle of Bardia 1941

Involvement of Australians

Bardia was a small harbour town 30 km west of the Libyan border with Egypt. The Italians had developed it as a military outpost since colonisation at the start of the twentieth century. They fortified both the harbour and the town before World War II.

The Allied battle for Bardia was part of Operation Compass. British commanders planned the operation. The action involved British and Indian troops at first and then the 6th Division of the 2nd AIF.

By 9 December 1940, the Allies had begun to push the Italians back out of Egypt. The Italians had entered the country from Libya a few months before. When the British commander saw how successful the start of Operation Compass was, he sent his forces farther into Italian Libya.

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The 6th Division was part of the Allied attack on Bardia on 3 January 1941.

Besides the Australians in the 6th Division, No. 3 Squadron RAAF fought the Italian Air Force.

Units of the RAN supported ground forces during Operation Compass. The sailors were on board British Royal Navy ships that bombarded the Italian land defences.

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Strategy

Operation Compass relied on rapid movement and manoeuvre. Allied soldiers encircled and then eliminated Italian units.

The planners made sure the Allied land, air, and sea forces all worked together. Making enough supplies available was important to the success of the operation.

Operation Compass has been studied by military planners around the world as an example of a successful assault on a heavily defended and fortified position.

Australian soldiers attacked the Italians early in the morning when it was still very cold:

The troops wore their greatcoats to keep out the intense cold of the desert at early morning and entered the fight singing and shouting. After blowing holes through wire obstacles, the infantry captured a number of enemy posts within half an hour – thus establishing a breach in the perimeter.

[Gavin Long, To Benghazi, Canberra, 1952]

The Australian units concentrated on taking individual Italian posts. Each post had between 3 and 100 Italian soldiers. This approach was different from a very large attack that might involve assaulting the entire ring of defences set up by the Italians to defend the town.

You can find maps of the battle in Chapter 8 - The Battle of Bardia, Australia in the War of 1939-1943 Series 1 Army Vol 1: To Benghazi.

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Outcome

Bardia was a major victory, following a period when the Allies had suffered nothing but military defeats in Europe. The Germans had defeated the Polish, French, British, Belgian and Netherlands armies. They now occupied most of Western Europe.

The action at Bardia was important to Australians. It was both a victory and also the first land battle the Australian Army fought during World War II.

Compass was planned as a limited operation. However, the Allies were so successful they kept advancing westwards. The Australians captured the port of Tobruk on 22 January 1941. The town is famous in Australian wartime history because of the siege there later that year. The Allies advanced all the way to Benghazi. This was 800 km from where they started.

It's a sad fact that victories and defeats in war are often measured in deaths, wounded, captured and missing. About 40,000 Italian soldiers were captured at Bardia. The battle cost 130 Australian lives, with another 320 men wounded.

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Report for people back home

This contemporary showreel was recorded for Australians to watch in cinemas back home.

The 4-minute film reports on the Battle of Bardia, from the start of the naval bombardment through to the movement of Italian soldiers captured in the desert after Bardia fell to the Allies.

It's interesting to note the reporter's emphasis on fake news reported by the Italian forces.

Experiences of Australians

Conditions for soldiers

Before the battle, the AIF troops had been training in Palestine. When they first arrived from Sydney early in 1940, they had little equipment. They did not have lanterns to see at night. Instead, the soldiers used cigarette tins with grease or kerosene in them.

By the time of Bardia, the situation was better. But technology was still lacking in some areas. The British and Australian airmen flew outdated biplanes. The Italians' weapons were often old, too. Many Australian units did not even have radios for communication.

Before the attack, the Australian troops lacked drinkable water (too salty) and had little variety of food. The men shared their food to make better use of what they had.

The men also had difficulties in keeping themselves clean. One soldier mixed oil with the sauce from tinned herrings to replace shaving soap. They also suffered from the ever-present dust and flies.

There was a mixture of human emotions and experiences by Australians at Bardia and during Compass. Soldiers saw their friends die and get wounded. Many felt compassion for strangers who were suffering on the battlefield.

He was crying as he nursed the head of a wounded soldier. He said that it was his brother. I stopped to set a signal for the stretcher-bearers … I was pretty sure that the wounded boy was dead but hadn’t the heart to say so.

[Desert Boys: Australians at war from Beersheba to Tobruk and El Alamein, Sydney, 2011, p 369]

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Attitudes towards the Italians

The Australians had differing attitudes toward the Italians.

Many Australian soldiers and officers thought the Italians were poor warriors. So did the Australian press. Later, German officers believed it too.

More recently, historians such as Craig Stockings have pointed out that the Italian Army was poorly armed and lacked even basic training at the beginning of the war.

Unfortunately, some Australians showed poor behaviour in North Africa, such as racism, looting, and stealing from prisoners of war:

We were always encumbered with heaps of prisoners and I for one had wristlet watches up both arms and a pocket full of money and rings lifted from Dago officers.

[quoted in Tim Bowden, Larrikins in Khaki: tales of irreverence and courage from World War II diggers, p 81]

But there was respect among the Australians for some Italians. A 6th Division medical officer found captured Italian doctors had helped a wounded Australian, as well as their own men:

Dr Trucca… said that he had been a surgeon – when I thanked him – burst into tears and said, “Doctors the same everywhere.”

[Jennifer Selby, ‘The Kind Eyelids of Night hid my Tears’, Wartime Issue 49, p 22].

Comparison to original Anzacs

Some Australian soldiers wrote in their private diaries and letters that they were nervous about performing as well as their fathers – the original Anzacs in World War I.

Back home in Australia, the comparison was also made. A 1941 musical tune included the words:

Sons of the heroes of Gallipoli – our own lads are heroes now.

[Song of Victory: of Bardia and Tobruk, words and music by A. Dorothy Erwin, 1941]

Australian newspapers also linked the fighting in North Africa to the campaigns of the 1st AIF during World War I. The editor of the Brisbane Telegraph wrote that the 6th Division had a 'secret weapon'. It was the desire to live up to the 'fighting traditions of the old AIF'.

Celebrations of victory

It's no surprise that, in January 1941, Australia and the soldiers of the 6th Division celebrated. Bardia and Operation Compass were stunning victories. A small Commonwealth force had defeated a much larger Italian one.

Some Australian troops believed future victories were going to be easy. They celebrated by wearing captured Italian uniforms, getting drunk and partying. Some senior Australian and British officers made complaints, and warnings were issued.

After the battle

The 6th Division did not stay much longer in North Africa. In March 1941, the men joined Operation Lustre in Greece and Crete.

In the same month, German units from Europe joined the Italian forces in North Africa. German General Erwin Rommel commanded the combined forces. Australian and other Allied forces became very familiar with his name. One of his first successes was in forcing the Allied forces back towards Egypt.

Less than 3 months after they had captured Tobruk from the Italians, the Australian troops were back there. This time, Germans and Italians surrounded them on 3 sides on land. One of the most famous episodes of the war in North Africa had begun – the Siege of Tobruk.