Battle of Sidi Barrani

Battle of Sidi Barrani
Part of Operation Compass, during the Second World War

Western Desert
Date10–11 December 1940
(1 day)
Location31°36′39″N 25°55′32″E / 31.61083°N 25.92556°E / 31.61083; 25.92556
Result British victory
Belligerents

 United Kingdom

 Australia
 Free France
 Italy
Commanders and leaders
Strength
36,000 men
120 guns
275 tanks
142 aircraft
60,000 men
250 guns
120 tanks
331 aircraft
Casualties and losses
624 2,194 killed
2,286 wounded
38,300 prisoners
237 guns
73 tanks
c. 1,000 vehicles
Sidi Barrani is located in Egypt
Sidi Barrani
Sidi Barrani
Sidi Barrani, Egypt

The Battle of Sidi Barrani (10–11 December 1940) was the opening battle of Operation Compass, the first big British attack of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Sidi Barrani, on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt, had been occupied by the Italian 10th Army, during the Italian invasion of Egypt (9–16 September 1940) and was attacked by British, Commonwealth and imperial troops, who re-captured the port.

While retreating from Sidi Barrani and Buq Buq, the 10th Army divisions crowded on the coast road and were easy targets for HMS Terror and two gunboats, which bombarded the Sollum area all day and for most of the night of 11 December. By late on 12 December, the only Italian positions left in Egypt were at the approaches to Sollum and the vicinity of Sidi Omar.

The British took 38,300 prisoners for a loss of 624 men and continued the five-day raid on Italian positions in Egypt, eventually capturing Cyrenaica and most of the 10th Army between Sollum and at the Battle of Beda Fomm, south of the port of Benghazi.