On August 4, 1940, 17 Italian infantry battalions, supported by armor and artillery, invaded British Somalia from previously occupied Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Two days later, the Italian army occupied Hargeisa and other places, and on August 11, they began to attack the main position of the British army in Tuagan.

There were only 1,500 British troops stationed in Somalia, and they were forced to evacuate by boat from Berbera to Aden from August 15 to 17.

On August 20, all British Somalia was occupied by Italian troops.

In Sudan (its geographical location belongs to North Africa, and combat operations are related to East Africa) and Kenya, the Italian army successively captured the towns of Kassala and Garabat in Sudan, and the town of Moyale in Kenya.

However, widespread guerrilla warfare by the people of British Somalia, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia forced the Italian army to halt its offensive in this area.

The British army took the opportunity to expand its troops in Sudan and Kenya to 150,000 people, and also strengthened Egypt's defense forces.

At the end of August, the British aircraft carrier "Glorious", a battleship, and two cruisers sailed into Alexandria with the support of the Gibraltar Squadron.

After a period of preparation, the British army divided into two groups and launched a large-scale counterattack in East Africa in January 1941.

On January 19, the British Army on the Northern Route launched a counterattack from northeastern Sudan towards Eritrea, and on March 27, they captured Karen, the gateway to Asmara, the capital of Eritrea.

On April 1, British troops occupied Asmara.

On April 8, the Italian troops stationed at Massawa Naval Base surrendered. The British troops captured 15,000 Italian troops and sank many Italian ships.

The British troops on the southern route broke into Italian Somalia on January 24, 1941, occupied Mogadishu on February 25, and then moved north to Ethiopia.

On March 25, British troops occupied Harar.

On April 6, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, was captured.

On May 18, the Duke of Aosta led the main force of the Italian army to surrender on the Amba Alaghi Mountains in northern Ethiopia.

In northwest Ethiopia, the remaining Italian troops who fought stubbornly surrendered on November 28.

Italian East Africa fell completely into British hands.

Italy's aggressive expansion in North Africa came later than in East Africa.

The Italian army has two armies stationed in Libya - the 10th Army has nine divisions deployed on the eastern border of Libya, preparing to attack Egypt; the 5th Army is deployed in the west, covering the direction of Tunisia.

In order to strengthen the defense of North Africa, the British army transferred some Commonwealth troops to Egypt and transported 1/3 of the tanks from Dunkirk there.

When the Italian army launched its offensive, the British Nile Army in North Africa had 2 divisions and 2 brigades, one of which was deployed on the Eli border.

On September 13, 1940, the Italian 10th Army crossed the Liai border with 6 infantry divisions and 8 armored battalions and launched an attack on the British army.

The British army retreated across the board after a short period of resistance.

On the same day, the Italian army captured Saloum and three days later captured Sidi Burani.

However, the Italian army became increasingly difficult to supply and was forced to stop the offensive.

Afterwards, the British troops continued to retreat to their preset positions near Port Matruh.

As a result, a 130-kilometer-wide intermediate zone was formed between the two armies.

After the Italian army occupied Sidi Balani, they began to turn their attention to the Greek battlefield.

On October 28, Italian troops invaded Greece and continued fighting in Africa.

The British Nile Army took advantage of this opportunity to adjust its deployment and add two divisions to prepare to expel the Italian army from Egypt.

On December 9, the British army launched a counterattack with limited targets against the Italian 10th Army with 1 armored division and 1 infantry division.

The British army unexpectedly passed through the Italian army's gap and attacked the Italian army's rear.

The command of the Italian army failed, and a large number of Italian troops surrendered without a fight.

On December 11, the British army recaptured Sidi Burani.

On December 17, Saloum was captured.

The Italian army hurriedly evacuated Egypt and retreated to Libya.

The British army pursued the victory and occupied the Libyan fortress of Bardia on January 5, 1941, and captured Tobruk on January 22.

On February 11, part of the German 5th Light Armored Division arrived in Libya as the first batch of troops to go to Africa.

The next day, Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel flew to Tripoli, where he met with the Italian Commander-in-Chief, General Garibaldi.

On the 18th, the German army officially named the force sent to Libya the "German African Army", with Rommel as its commander.

In order to strengthen this African army, Hitler strengthened the 5th Light Armored Division with 1 tank regiment, and decided to form a 15th Armored Division to go to North Africa.

On April 4, the German-Italian forces first captured Benghazi, and then surrounded the Tobruk Fortress on April 11.

By mid-April, the German-Italian forces advanced to the border with Liege and occupied the entire territory of Cyrenaica outside Tobruk.

Rommel hoped to receive reinforcements before launching an attack on Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

However, Hitler was prepared to concentrate all available forces to invade the Soviet Union and no longer send troops to North Africa.

There the battle line stabilized near the border with Lie.

On April 30, the British troops holding on to their stronghold in Tobruk crushed a new attack by the German and Italian forces.

On the border of Lie, the British army launched a counterattack on May 15 and advanced to Salum and Caputso Fort.

As the German and Italian forces stepped up their resistance, the British troops withdrew to their starting positions two days later.

On June 15, after careful preparations, the British army launched another counterattack in an attempt to recapture the Halfaya Pass and border fortifications in order to advance to Tobruk and rescue the besieged stronghold.

The British army made a detour to the southeast of Halfaya Pass and advanced northward through Kaputso Fort.

Soon, the German 15th Armored Division, with the support of the 5th Light Armored Division, finally stopped the British counterattack.