campaign, landmark, interwar and Second World War
Operation Compass
Operation Compass was a campaign fought in 1940 at Sidi Barrani, in what is now Egypt; it ran into the following year. It was part of World War II, which ran from 1939 to 1945. The recorded result: British victory.
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Where it sits in World War II
Record
| Date | 1940 (year precision) to 1941 | |
|---|---|---|
| Place | Sidi Barrani, Egypt 31.611N, 25.926E | |
| Kind | Campaign, interwar and Second World War | |
| Territorial change | Recapture of western Egypt and occupation of Cyrenaica | |
Nearest engagements
- Battle of Sidi Barrani 1940, same recorded site
- Battle of Agagia 1916, 7.6 km S
- Battle of Nibeiwa 1940, 26 km S
- Operation Skorpion 1941, 71 km W
- Siege of Sollum 1915, 73 km W
In the same war
- Before: German attacks on Nauru 1940
- After: Battle of Nibeiwa 9 December 1940
- All 1155 engagements of World War II
Elsewhere in 1940
- the Blitz United Kingdom
- Bombing of Tokyo Japan
- Japanese invasion of French Indochina Vietnam
- Coventry Blitz United Kingdom
- Hundred Regiments Offensive China
Operation Compass is one of 4,429 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 144 in present-day Egypt.
Sources
Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q696018, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Operation Compass, revision 1383443050, read 2026-11-15, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.