Cyrenaica

Discussion in 'North Africa & the Med' started by chipm, Jun 30, 2021.

  1. chipm

    chipm Well-Known Member

    The name has always intrigued me for some reason. Perhaps because it was from the time of WW2 and is no longer used........Silesia might be similar, although i guess the name is still in use today, somewhat.?

    Anyway.
    I think it has been documented that there was a certain hostility toward the British Military in Egypt, due to The British political hold on Egypt and Suez. I suppose it would be accurate to say there was some Pro-German sympathies in Egypt.?

    Was there anything similar in Cyrenaica.?
    Did the Italians/Germans have to battle any kind of sabotage or added difficulties due to the problems the Italians had created by occupying that part of North Africa.
    Did the people, in that part of Libya, harbor bad will toward the Italians and their allies.?
    Thank You
     
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  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  3. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    This is kind of an oblique answer, but "Popski" (Vladimir Peniakoff) worked on establishing an intelligence network amongst the Arabs in Libya - in Cyrenaica - starting in March 1942. There are about 150 pages devoted to this in his book Popski's Private Army.
     
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  4. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    There was substantial resistance against the Germans and Italians, based on the Italian suppression of the Senussia in the 1920s and early 30s, which had approached genocide levels. This resistance was met with the usual, summary executions etc. In particular during periods of military back-and-worth there was also a lot of violence against civilians, with Italian forces summarily executing Arabs, and Arabs murdering, raping and pillaging Italian civilians. On top of that, the bombing of Libyan cities by the RAF caused heavy (by the standards of the population numbers) civilian casualties.

    The British created a Libyan-Arab force based on members of this resistance.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
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  5. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    The Sayed Idris el Sannusi made contact with the British within a month of the fall of France. The British raised an auxiliary force - the Libyan Arab Force (Senussi) from his followers who had escaped from the Italians and sought sanctuary in Egypt. . The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 84 names who served in the Libyan Arab Force. This was renamed the Cyrenaica Defence Force in 1943.

    The Sennusi were a moslem fundamentalist sect founded in the 1790s with the aim of returning Islam to its original purity cleansed of modern heresies.
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03071844309419525?journalCode=rusi19
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2021
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  6. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    Idris became King of United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1969.

    I know about the Libyan Arab Force because about fifteen years ago I took a very diverse group from a boys school (11-16 - i.e.no sixth form) on a WW1 battlefield tour. A teenaged Libyan refugee put his name into the CWGC database in one of the terminals at the Thiepval visitor centre and lo and behold there was someone with his name who died fighting for Britain in 1941.
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2021
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  7. chipm

    chipm Well-Known Member

    Very Interesting and it definitely answers my question.
    Thank You Both :)
     
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