The Battle of Bardia was fought between 3 and 5 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass, the first British military operation of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War. It was the firs
Australian troops enter Bardia, 4 January 1941
Captured Italian L3 tankettes. In the background is the township of Bardia and its small harbour. Lower Bardia is in the middle distance; upper Bardia is atop the cliffs in the background.
Senior officers of the 6th Division. Front row, left to right: Brigadier Arthur Allen, 16th Infantry Brigade; Major General Iven Mackay; Brigadier Horace Robertson, 19th Infantry Brigade. Back row, left to right: Colonel Frank Berryman, GSO1; Brigadier Stanley Savige, 17th Infantry Brigade; Colonel Alan Vasey, AA&QMG. All six had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the Great War.
Gloster Gladiator biplane aircraft from No. 3 Squadron RAAF, returning to a landing ground near Sallum, after a patrol over Bardia.
Operation Compass was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War. British metropolitan, Imperial and Commonwealth forces attacked the Italian
Battle of Bardia
…The Battle of Bardia was fought between 3 and 5 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass, the first British military operation of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War. It was the first battle of the war in which an Australian…
Italian L3/33 tankettes in North Africa, April 1941.
A Matilda tank of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment in the Western Desert.
Matilda tank with crew displaying a captured Italian flag