Fort Capuzzo was a fort in the colony of Italian Libya, near the Libya–Egypt border, next to the Italian Frontier Wire. The Litoranea Balbo ran south from Bardia to Fort Capuzzo, 8 mi (13 km) inland, west of Sollum, then east across the Egyptian frontier to the port over the coastal escarpment. The fort was built during the Italian colonial repression of Senussi resistance in the Second Italo-Senussi War (1923–1931), as part of a barrier on the Libya–Egypt and Libya–Sudan borders.
Rolls-Royce Armoured Car at the Frontier wire, 1940
Aerial photograph of Fort Capuzzo.
Defence of Fort Capuzzo by Italian anti-aircraft gunners, 15 June 1941
The main gate of Fort Capuzzo late in the campaign.
The Frontier Wire was a 271 km (168 mi) obstacle in Italian Libya, along the length of the border of British-held Egypt, running from El Ramleh, in the Gulf of Sollum south to Jaghbub parallel to the 25th meridian east, the Libya–Egypt and Libya–Sudan borders. The frontier wire and its line of covering forts was built by the Italians during the Second Italo-Senussi War (1923–1931), as a defensive system to contain the Senussi population, who crossed from Egypt during their resistance against Italian colonisers.
A British Rolls-Royce Armoured Car at the wire, 26 July 1940
Light Tanks Mk VI, 1940 (E443.2)
Officers of the 11th Hussars with a Morris CS9 armoured car relax in the shade of a beach umbrella, 26 July 1940