Operation Appearance was a British landing in the British Somaliland Protectorate against troops of the Italian Army. The Italian conquest of British Somaliland had taken place seven months previously, in August 1940. The British had withdrawn from the protectorate after a delaying action at the Battle of Tug Argan. This withdrawal, after the disastrous conclusion of the Battle of France and the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, had repercussions among British leaders. It led Prime Minister Winston Churchill to lose confidence in General Archibald Wavell, the British commander in the Middle East, which culminated in Wavell's sacking on 20 June 1941.
Indian soldiers at the Recapture of Berbera, March 1941.
Photograph of the Berbera landscape (2012)
Dhow sailing in the Indian Ocean, 2009
British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate, was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. During its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Abyssinia. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa.
Sultans of the Isaaq clan in Hargeisa, Somaliland
Mohamoud Ali Shire Sultan of the Warsangali clan
Aerial view of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's main fort in Taleh, the capital of his Dervish movement
Somaliland Camel Corps between Berbera and Odweyne in 1913.