MEMOIR 44 TWO PREPRINTED BATTLEMAPS BATTLE OF BARDIA, LIBYA & TAUKKYAN ROADBLOCK

Description: MEMOIR 44 TWO PRE-PRINTED BATTLEMAPS: 1) BATTLE OF BARDIA, LIBYA2) TAUKKYAN ROADBLOCK, BURMA ORIGINAL PAPER MAPS - MINT - NEVER PLAYEDBILINGUAL: ENGLISH AND FRENCH NOTE: MAPS ONLY 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 Army formation took part, the first to be commanded by an Australian general and the first to be planned by an Australian staff. The 6th Australian Division (Major General Iven Mackay) assaulted the strongly held Italian fortress of Bardia, Libya, assisted by air support and naval gunfire and under the cover of an artillery barrage. The 16th Australian Infantry Brigade attacked at dawn from the west, where the defences were known to be weak. Sappers blew gaps in the barbed wire with Bangalore torpedoes and filled in and broke down the sides of the anti-tank ditch with picks and shovels. This allowed the infantry and 23 Matilda II tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment to enter the fortress and capture all their objectives, along with 8,000 prisoners. In the second phase of the operation, the 17th Australian Infantry Brigade exploited the breach made in the perimeter and pressed south as far as a secondary line of defences known as the Switch Line. On the second day, the 16th Australian Infantry Brigade captured the township of Bardia, cutting the fortress in two. Thousands more prisoners were taken and the Italian garrison now held out only in the northern and southernmost parts of the fortress. On the third day, the 19th Australian Infantry Brigade advanced south from Bardia, supported by artillery and the six operational Matilda tanks. Its advance allowed the 17th Australian Infantry Brigade to make progress as well and the two brigades reduced the southern sector of the fortress. The Italian garrisons in the north surrendered to the 16th Australia Infantry Brigade and the Support Group of the 7th Armoured Division outside the fortress. In all, some 36,000 Italian prisoners were taken. The victory at Bardia enabled the Allied forces to continue the advance into Libya and capture almost all of Cyrenaica, which led to Operation Sonnenblume, German intervention in the fighting in North Africa, changing the nature of the war in the theatre. --- The Taukkyan Roadblock refers to a significant engagement during World War II that took place in Burma (now Myanmar). This battle occurred as part of the larger Burma Campaign, where Allied forces, primarily from the British Commonwealth, were fighting against Japanese forces for control of Burma. The Taukkyan Roadblock was a critical confrontation that took place near the village of Taukkyan, which is located north of Rangoon (now Yangon). The Japanese forces had established a roadblock to cut off the Allied retreat along the main road leading to Rangoon. The engagement was part of the larger Battle of the Pegu Yomas, which occurred in the early months of 1942 as the Japanese advanced rapidly through Burma, pushing the British and Indian forces into retreat. During this roadblock, Allied forces made desperate attempts to break through the Japanese positions to continue their withdrawal towards India. The intense fighting at the Taukkyan Roadblock exemplified the brutal and chaotic nature of the Burma Campaign, where terrain, weather, and the determined resistance of the Japanese made every movement challenging. Eventually, the Allied forces managed to break through the Japanese roadblock, but the overall campaign saw significant Allied losses and led to the eventual fall of Rangoon to the Japanese. The Burma Campaign continued to be a tough and prolonged struggle until the eventual Allied victory in 1945.

Price: 16.95 USD

Location: PANAMA CITY

End Time: 2025-01-09T03:36:52.000Z

Shipping Cost: 25.55 USD