‘From mechanisation may be born a David to slay a Goliath’ an assessment of the impact of Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart’s indirect approach on Operation Compass 1940 – 1941

Abstract

In the Second World War the Germans introduced a new form of warfare: Blitzkrieg, whereby rapid mechanised assaults supported by aircraft swept all before the advancing Wehrmacht. The topic chosen for discussion focuses on an often overlooked and indeed forgotten victory in the North African Campaign in the Second World War. History documentaries, Hollywood films and vast numbers of books have focused on the duel in the desert between Montgomery and Rommel, culminating in the Second Battle of El Alamein, almost endlessly. Prior to Rommel’s arrival in the desert, however, a series of battles took place as a part of a far larger operation, Operation Compass, where some 30,000 British and Empire Forces eventually destroyed the 250,000 strong Italian 10th Army. . It shall be the purpose of this dissertation to assess whether through Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart’s strategy of the ‘Indirect Approach’ the British mechanised forces were indeed the deciding factor in the outcome of Operation Compass during the opening phase of the North African campaign 1940-1941.