El Agheila العقيلة al-ʿUqayla | |
|---|---|
Town | |
  El Agheila Location in Libya | |
| Coordinates:30°15′21″N19°11′58″E / 30.25583°N 19.19944°E /30.25583; 19.19944 | |
| Country |  Libya |
| Region | Cyrenaica |
| District | Al Wahat |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
El Agheila (Arabic:العقيلة,romanized: al-ʿUqaylapronunciationⓘ) is a coastal city at the southern end of theGulf of Sidra andMediterranean Sea in far westernCyrenaica,Libya. In 1988 it was placed inAjdabiya District; remaining there until 1995. It was removed from Ajdabiya District in 1995 but in 2001 it was placed back into Ajdabiya District.[1] In 2007, El Agheila was placed within the enlargedAl Wahat District.
El Agheila is best known as the site of severalSecond World War battles during theNorth African Campaign.
El Agheila is the site of the Roman fortified town ofAnabucis[2] and its Greek precursorAutomala.[3]
During the Italian occupation of Libya, the town was the site of anItalian concentration camp forBedouins. The camp was just south of town and housed over 10,000 inmates. Thousands of the Bedouins starved to death in the camp run by the Italian colonial troops.[4]
In February 1941, El Agheila was taken by theBritishWestern Desert Force following their destruction of theItalian Tenth Army inOperation Compass. The British halted there while most of the Western Desert Force was moved to deal with theAxis'sinvasion of Greece. This gave theGermanAfrika Korps underErwin Rommel a chance to arrive and launch an offensive which retook El Agheila in March and drove the British all the way back toTobruk and theEgyptian frontier. Rommel further fortified the city and used it as a base for his operationsagainst Tobruk. After being driven back from Tobruk followingOperation Crusader in December 1941, the Afrika Korps fell back to El Agheila, halting their retreat and the British advance there.
In January 1942, Rommel launched a new offensive at El Agheila, which again drove the British back towards Tobruk. This time hecaptured Tobruk and advanced into Egypt before being halted atEl Alamein in July 1942 anddecisively defeated there in November. The Afrika Korps was broken, and its retreating remnantsgave up El Agheila for the final time to the advancingBritish Eighth Army in December 1942.
During theLibyan Civil War, the town was taken byanti-Gaddafi forces in early March, retaken by forces loyal toMuammar Gaddafi in mid-March, and retaken again byNTC forces in late March only to be once again taken by government forces a couple of days later. It was retaken a third time by anti-Gaddafi forces in August.[citation needed]
