Desert Fort

As the Ottoman Empire expanded into North Africa during the Middle Ages, they established castles in an effort to consolidate their power in the region. These castles were built around vital oases, important cities and seaside ports.

Even though the ancient Ottoman Turks no longer used them, the old desert castles, now decayed or in ruin, still offered their services to those who occupied them. When Italy conquered Libya they used these forts as bases of operations, garrisoning them with Mitraglieri (machine-gun) companies, while Autosahariana (mobile truck columns) patrolled the wastes between.

The British and French recognized the importance of locations such as Forte el-Taj, the Italian fort at Kufra. Others, such as the one in Murzuk were also seen as potential targets. Controlling these allowed further operations in the Sahara and thus became important in the early stages of the war.

The deep desert was not the only place where the ancient forts appeared during the war. Some forts, such as the ones in Mechili and Capuzzo were the focus of conventional battles between the British, Germans, and Italians during the back-and-forth campaigns in Cyrenaica.

Furthermore, desert forts were not limited to those found in Libya. In the French mandate of the Levant (Syria and Lebanon), the Vichy French made expert use of desert forts around Merdjayoun, holding up the British advance. A series of forts made the region particularly hard to assault, forcing the Australians and Indians there to slowly capture castle by castle.

Though ancient and obsolete, desert forts still performed an important role in the defense of vital desert locations.

Contents:

four pre-painted Wall Sections

one pre-painted Entrance Section

four pre-painted Corner Sections