Capture of Kufra

The Capture of Kufra (French: Prise de Koufra, Italian: Cufra) was part of the Allied Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War. Kufra is a group of oases in the Kufra District of south-eastern Cyrenaica in the Libyan Desert. In 1940, it was part of the colony of Italian Libya Libia Italiana, which was part of Africa Settentrionale Italiana (ASI), which had been established in 1934. With some early assistance from the British Long Range Desert Group, Kufra was besieged from 31 January to 1 March 1941 by Free French forces from French Equatorial Africa which forced the surrender of the Italian and Libyan garrison.

Capture of Kufra
Part of Operation Compass, during the Second World War
UN map of Libya, Kufra (now Al Kufrah) to the south-east
Date 31 January – 1 March 1941 (1 month and 1 day) Location Kufra, Libya 24°11′N 23°17′E Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Free France United Kingdom	Italy  Libya
Commanders and leaders
Philippe Leclerc Pat Clayton	Capt. Colonna
Strength
1 FFF Battalion (350 men) 1 LRDG (76 men) 60 trucks	2 Italian Askari Company (310 men) 1 Auto-Saharan Company (120 men) 20 trucks 4 aircraft
Casualties and losses
4 killed 21 wounded	3 killed 4 wounded 282 captured 3 aircraft destroyed

The Oath

On 1 March, General Leclerc and his men swore the following oath,

Jurez de ne deposer les armes, que le jour ou nos couleurs, nos belles couleurs, flotteront sur la Cathedrale de Strasbourg.^[1]

Swear to not lay down arms, until the day when our colours, our beautiful colours, fly over Strasbourg Cathedral.

The oath was fulfilled when, on 23 November 1944, the 2nd Armoured Division, led by Leclerc, liberated the city of Strasbourg.^[1] A Spahi from Louis Dio's 5th Squadron was responsible for raising the Free French flag upon the Cathedral.

References

• "2 mars 1941: Le "serment de Koufra" et le triomphe de la France Libre" [The Testament of Koufra and the Glory of the Free French]. herodote.net. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
• Jennings, E. T. (2015). Free French Africa in World War II: The African Resistance (1st Engl. ed.). London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10704-848-5.
• Kelly, Saul (2002). The Hunt for Zerzura, the Lost Oasis and the Desert War. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6162-0.
• Le Clerc de Hauteclocque, Philippe (1948). Le Général Leclerc vu par ses compagnons de combat [General Leclerc Seen by his Fellow Soldiers] (in French). Paris: Éditions Alsatia. OCLC 3459863.
• Martel, Andre (1994). Histoire militaire de la France [Military History of France] (in French). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. ISBN 2-13-046074-7.
• Molinari, Andrea (2007). Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940–43. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-006-2.
• Mortimer, D. (July–August 2010). "Pirates of the Sand Seas: Britain's Legendary Long Range Desert Group". World War II. Leesburg, VA: Historynet.com World History Group. OCLC 46829545.

Further reading

• Michel, Jean-Paul; Brouillet Seefried, Monique (2025). Général Louis Dio. The Wartime Epic of One of Free France's Greatest Soldiers, 1940−1946. Warwick: Helion. ISBN 978-1-804517-62-8.
• Morgan, M. (2000). Sting of the Scorpion. Stroud: Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-2481-0.
• Pitt, Barrie (1986) [1980]. The Crucible of War: Wavell's Command. Vol. I (pbk. repr. Papermac, London ed.). London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-333-41385-7.