The Year Italy Joined the World War
Part 13: Operations Caesar Augustus and Vespasian, November 22 – December 5, 1940
The period of two weeks from November 22 to December 5 saw Caesar Augustus winding down to a close in most ways, with many of the forces involved being transferred over to the newly begun Operation Vespasian. British resistance on the ground was everywhere fairly light, or even nearly nonexistent, though the Mediterranean Fleet seemed to be growing for at least part of the time period, seemingly gaining another two carriers, the HMS Furious and Eagle, as well as at least one more battleship, the Malaya. This would go far to provoking Mussolini’s cautious strategy regarding the defeat of the Mediterranean Fleet.
On the 22nd of November, the final stages of the main part of Operation Caesar Augustus began, as two of Vercellino’s corps—Cei’s mobile corps, minus Bergonzoli, and Geloso’s infantry—commenced clearing the Nile delta of a British presence. This presence consisted of two infantry divisions, dug in along a multitude of inlets and rivulets. Vercellino’s plan was simply a two-pronged attack, one by Cei’s cavalry and the other by the infantry. The battles would go on for just over a week but there was only one real end in sight regardless. The British, isolated and with no chance of reinforcements, were defeated after suffering sixteen hundred casualties. The Egyptian coast had been completely secured by the 1st of December, and no British troops remained in Egypt except upriver, to the south.
Vercellino’s push to clear the Nile Delta.
As the battles in the north were taking place, Dall’Ora was pushing his corps deeper into Egypt’s southern reaches. Dall’Ora was simply looking for a good place to stop, though there were hints emanating from Vercellino that this would only be once Eritrea was reached—and, importantly, Port Sudan taken from the British to prevent them from easily supplying a potential future counteroffensive. This was a large task for only three divisions, but on the other hand the only British presence to their south that they knew of and which was directly in front of them was only a British corps headquarters, likely that which was in ostensible command of the British forces in the Delta. Operation Caesar Augustus would end only when a defensible position had been attained.
Dall’Ora’s corps pushing upriver.
Even as these battles and advances were going on in Egypt, the Regia Marina had pursued the Mediterranean Fleet to Tel Aviv
[author’s note: prior mention of Haifa was incorrect.] It seems that the British had more sense than to flee to Malta, but not enough to flee the sea altogether. An enormous amount of ships populated the harbor there, a great many of them transports. Campioni’s carrier wings attacked the Mediterranean Fleet in port, though with limited success. The sheer amount of ships meant that there was an enormous amount of flak in the air, and the carrier pilots suffered heavily. Nonetheless they could confirm that varying amounts of damage had been done to the battleships HMS Resolution and Malaya, whose presence had been previously unconfirmed, as well as the battlecruiser Repulse. The fleet carrier HMS Furious, also whose presence was also previously unconfirmed, however, escaped damage. By this point, what British ships actually were in the Mediterranean and which were not was a matter of some confusion, and no one, not even Mussolini, knew what proportion of the British capital ship fleet was present.
Campioni’s carrier pilots, commanded by Briganti, raiding Tel Aviv.
Also in late November, Operation Vespasian began. Vespasian represented an outgrowth of Caesar Augustus, but a necessary one, for Bergonzoli finally managed to cross the Suez Canal at Bir Gifgafa. In Vespasian’s initial stages, while fighting still raged in the Nile Delta, Bergonzoli’s one division was the sole one dedicated to the operation. His task was to secure the entire eastern bank of the Canal. This would secure the Canal for Italian use and allow future Italian reinforcements to cross it without a hitch. The Mediterranean Fleet was about to be trapped, permanently, in its namesake sea. It was a hostile sea.
Operation Vespasian begins, humbly.
By the 1st of December, the Delta had been cleared. Dall’Ora’s corps was also expanding its operations to the south, pushing along the Red Sea coast and up the Nile River. British resistance was localized and very weak: only that single corps headquarters was present to try to defend British colonial possessions against the Italian advance. Operation Caesar Augustus had but one aim left to accomplish, now that the Delta was secure and the Suez Canal crossed: to attain a defensible southern position. Vercellino dedicated only Dall’Ora’s corps to that task, sending Geloso’s and Cei’s corps eastward to join Vespasian.
Caesar Augustus continues, albeit in reduced form.
Vespasian, now reinforced by three cavalry and three infantry divisions, took on its own life at last. Bergonzoli’s division was out in the vanguard, and was tasked to push toward Gaza. Of Cei’s three cavalry divisions, two were sent to invest Tel Aviv from the south and one sent on a torturous route south into the Sinai Peninsula before crossing over into the Transjordan and securing that area. Geloso’s infantry was still entering into the new area of operations and did not have any missions set out for them yet. Mussolini’s and Vercellino’s basic plan with Vespasian was to secure all of Palestine and the Transjordan and hit up against the Iraqi frontier. Iraq had so far remained neutral in the war, thus allowing for a natural stopping point. Tel Aviv would not be attacked immediately. Its garrison was believed to consist of at least two divisions, though this was not important. Instead, Mussolini wished to conduct a naval and aerial siege of the port, destroying the Mediterranean Fleet while in harbor rather than risking his ships, particularly his capital ships which were so few and so expensive, in open battle.
The plan for the first phase of Operation Vespasian.
In addition to everything mentioned, at sea there was a further slow attrition of naval assets on both sides. Italy during this period lost two submarine flotillas, making for three since the beginning of the war, but inflicted on the British in return the loss of a light cruiser. Given Mussolini’s attitude toward submarines, he was essentially using them as an emergency picket line, they were essentially doing their job of making contact with the enemy, distracting them and partly even keeping them in port. However, it would require a much quicker rate of destruction for the Mediterranean Fleet to be incapacitated any time soon.
