Italian monument, Tripoli, Libya, 1943

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North Africa, 1943.

Fascist monument erected in Tripoli in 1929 to mark the seventh year of Italian rule in Libya. Under Fascist rule, thousands of Italian people were relocated to Libyan cities like Tripoli and to work on newly constructed agricultural settlements in fertile coastal areas. While the ideological motivation was to create a perfect Fascist state, echoing the past glories of the Roman Empire, the settling of Italians in Libya was also designed to reduce overpopulation and poverty in Italy.

Tripoli had been a key port for Axis (German and Italian) forces during the North African campaign; it eventually fell to the Allies in January 1943. While 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) had fought its way to Tripoli after the Battle of El Alamein, the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), sailed into the port in June 1943. The regiment had been withdrawn to Egypt to reorganise, re-equip and train for an assault on the island of Sicily. The men of 3rd County of London Yeomanry, now part of an invasion fleet, were only in Tripoli for a week before re-embarking for Sicily, as part of Operation HUSKY.

From an album containing 241 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).