Fort Capuzzo
| Fort Capuzzo/Ridotta Capuzzo | |||||
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| Part of Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War | |||||
 Map showing Fort Capuzzo |
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Fort Capuzzo (Ridotta Capuzzo) was a fort in the colony of Italian Libya, near the Libyan-Egyptian border and next to the Italian Frontier Wire. The Litoranea Balbo (Via Balbia) ran south from Bardia to Fort Capuzzo, 13 kilometres (8 mi) inland, west of Sollum, then east across the Egyptian frontier, to the port over the coastal escarpment. The fort was built during Italian colonial repression of Senussi resistance in the Second Italo-Senussi War (1923–1931), as part of a barrier on the Libya-Egypt and Libya-Sudan borders.
The Frontier Wire and a series of forts including Fort Capuzzo, were used to stop the Senussi from moving freely across the border. The fort had four crenellated stone walls around a yard, with living quarters on the edges and was the base for border guards and Italian army armoured car patrols. A track ran south from the fort, just west of the frontier wire and the border, to Sidi Omar, Fort Maddalena and Giarabub. The fort changed hands several times during the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) of the Second World War.
In 1922, Benito Mussolini continued the Riconquista of Libya, in the Second Italo-Sanussi War (1921–1931). The Frontier wire was built by the Italian army, under the command of General Rodolfo Graziani, in the winter of 1930–1931, as a means to repress Senussi resistance against the Italian colonisation. The frontier wire and fort system was used to hinder the movement of Senussi fighters and materials from Egypt. The wire comprised four lines of 1.7-metre (5.6 ft) high stakes in concrete bases, laced with barbed wire 320 kilometres (200 mi) long, just inside the border from El Ramleh on the Gulf of Sollum, past Fort Capuzzo to Sidi Omar, then south, slightly to the west of the 25th meridian east, the Libya-Egypt and Libya-Sudan borders. Three large forts at Amseat (Fort Capuzzo), Scegga (Fort Maddalena) and Giarabub and six smaller ones at El Ramleh on the gulf of Sollum, at Sidi Omar, Sceferzen, Vescechet, Garn ul Grein and El Aamara along the wire. The wire was patrolled using armoured cars and aircraft from the forts, by the Italian army and border guards, who attacked anyone seen in the frontier zone.
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