During World War II, the North African Campaign, also known as the Desert War, took place in the North African desert from June 10, 1940 to May 16, 1943. It included campaigns in Libya and Egypt (Western Desert Campaign—most of which antedated involvement by any armed forces of the United States), Morocco & Algeria (known to the Allies as Operation Torch—primarily United States led operations keyed by amphibious landings staged directly from United States ports and territories) and the Tunisia Campaign (17 November 1942 - 13 May 1943) as First Army pushed east and the Eighth Army pushed west in converging pincer movements concluding with a complete defeat of the German and Italian forces in North Africa.
The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from Occupied Europe, until the United States entered the war, in 1941, and began direct assistance to Allied forces in North Africa, on May 11, 1942.
