Timimi التميمي At Timimi | |
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Village | |
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  Timimi Location in Libya | |
| Coordinates: 32°20′N23°03′E / 32.333°N 23.050°E Coordinates: 32°20′N23°03′E / 32.333°N 23.050°E | |
| Country |  Libya |
| District | Derna |
| Population (2006) [1] | |
| • Total | 4,667 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
Timimi, At Timimi (Arabic : التميمي) or Tmimi, is a small village in Libya about 75 km east of Derna and 100 km west of Tobruk. It is on the eastern shores of the Libyan coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.
Because its underground water is salty, it was always a place of little importance, and its population in 2006 was 4,667. However, its situation improved after the Charruba–Timimi Road was paved between 1975 and 1985; it is now at the crossroads of the Charruba–Timimi Road and the Derna-Tobruk road.
The Greek historian Herodotus said that Cyrene was founded in the mid-7th century BC by a group of Greek immigrants from Thera. These settlers under Battus first landed along the Gulf of Bomba (now the Gulf of Timimi) and stayed there for years before moving to Cyrene. [2] [3]
The settlement at Timimi was known in antiquity as Paliurus (Greek : Παλίουρος, Palíouros) after its nearby river, in turn named after the plants growing within its marshes. Its name was changed following its conquest by the early Muslim Caliphate in AD 642. [4]
During World War II's African campaign, German general Erwin Rommel and his troops reached Timimi on 3 February 1942, stopping there until 26 May 1942, when Rommel began the Battle of Gazala. [5]
Cyrenaica or Kyrenaika, is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, was part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into Libya Pentapolis and Libya Sicca. During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as Barqa, after the city of Barca.
Operation Sonnenblume was the name given to the dispatch of German troops to North Africa in February 1941, during the Second World War. The Italian 10th Army had been destroyed by the British, Commonwealth, Empire and Allied Western Desert Force attacks during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941). The first units of the new Deutsches Afrikakorps departed Naples for Africa and arrived on 11 February 1941. On 14 February, advanced units of the 5th Light Afrika Division, Aufklärungsbataillon 3 and Panzerjägerabteilung 39 arrived in Tripoli, Libya and were sent immediately to the front line east of Sirte.
Tobruk or Tobruck is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000.
The siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days in 1941, after Axis forces advanced through Cyrenaica from El Agheila in Operation Sonnenblume against Allied forces in Libya, during the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) of the Second World War. In late 1940, the Allies had defeated the Italian 10th Army during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) and trapped the remnants at Beda Fomm. During early 1941, much of the Western Desert Force (WDF) was sent to the Greek and Syrian campaigns. As German troops and Italian reinforcements reached Libya, only a skeleton Allied force remained, short of equipment and supplies. The defenders quickly became known as the Rats of Tobruk.
The Western Desert campaign took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with the Italian declaration of war and the Italian invasion of Egypt from Libya in September. Operation Compass, a five-day raid by the British in December 1940, was so successful that it led to the destruction of the Italian 10th Army over the following two months. Benito Mussolini sought help from Adolf Hitler, who sent a small German force to Tripoli under Directive 22. The Afrika Korps was formally under Italian command, as Italy was the main Axis power in the Mediterranean and North Africa.
The Battle of Gazala was fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Libya, from 26 May to 21 June 1942. Axis troops of the Panzerarmee Afrika consisting of German and Italian units fought the British Eighth Army composed mainly of British Commonwealth, Indian and Free French troops.
Jaghbub is a remote desert village in the Al Jaghbub Oasis in the eastern Libyan Desert. It is actually closer to the Egyptian town of Siwa than to any Libyan town of note. The oasis is located in Butnan District and was the administrative seat of the Jaghbub Basic People's Congress. Supported by reservoirs of underground water and date production, the town is best known for its hard-won self-sufficiency. Idris of Libya was born in Jaghbub on 12 March 1890.
Gazala, or ʿAyn al-Ġazāla, is a small Libyan village near the coast in the northeastern portion of the country. It is located 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Tobruk.
The Battle of El Agheila was a brief engagement of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. It took place in December 1942 between Allied forces of the Eighth Army and the Axis forces of the German-Italian Panzer Army, during the long Axis withdrawal from El Alamein to Tunis. It ended with the German-Italian Panzer Army resuming its retreat towards Tunisia, where the Tunisia Campaign had begun with Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942).
Italian Cyrenaica was an Italian colony, located in present-day eastern Libya, that existed from 1911 to 1934. It was part of the territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911, alongside Italian Tripolitania.
The 17th Infantry Division "Pavia" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Pavia was formed in on 27 April 1939 and named after the city of Pavia. The Pavia was classified as an auto-transportable division, meaning it had some motorized transport, but not enough to move the entire division at once. The Pavia had its recruiting area and regimental depots in the Romagna and its headquarters in Ravenna. Its two infantry regiments were based in Cesena (27th) and Ravenna (28th), with the division's artillery regiment based in Ravenna. Shortly after its formation the division was sent to Sabratha in Italian Libya. It participated in the Western Desert campaign and was destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein.
Zawiat at-Taban, or Taban ; also An-Nayan or Wadi Sammalus, is a check point in the District of Jabal al Akhdar in north-eastern Libya. It is located on the cross-roads between the Charruba–Mechili–Timimi desert road and the Marawa–Wadi Sammalus.
Operation Skorpion from 26 to 27 May 1941, was a military operation during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The operation was conducted by Axis forces under the command of Colonel Maximilian von Herff and British forces under Lieutenant-General William "Strafer" Gott. A counter-attack was made on British positions at Halfaya Pass in north-western Egypt, which had been captured during Operation Brevity (15–16 May).Unternehmen Skorpion was the second offensive operation commanded by Rommel in Africa.
The Libyan Coastal Highway, formerly the Litoranea Balbo, is a highway that is the only major road that runs along the entire east-west length of the Libyan Mediterranean coastline. It is a section in the Cairo–Dakar Highway #1 in the Trans-African Highway system of the African Union, Arab Maghreb Union and others.
Mechili is a small village in Cyrenaica, Libya and the site of a former Turkish fort. It is nearly 274 km (170 mi) east of Benghazi and 80 km (50 mi) west of Timimi.
Bomba is a village in eastern Libya on the Gulf of Bomba. It is located 61 km (38 mi) south of Derna.
Tacnis or Taknis, Tècnis, also is a small town in Jebel Akhdar region in north eastern Cyrenaica, Libya. It's located 127 km (79 mi) east of Benghazi. It is on the inner road between Marj and Lamluda. There is a minor road connecting the town to the north with Libyan Coastal Highway. There also an indirect road connecting it with Charruba to the south.
Darnah Province was one of the provinces of Libya under Italian rule. It was established in 1937 with the official name: "Commissariato Generale Provinciale di Derna". Derna province was called only "Darnah District" after World War II.
Maturba is a town in eastern Libya in the Derna District. It is located at 32.575739n, 22.761505e, 27 km (17 mi) south of Derna and 557 miles from Tripoli and the city's population is 8,130.
Kambut, sometimes is known as Gambut, is a village in eastern Libya, some 50 km (31 mi) east of Tobruk. It is a site of an old military airfield in World War II.
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