Italian Libyan Colonial Division

The formation was reorganized into the 1st Libyan Division by the beginning of Italy's entry into World War II.

By December, the division was dug in at Maktila and was forced to surrender during Operation Compass.

Following the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12, Italy occupied the coastal zones of the twin provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, constituting modern Libya.

From the beginning the Italian Army made use of the former Turkish organised Arab gendarmerie as auxiliaries, augmenting them with regular colonial units recruited amongst the indigenous peoples of Libya.

A battalion of Libyan parachutists was raised shortly before World War II, the first force of this kind to be created in Africa.

The Italian empire before WWII is shown in red. Pink areas were annexed/occupied for various periods between 1940 and 1943. Italian concessions and forts in China are not shown.