ans in 1939.
As a consequence, there was in Cyrenaica and mostly in Benghazi a huge economic development in the second half of the 1930s. Benghazi was going to be connected in 1940 by a new railway to Tripoli, but in summer of that year war started between Italians and British and all the improvements were stopped.
World War II
During the actions of Operation Compass during World War II, Benghazi was captured by the Australian 6th Division on 6 February 1941.
It was recaptured by Axis powers, led by General Erwin Rommel of the German Africa Corps, on 3 April. It was taken again during Operation Crusaderby the British on 24 December only to change hands again on 29 January 1942 in the Africa Corps's push to Egypt and the fateful Battle of El Alamein � 106 kilometres (66 miles) from Alexandria, Egypt � in which British troops led by General Bernard Montgomery defeated the Africa Corps in the decisive battle of the North African portion of World War II; the Africa Corps remnants then made a long steady retreat across Libya passing through Benghazi for the final time.
On 20 November, Benghazi was captured by the British Eighth Army and thereafter held by the British until over 250,000 German soldiers and their Italian allies in North Africa surrendered in May 1943. This after being hemmed into the Tunisian port cities of Tunis and Bizerte, by the British advancing from the east and an Anglo-American army, under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, advancing from the west, this being America's entry into the European-North African theatre of World War II. This effectively ended Axis operations in the North African portion of World War II.
Contemporary Benghazi
Heavily bombed in World War II, Benghazi was later rebuilt with the country's newly found oil wealth as a gleaming showpiece of modern Libya. It became the capital city of Emirate of Cyrenaica (1949�1951) under Idris Senussi I. In 1951,
