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{{Short description|Military road between Italian Libya and western Egypt}}
[[File:AfricaMap1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Map showing "Via della Vittoria" from Bardia to Sidi Barrani (click to enlarge)]]

The '''Via della Vittoria''' was a military road between [[Bardia]] in [[Italian Libya]] and [[Sidi Barrani]] in western [[Egypt]].

== Characteristics ==

The "Via della Vittoria" (Victory Road), was built by [[Italy|Italian]] [[engineer]]s during [[World War II]], between September and December 1940. The road went from [[Sidi Barrani]], [[Egypt]], to the border of [[Italian Libya]] and connected to the [[Libyan Coastal Highway|Via Balbia]]. It was {{convert|11|m|yd}} wide and asphalted.

It was officially called ''Via della Vittoria nell'Africa Settentrionale Italiana'' in order to distinguish it from another "Via della Vittoria" built in 1939 in Ethiopia/Africa Orientale Italiana.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dprs.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/16.html |title=Le strade italiane in Africa Orientale Italiana (in Italian) |access-date=2014-12-16 |archive-date=2023-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114145034/http://dprs.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/16.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== History ==

The Italian Army invaded Egypt in summer 1940 and penetrated until Sidi Barrani. The need of communication in order to supply the Army forced the construction of this new road.{{sfn|Hall|2015|p=281}}

{{Quotation|Proceeding in an orderly, colonial fashion, the Italian commander in Egypt, General Mario Berti, deployed the advanced units of his Army (1st and 2nd Libyan, 3 January Blackshirt, Cirene and Catanzaro Divisions, as well as Maletti’s motorised brigade group) in a ring of strong-points around Sidi Barrani, and began work on extending the Via Balbia into Egypt....|Edmund Hall{{sfn|Hall|2015|p=281}}}}

In fall 1940 Italian Marshal [[Rodolfo Graziani]] ordered his Army in western Egypt to complete this new coastal road extending the Via Balbia {{convert|60|mi|km|sigfig=1|order=flip}} inside Egypt, even in order to create an infrastructure for a planned Italian invasion of the [[Nile Delta]] in January/February 1941.

In December 1940 the new road was used by the [[United Kingdom|British]] forces during [[Operation Compass]]. In the next two years the road was damaged by the continuous changes in the [[front (military)|front]] between [[Axis powers|Axis]] forces under [[Erwin Rommel]] and the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]].

== See also ==
* [[North African campaign]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite report|last=Hall|first=E. |title=The Italian Army in Egypt during World War II |year=2015 |publisher=Egypt Study Circle |location=UK |url=http://egyptstudycircle.org.uk/Articles/p280QC223.pdf |access-date=30 March 2015}}
{{refend}}

{{Italian colonial empire}}
{{Italian Libya}}

{{coord missing|Egypt}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Via Della Vittoria}}
[[Category:Roads in Egypt]]
[[Category:Roads in Libya]]
[[Category:Italian fascist architecture]]
[[Category:Libya in World War II]]
[[Category:Italian Cyrenaica]]
[[Category:Western Desert campaign]]


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