Bir Hakeim

Bir Hakeim is a remote oasis in the Libyan desert, and the former site of a Turkish fort. From May 26 to June 11, 1942, the First Free French Division of General Marie Pierre Koenig defended the site against the Italian and German Afrika Korps of General Erwin Rommel. Resisting for 16 days, the Free French gave the retreating British Eighth Army enough time to reorganize, allowing them to subsequently defeat the Afrika Korps at the First Battle of El Alamein.