View source for Bir Hakeim

{{Short description|Site of an Ancient Roman well and Ottoman fort in the Libyan Desert}}
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{{Unreferenced|date=June 2019|bot=noref (GreenC bot)}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name           = Bir Hakeim
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| alternate_name = {{langx|ar|بئر حكيم|translit=biʾr ḥakīm}}
| image          = Bir Hacheim 1990.jpg
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| caption        = Bir Hakeim in 1990
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| coordinates    = {{coord|31|35|38|N|23|28|48|E|region:LY|display=inline,title}}
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| location       = [[Libya]]
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'''Bir Hakeim''' ({{langx|ar|بئر حكيم|translit=biʾr ḥakīm|lit=wise well}}, {{IPA|ar|biʔr ħaˈkiːm|pron|Be2ir_7akeem.ogg}}, sometimes written ''Bir Hacheim'') is  the site of a former [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] fort in the [[Libya]]n desert. The [[Fortification|fort]] was built around the site of an ancient Roman well, dating to the period when the oasis was part of [[Ottoman Tripolitania]]. It is about {{cvt|160|km|mi}} west of [[Sollum]] on the Libyan coast and {{cvt|80|km|mi}} south-east of [[Gazala]]. Bir Hakeim is best known for the [[battle of Bir Hakeim]], which took place there during [[World War II]].

The battle occurred during the [[Battle of Gazala]] (26 May – 21 June 1942) when the [[1st Free French Division|1st Free French Brigade]] of ''Général de brigade'', future [[Maréchal de France]] [[Marie-Pierre Kœnig]] defended the site from {{nowrap|26 May – 11 June}} against much larger German and Italian forces, commanded by ''Generaloberst'' [[Erwin Rommel]].

Capitaine [[Pierre Messmer]] was one of the French officers of the [[13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion|13th half-brigade]] of the [[French Foreign Legion]]. Messmer had graduated from [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|St Cyr]] Military School. He was commanding the 3rd battalion of the Legion. Many of his soldiers were from Spanish and German origin, and many of them Jews{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}. The [[Kaddish]] was said most evenings at Bir-Hakeim. The other half-brigade of the 1st Free French Division included units that did not belong to the French Foreign Legion, such as the Bataillon de Marche n°2 de l'Afrique équatoriale française (BM2), the Bataillon du Pacifique ([[French Polynesia]], [[New Caledonia]] and [[New Hebrides]]), the 1st Bataillon of [[Infanterie de Marine]], the 1st Regiment of [[Artillerie]], the 1st Bataillon of [[Fusiliers Marins]] in association with troop D of the 43rd Battery of the 11th City of London Yeomanry Regiment and the 22nd North-African French Armored Company.

Pierre Messmer was the first French Foreign Legion soldier to be elected to the [[Académie Française]]. He would later become [[Prime Minister of the French Republic]] under President [[Georges Pompidou]].

During these 14 days, 3700 French soldiers immobilized 40 000 Axis soldiers. Out of these 3700, 800 died or went missing. This half-brigade had already fought the German Army at [[Battles of Narvik|Narvik]] on 27 May 1940. 

Although the [[Afrika Corps]] captured [[Tobruk]] ten days later, the delay imposed on the Axis offensive by the defence of Bir Hakeim influenced the cancellation of [[Operation Herkules]], the planned German invasion of the [[Suez Canal]] and [[Malta]]. The stand by the Free French gave the defeated and retreating British [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]] enough time to recover from its heavy losses and to reorganize. The British then stopped the German advance at the [[First Battle of El Alamein]]. The Algerian and Moroccan units of the 1st Free French Division gave birth to the [[French Expeditionary Corps]] under the command of Général [[Alphonse Juin]], future [[Maréchal de France]], and Général [[Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert]]. They also took part in the [[Battle of Monte Cassino]]. There the 3rd Division d'Infanterie Algérienne (3rd DIA) and the Groupement des Tabors Marocains of Général [[Augustin Guillaume]] were recognized in breaking through the German defences of the [[Gustav Line]].

This battle would serve as the namesake for [[Bir-Hakeim (Paris Métro)]], a station on the [[Paris Métro]], and [[Pont de Bir-Hakeim]], a bridge.

Bir Hakeim had been the site of [[Bir Hakeim rescue|a daring rescue during World War I]]. On 14 March 1916 Major [[Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster|Hugh Grosvenor]] led an [[Armored car (military)|armoured car]] squadron, part of the [[Western Frontier Force]], to Bir Hakeim after having travelled 120 miles across the desert from Sollum. There they rescued 91 British POWs from [[TSS Hibernia (1899)|HMS ''Tara'']] and HMT ''Moorina''. German [[U-boat]]s had captured the British sailors after torpedoing their vessels and had turned their prisoners over to the local [[Senussi]], who were allied with the Germans.

As a result of the [[Italo-Turkish War]] (1911-1912), Italy captured the Ottoman [[Ottoman Tripolitania|Tripolitania Vilayet]] (province), which became known as [[Italian Libya]]. The Italian army stationed a unit of its [[Zaptié]] [[Méhariste|Meharista]] at Bir Hakeim.

==See also==
* [[Battle of Bir Hakeim]]
* [[Battle of Gazala]]
* [[Western Desert Campaign]]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ottoman Tripolitania]]
[[Category:History of Cyrenaica]]
[[Category:Ottoman fortifications]]
[[Category:Oases of Libya]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Libya]]