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{{Short description|British Army field fortification built during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name = Baggush Box
| ensign =
| native_name =
| partof = [[Western Desert Campaign]] of the [[Second World War]]
| location = Maaten Baggush
| nearest_town = [[Mersa Matruh]]
| country = Egypt
| image = File:20th Battalion infantry marching in Baggush, Egypt, September 1941.jpg
| caption = Men of the [[20th Battalion (New Zealand)|20th Battalion]], part of the [[4th Infantry Brigade (New Zealand)|4th Infantry Brigade]] of the [[2nd New Zealand Division]], marching in Baggush, Egypt, September 1941.
| type =
|coordinates = {{Coord|31|10|21|N|27|40|10|E|display=INLINE,title}}
| height = <!-- height of tallest part, not above sea level -->
| fate = <!--changed from demolished parameter-->
| condition =
| battles =
| events =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
{{Campaignbox Western Desert}}
The '''Baggush Box''' was a [[British Army]] [[Fortification|field fortification]] built in the [[Western Desert (Egypt)|Western Desert]] near [[Maaten Bagush|Maaten Baggush]], {{convert|35|mi|km}} east of [[Marsa Matruh|Mersa Matruh]] during the [[Western Desert Campaign]] of [[World War II]].

==Background==
The box was built by men of the [[Western Desert Force]] (Lieutenant-General [[Richard O'Connor]]) as a tented camp, with offices, said to be bomb-proof dug under sand dunes, as a temporary billet for troops taking part in operations against the [[Italian invasion of Egypt]] in 1940 by the Italian [[Tenth Army (Italy)|10th Army]]. O'Connor opened his headquarters on 8 June. An airfield was a short distance inland and served as the headquarters of the [[Desert Air Force]] (Air Commodore [[Raymond Collishaw]]).{{sfn|Pitt|2001|pp=43–44}}

==Prelude==
On 28 June, [[Marshal of the Air Force]] ({{lang|it|Maresciallo dell'Aria}}) [[Italo Balbo]], [[Governor-General]] of [[Italian Libya|Libya]] and [[Commander-in-Chief]] of [[Italian North Africa]] ({{lang|it|Africa Settentrionale Italiana}} ASI), flew a reconnaissance sortie over Sidi Barrani and Maaten Baggush. Balbo's aircraft was shot down by the cruiser [[Italian cruiser San Giorgio|''San Giorgio'']] in Tobruk harbour and the occupants killed while coming in to land; Balbo was replaced by Marshal [[Rodolfo Graziani]].{{sfn|Pitt|2001|p=28}}

On 26 November, O'Connor held a meeting at the Baggush Box after the completion of "Training Exercise No. 1", a rehearsal for [[Operation Compass]], in which attacks on fortified positions had been practised, the troops not being told that the positions were replicas of the Italian camps at Nibeiwa and the Tummars. The officers with O'Connor reported that the method laid down in ''The Division in Attack'' was too slow and sacrificed surprise, leaving the attackers vulnerable to air attack. The [[Air officer commanding|Air Officer Commanding in Chief]], Air Marshal [[Arthur Longmore]], was being pressured from London to send formations to Greece and to provide air cover for Operation Compass, he stripped the air defences of Egypt of two squadrons and a flight, which he placed at O'Connor's disposal.{{sfn|Pitt|2001|pp=89–90}}

Before the offensive began O'Connor vacated the Baggush Box for a forward headquarters and Lieutenant-General [[Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron Wilson|Henry Maitland Wilson]] the [[General Officer Commanding|General Officer Commanding-in-Chief]] of the [[British Troops in Egypt]] took over the headquarters.{{sfn|Pitt|2001|p=96}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Pitt |first=B. |title=The Crucible of War: Wavell's Command |volume=I |orig-year=1980 |year=2001 |publisher=Cassell |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/crucibleofwar00pitt |url-access=registration |via=Archive Foundation |isbn=0-304-35950-5}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |series=The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 |title=20 Battalion and Armoured Regiment |last1=Glue |first1=W. A. |last2=Pringle |first2=D. J. C. |year=1957 |chapter=5 Battalion Area in the Baggush Box, November 1941 |page=114 |publisher=War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs |location=Wellington, NZ |chapter-url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/WH2-20Ba-fig-WH2-20Ba017b.html |access-date=7 March 2015 |oclc=4373441}}
* {{cite book |series=The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 |title=23 Battalion |last=Ross |first=A. |year=1959 |chapter=7 Three Interludes: Kabrit, El Adem, Syria |pages=132–141 |publisher=War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs |location=Wellington, NZ |chapter-url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-23Ba-c7.html |access-date=7 March 2015 |oclc=4392594}}
* {{cite book |series=The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 |title=19 Battalion and Armoured Regiment |last=Sinclair |first=D. W. |year=1954 |chapter=5 Baggush Box |pages=35–50 |publisher=War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs |location=Wellington, NZ |chapter-url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-19Ba-c5.html |access-date=7 March 2015 |oclc=173284782}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150404195515/https://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1070229--1-.pdf Australia in the War of 1939–1945: To Benghazi]
* [http://www.28maoribattalion.org.nz/memory/the-sheep-dog-remembers The Sheep Dog Remembers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215054323/https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/memory/the-sheep-dog-remembers |date=2021-02-15 }}

{{World War II}}

[[Category:Military installations of the United Kingdom in other countries]]
[[Category:Mersa Matruh]]
[[Category:Western Desert campaign]]


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