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Sanusis pursued the British and launched an offensive towards Matrukh. This time it was a failure. Ahmad al-Sharif gave up Sanusi political and military leadership. He had lost influence considerably, not only because of the loss on the battlefield but also due to the differences of opinion surfacing among Sanusi sheikhs. He withdrew to Djarabub first and then fled to Turkey aboard a German submarine. His successor was his cousin Mohammed Idris. Meanwhile, as an attempt to organise the efforts in North Africa, the Ottoman General Staff established the “Army Group Africa”, of which the primary objective was the coastal regions of Libya. The first commander of this army group was Lieutenant Colonel Nuri Bey, who was Enver Paşa’s brother. Italian forces, which were trapped in Zuwarah, Al Khums and Tripoli, attempted to break through the Turkish-Sanusi encirclement twice in January and April 1917, both without success. In September the same year, a major offensive by the Army Group Africa on Tripoli finished all Italian hopes. |
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The Armistice of Mudros, signed on 30 October 1918, required immediate cessation of hostilities and the surrender of all Turkish officers and troops in Libya. However, most of the Turkish officers there refused to do so and remained in Libya, supporting the Sanusi leadership. They were led by Crown Prince Osman Fuad Efendi, who had left his headquarters in Misurata and moved south to the desert, with his 500 men. They had no intention to surrender to Italians, to whom they had never lost on the battlefield. |
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Turkeyswar.com / © Altay Atlı / This page is last updated on: 24.09.2008. |