Gasr Bu Hadi

The Battle of Gasr Bu Hadi occurred during the Italian colonisation of Libya. It was the worst Italian defeat since the Battle of Adwa.

The Battle
Colonel Miani had marched out of Misrata to attack the Senussi camp at Gasr Bu Hadi, south of Sirte. His column of 4,000 Italian soldiers was supported and covered by 3,500 Libyans under the command of Ramadan Shutaywi, chief of the Misuratino region of north-east Tripolitania. After fighting the Italians in 1911-12, he cooperated with them for a while, but was later jailed for Senussi leanings. Miani thought that he could be trusted. Just at the attack began, Shutaywi ordered his men to turn and fire on the Italians. It was never known how many died, Miani and a handful of men escaped the massacre. The Libyans captured 5,000 reserve rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, several machine guns, six sections of artillery with abundant ammunition, and all the supplies including the fund of the column.

Aftermath
The Libyans pushed home their victory and advanced to Misrata. The Italian withdrawal became a rout, garrisons abandoned their posts without defending towards the coast. The Libyans were soon at Ben Gashir, 15 miles from Tripoli. A general withdrawal to the coast was ordered on 5 July. The Tarhuna garrison was massacred during its break out to the sea. A thousand men at Beni Uled surrendered. The Garian garrison retired to Azizia and was then forced to withdraw hastily towards Tripoli. 4,500 men abandoned Misrata for Misrata Marina, and Zuwara was evacuated from the sea. By 1 August the only Tripolitanian towns still held by the Italians were Homs, Misrata Marina, Tagiura and Tripoli itself, where there were 40,000 troops to man the machine gun nests and the new wall circling the outer suburbs. Italy had suffered the worst defeat since Adowa and the Tripolitanian campaign was almost back to its starting point. Since the previous August the Italians had lost an estimated 3,000 men killed, 2,400 prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, 15,000 rifles and huge quantities of ammunition and equipment.