 The Battle of Bardia was fought over three days between 3 and 5 January 1941 , as part of Operation Compass , the first military operation of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War . It was the first battle of the war in which an Australian Army formation took part , the first to be commanded by an Australian general and the first to be planned by an Australian staff . Major General Iven Mackay 's 6th Division assaulted the strongly held Italian fortress of Bardia , Libya , assisted by air support and naval gunfire , and under the cover of an artillery barrage . The 16th Infantry Brigade attacked at dawn from the west , where the defences were known to be weak . Sappers blew gaps in the barbed wire with Bangalore torpedoes and filled in and broke down the sides of the anti @-@ tank ditch with picks and shovels . This allowed the infantry and 23 Matilda II tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment to enter the fortress and capture all their objectives , along with 8 @,@ 000 prisoners . 
