Editing Fort Capuzzo (section)

==Background==
{{main|Frontier Wire (Libya)}}

[[File:Capuzzo air view.jpg|thumb|{{centre|Aerial photograph of Fort Capuzzo.}}]]
In 1922, [[Benito Mussolini]] continued the {{lang|it|Riconquista}} of Libya in the Second Italo-Sanussi War {{nowrap|(1921–1931).}}{{sfn|Wright|1982|p=42}}{{sfn|Metz|1989}} The Frontier wire was built by the [[Kingdom of Italy|Italian army]], under the command of General [[Rodolfo Graziani]], in the winter of 1930–1931, as a means to repress [[Senussi]] resistance against the [[History of Libya as Italian Colony|Italian colonisation]]. The frontier wire and fort system was used to hinder the movement of Senussi fighters and materials from Egypt.{{sfn|Christie|1999|p=14}} The wire comprised four lines of {{cvt|1.7|m|abbr=on}} high stakes in concrete bases, laced with [[barbed wire]], {{cvt|320|km|abbr=on}} long, just inside the border from El Ramleh on the Gulf of Sollum, past Fort Capuzzo to [[Sidi Omar]], then south, slightly to the west of the [[25th meridian east]], to the Libya–Egypt and Libya–Sudan borders.{{sfn|Cody|1956|p=142}}{{sfn|Metz|1989}} Three large forts were built along the wire at Amseat (Fort Capuzzo), Scegga ([[Fort Maddalena]]) and [[Jaghbub, Libya|Giarabub]] and six smaller ones at El Ramleh on the gulf of Sollum, at Sidi Omar, Sceferzen, Vescechet, Garn ul Grein and El Aamara.{{sfn|Christie|1999|p=14}}{{efn|Soon after the frontier wire system was built, the colonial administration deported the people of the [[Jebel Akhdar, Libya|Jebel Akhdar]] to deny the rebels local support. More than {{nowrap|100,000 people}} were imprisoned in [[concentration camp]]s at [[Suluq]] and El Agheila, where up to one third of the Cyrenaican population died in squalor. [[Omar Mukhtar]] was captured and killed in 1931, after which the resistance petered out, apart from the followers of [[Idris of Libya|Sheik Idris]], Emir of Cyrenaica, who went into exile in Egypt.{{sfn|Metz|1989}}}} The wire was patrolled using armoured cars and aircraft from the forts, by the Italian army and border guards, who attacked anyone seen in the frontier zone.{{sfn|Wright|1982|p=35}}