Skip to content
Shoresh Wiki

North African campaign: what Wikipedia removed

The 2020 article recorded Axis “atrocities and abuses” against the “local Jewish, Berber and Arab population, often motivated by racism and antisemitism”. The word is now gone from the entire article on the campaign.

The word “antisemitism” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2020. Today it appears nowhere in the article at all, references included. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word20052010201520206 October 202320252026
antisemitism0002000
occupation1111111
colonial0011000

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The Axis atrocities against North African Jews, and the antisemitism behind them, removed.
  • The second statement of antisemitic motive in the same article, also removed.
  • Ordinary restructuring of the opening sentence. Most of this article’s changes are that; the antisemitism sentences flagged above are the exception, and that is the point of showing both.
  • Campaign detail moved out of the opening. Ordinary editing.
  • The sentence naming the belligerents and their colonial interests was removed.
  • Contributor detail, removed in restructuring.
  • The opening chronology was reorganized.
  • Operational detail, reworded.
  • Operational detail, reworded.
  • Narrative summary of the campaign, removed.
  • The explanation of Torch as a compromise operation, removed.
  • The role of Ultra intelligence in the Allied victory, removed.
  • The consequence of the Allied victory was reworded.

Who made the cuts

Section titled “Who made the cuts”

Wikipedia publishes who makes every edit. These removals were traced to the exact revision that made them:

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2005 (revision 16336154):

The North African Campaign , also known as the Desert War , of World War II took place in the North African desert during 1940 - 1943 . The fighting in this region began with Italian attacks on British occupied areas. Following the terrible reverses suffered by the Italians, the German Afrika Korps came to their assistance. Following a back-and-forth control of Libya and parts of Egypt ; Commonwealth forces eventually pushed the Axis Powers back to Tunisia . Landings in north west Africa by United States and British forces in 1943 pincered the Axis forces and drove them out. During the period from 1940-1943, this was the only theatre in which the Western Allies were able to engage German and…

2026 (revision 1367083184):

Major military campaign of WWII fought in North Africa Not to be confused with Military operations in North Africa during World War I . For the board wargame, see The Campaign for North Africa . Belligerents Allies United Kingdom and Empire : India Emirate of Transjordan Palestine Newfoundland United States Free France Algeria Tunisia Morocco Australia New Zealand South Africa Poland Greece Czechoslovakia Yugoslavia Axis Italy Libya Germany Vichy France Algeria Tunisia Morocco Commanders and leaders Archibald Wavell Claude Auchinleck Harold Alexander Alan Cunningham Neil Ritchie Bernard Montgomery Kenneth Anderson Dwight D. Eisenhower Henri Giraud Ugo Cavallero Vittorio Ambrosio Italo Balbo …

Section titled “Related”

Wikipedia text is quoted under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is not affiliated with Wikipedia.