Operation Appearance (16 March – 8 April 1941) was a British landing in the British Somaliland Protectorate against troops of the Italian Army. The Italian conquest of British Somaliland had taken place seven months previous in August 1940. The British had withdrawn from the protectorate after a delaying action at the Battle of Tug Argan. The British withdrawal, after the disastrous conclusion of the Battle of France and the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, had repercussions among British leaders and began the loss of confidence in General Archibald Wavell, the British commander in the Middle East by the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which culminated in his sacking on 20 June 1941.