Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The siege of Tobruk (/ t ə ˈ b r ʊ k, t oʊ-/) took place between 10 April and 27 November 1941, during the Western Desert campaign (1940–1943) of the Second World War.An Allied force, consisting mostly of the 9th Australian Division, commanded by Lieutenant-General Leslie Morshead, was besieged in the North African port of Tobruk by German and Italian forces.
Tobruk was also on a peninsula, allowing it to be defended by a minimal number of troops, which the Allies used to their advantage when the port was under siege. An attacker could not simply bypass the defenders, for if they did, the besieged would sally forth and cut off the nearby supply lines of the attacker, spoiling their advance.
Tobruk had been besieged for nine months in 1941 but this time the Royal Navy could not guarantee the supply of the garrison and Auchinleck viewed Tobruk as expendable but expected that it could hold out for two months. [75] On 21 June, 35,000 Eighth Army troops surrendered to Lieutenant-General Enea Navarini, the commander of XXI Corps. [76]
It was then withdrawn to the El Amiriya camp near Alexandria, and on 18 August 1941 the first convoy of the brigade's units left for besieged Tobruk. Transported in seven convoys, between 21 August and 28 August, the brigade took over the westernmost perimeter, relieving Australian troops in the process.
On 18 November British forces began Operation Crusader with the objective of relieving the besieged forces at Tobruk. The 15th Panzer Division was situated to the east of Tobruk, suffered severe losses and was forced to retreat west. [5] The 15th Panzer Division was part of the German offensive in January 1942 that retook Benghazi.
The British military authorities refused, [1] and instead on 6 October 1941 transferred the battalion from the 23rd Infantry Brigade to the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, which was besieged in Tobruk in Libya. [3] The battalion served at Tobruk for 158 days, including 51 in combat. [1]
The British held the fortified port of Tobruk, which was besieged by the Axis. Having been informed by General Wavell that the Western Desert Force was vastly inferior to the Axis forces now in Africa, Churchill ordered that a convoy of tanks and Hawker Hurricanes , Operation Tiger (Convoy WS 58), be sailed through the Mediterranean instead of ...
Rommel now bypassed Tobruk, leaving it to be besieged while he chased the British back to the Egyptian frontier. 9th Australian Division formed the core of the garrison, but had no artillery of its own. It was supported by HQ Royal Artillery, Tobruk, with five field regiments, including 51st (W&C).