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Aerial photograph of the port of Tobruk during the 1941 siege. The small port of Tobruk in Italian Cyrenaica had been fortified by the Italians from 1935. Behind two old outlying forts, they constructed a novel fortification, consisting of a double line of concrete-lined trenches 54 km (34 mi) long, connecting 128 weapons pits protected by concealed anti-tank ditches but the fortifications ...
26 May: Axis forces assault the Gazala line, the Battle of Gazala (26 May to 21 June 1942) and Battle of Bir Hakeim begins; 11 June: Axis forces begin offensive from "the Cauldron" position [where?] 13 June: "Black Saturday". Axis inflicts heavy defeat on British armoured divisions; 21 June: Axis capture of Tobruk; 28 June: Mersa Matruh, Egypt ...
Operation Agreement was a ground and amphibious operation carried out by British, Rhodesian and New Zealand forces on Axis-held Tobruk from 13 to 14 September 1942, during the Second World War. A Special Interrogation Group party, fluent in German, took part in missions behind enemy lines.
Operation Battleaxe (15–17 June 1941) was a British Army offensive during the Second World War to raise the Siege of Tobruk and re-capture eastern Cyrenaica from German and Italian forces. [ h ] It was the first time during the war that a significant German force fought on the defensive.
Extensive preparations were made for the invasion but the success of other Axis operations – including the Battle of Gazala (26 May to 21 June 1942), the Axis capture of Tobruk on 21 June and Operation Aïda, the pursuit of the Allies into Egypt – led to Herkules being postponed and then cancelled in November 1942.
Axis forces failed to capture Tobruk in the first rush and Rommel then had to divide the Axis forces between Tobruk and the frontier. Sonnenblume succeeded because the ability of the Germans to mount an offensive was underestimated by General Archibald Wavell , the Commander in Chief Middle East, the War Office and Winston Churchill .
This included the Axis capture of Tobruk and 32,000 men (following a last-minute change in plans and the establishment of a garrison that included the 2nd South African Infantry Division) and the Eighth Army was forced to retreat. [31]
Axis forces re-captured Gambut on 17 June 1941, after the Battle of Tobruk. [1] This was a significant blow to the Allies as the airfield had been used to provide air-support to the Allied forces in the Siege of Tobruk. The airfield saw use by the Luftwaffe until its recapture by the New Zealand 4th Infantry Brigade on 25 November. [2]