Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
21 June: Axis capture of Tobruk; 28 June: Mersa Matruh, Egypt, falls to the Axis; 29 June: U.S. reports from Egypt of British military operations stop using the compromised "Black Code" which the Axis were reading; 30 June: Axis forces reach El Alamein and attack the Allied defences, the First Battle of El Alamein begins
By late May, the Axis forces comprised 90,000 men, 560 tanks and 542 aircraft. [13] [14] On 26 May, Comando Supremo ordered Bastico and Rommel to launch the offensive, defeat the British armoured forces and capture Tobruk. [21] [page needed]
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.
Gazala is perhaps best known for the memorable World War II battle that took place in the surrounding area from May to June 1942 between Axis forces (led by Erwin Rommel) and Allied forces (led by Neil Ritchie). This battle resulted in an Axis victory and the subsequent capture of Tobruk on 21 June 1942.
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 capture of Tobruk, the capture of Tobruk by German and Italian forces over the period 17–21 June 1942 in World War II; HMAS Tobruk, two ships of the Royal Australian Navy; SS Tobruk, a Polish transport ship during World War II; Tobruk, a type of concrete fortification used during World War II; See Defensive fighting position
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.