Khamsin

The Gazala battles had been raging for days with Panzerarmee Afrika driving for the great prize of Tobruk. Several British strongpoints still lay in its path, one of which was the Knightsbridge box held by the 201st Guards Motor Brigade Group. On 13 June, the position was enveloped …

1942-06-13

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The Gazala battles had been raging for days with Panzerarmee Afrika driving for the great prize of Tobruk. Several British strongpoints still lay in its path, one of which was the Knightsbridge box held by the 201st Guards Motor Brigade Group. On 13 June, the position was enveloped by the 15th Panzer Division from the east and the 21st Panzer Division from the west. After a day of heavy fighting, the final clash of armor occurred when units of the 2nd and 4th Armored Brigades, sent to reinforce a Guards position on Rigel Ridge, met 21st Panzer Division during the last stages of one of the desert’s violent sandstorms – a khamsin. .[Mark Nixon, Journal #1]: British and German forces struggle to even find one another amidst a sand storm, a Khamsin. "Wide-open" desert spaces have shrunk to a close quarters arena with a maximum range of but ten hexes.

Tobruk, Libya

The Siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days in 1941, after Axis forces advanced through Cyrenaica from El Agheila in Operation Sonnenblume against Allied forces in Libya, during the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) of the Second World War. In late 1940, the Allies had defeated the Italian 10th Army during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) and trapped the remnants at Beda Fomm. During early 1941, much of the Western Desert Force (WDF) was sent to the Greek and Syrian campaigns. As German troops and Italian reinforcements reached Libya, only a skeleton Allied force remained, short of equipment and supplies.

German

British

Scenario Type = Standard