Gazala

On 27 May 1942 Rommel was beginning his outflanking of the Gazala line. After seattering the 3rd and 7th Indian Motor Brigades from the southern flank of the line, the tanks of the Afrika Korps and the Italian XX Motorized …

1942-05-27

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On 27 May 1942 Rommel was beginning his outflanking of the Gazala line. After seattering the 3rd and 7th Indian Motor Brigades from the southern flank of the line, the tanks of the Afrika Korps and the Italian XX Motorized Corps swept across the desert to roll up into the Allied rear. Facing this onslaught were the brave men of the 4th Armoured Brigade. The 8th Panzer Regiment, under command of Colonel Willy Teege, plowed into the British before they could fully deploy for battle. Unfortunately, in doing so he had left behind most of his supporting artillery. The British quickly recovered, and the Germans found themselves locked in a desperate tank battle. Even more dismaying to the German commander was the effectiveness of the new Allied tanks: 75mm-armed Grants direct from the United States. Eventually, the Germans reinforeed the faltering advance with the tanks of the nearby 5th Panzer Regiment, forcing the British back with heavy losses to both sides.

Gambut, Libya

The Battle of Gazala was fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Libya, from 26 May to 21 June 1942. Axis troops of the Panzerarmee Afrika consisting of German and Italian units fought the British Eighth Army composed mainly of British Commonwealth, Indian and Free French troops. The Axis troops made a decoy attack in the north as the main attack moved round the southern flank of the Gazala position. Unexpected Resistance at the south end of the line around the Bir Hakeim box by the Free French garrison, left Panzerarmee Afrika with a long and vulnerable supply route around the Gazala Line. Rommel retired to a defensive position backing onto Allied minefields (the Cauldron), forming a base in the midst of the British defences. Italian engineers lifted mines from the west side of the minefields to create a supply route through to the Axis side. Operation Aberdeen, an attack by the Eighth Army to finish off the Panzerarmee, was poorly co-ordinated and defeated in detail; many British tanks were lost and the Panzerarmee regained the initiative. The Eighth Army withdrew from the Gazala Line and the Axis troops overran Tobruk in a day. Rommel pursued the Eighth Army into Egypt and forced it out of several defensive positions. The Battle of Gazala is considered the greatest victory of Rommel's career. As both sides neared exhaustion, the Eighth Army checked the Axis advance at the First Battle of El Alamein. To support the Axis advance into Egypt, the planned attack on Malta (Operation Herkules) was postponed. The British were able to revive Malta as a base for attacks on Axis convoys to Libya, greatly complicating Axis supply difficulties at El Alamein.

Wikipedia: Battle of Gazala

German

British Commonwealth