Tobruk

After destroying the British 2nd Armoured Division at El Agheila, Rommel prepared to assault the Australian 7th Division, which had fallen back upon the port of Tobruk. Realizing the strategic nature of the town, Rommel could not bypass it, especially …

1940-04-30

D07

After destroying the British 2nd Armoured Division at El Agheila, Rommel prepared to assault the Australian 7th Division, which had fallen back upon the port of Tobruk. Realizing the strategic nature of the town, Rommel could not bypass it, especially since it was manned by a fighting garrison of 23,000 Allied troops! On 11 April 1941 he invested the fortress. This scenario depicts one of the many assaults on Tobruk, in particular, the attack of 30 April in which the German 5th Light and 15th Panzer Divisions repeatedly bogged down in an attempt to break the Australian Red Line near Ras el Madauer. Although they succeeded in gaining a few miles of ground, they admitted fearsome easualties. As the assaults lost their momentum, Tobruk became an even greater obsession in Rommel's mind/Soon it became a rallying cry for the Allies: British newspaper headlines in London read “Tobruk can take it!” Major-General Leslie Morshead, commanding the defenders boldly declared “We're not here to take it, we're here to give it!” In the end, Rommel was forced to abandun the siege and retired to Tripolitania to recover his losses after the battles of Operation CRUSADER.

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.

Wikipedia: Siege of Tobruk

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British Commonwealth