The Cauldron

The Battle of Gazala raged on for days. By the end of the sixth day, 31 May 1942, Rommel found himself in desperate straits with his entire mobile force trapped behind the Gazala line. His supply lines were stretched thin: …

1942-05-31

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The Battle of Gazala raged on for days. By the end of the sixth day, 31 May 1942, Rommel found himself in desperate straits with his entire mobile force trapped behind the Gazala line. His supply lines were stretched thin: the divisions of the Afrika Korps were down to their last reserves of fuel, water was rationed at half-a-cup per day, and supplies could not trickle up fast enough to meet the demands of a mobile battle. The largest thorn in the side of the Axis was the fortified and entrenched box of the British 150th Northumbrían Brigade at Got el Ualeb. Repeated assaults by the Italian Trieste and Pavía Divisions against the ínfantry of 150th Brigade and the supporting Matildas of 45th Royal Tank Regiment were bloodily repulsed. If the position could be wrested from the British, Rommel could shorten his supply lines and out a swath through the Allied front. Rommel prepared the Afrika Korps and the Italian XX Corps for a massive assault. Against the Desert Fox's panzers and hordes of Italian ínfantry stood the 3,000 men, 124 guns, and 80 Matildas of the 150th Brigade and 45th RTR. But if Rommel could not break their resolve he was ready to offer terms of surrender to General Ritchie.

The Cauldron, 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 / Italian

British Commonwealth