Blazin’ Chariots

On the second day of Operation Crusader, Kampfgruppe Stephan had been formed from units of the 21st Panzer Division in response to reports of incursions of British tanks. Kampfgruppe Stephan encountered elements of the 4th Armoured Brigade alone in the …

1941-11-19

19

On the second day of Operation Crusader, Kampfgruppe Stephan had been formed from units of the 21st Panzer Division in response to reports of incursions of British tanks. Kampfgruppe Stephan encountered elements of the 4th Armoured Brigade alone in the desert near Gabr Saleh, resulting in frantic calls for help. The 5th RTR was the first to respond, arriving just before dark and immediately counterattacking. The 5th RTR was hindered by the setting sun, which made it difficult to spot targets and jusge the fall of shot. Consequently the regiment suffered serious tank casualties without inflicting a like amount of damage on the Germans. The attack did succeed in checking Kampfgruppe Stephan, however. When darkness put a halt to the battle, the British withdrew, leaving the Germans in possession of the battlefield abd allowing them to recover most of their knocked out tanks.

Gabr Saleh, Libya

Operation Crusader was a military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War by the British Eighth Army, against the Axis forces in North Africa commanded by Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel. The operation was intended to by-pass Axis defences on the Egyptian–Libyan frontier, defeat the Axis armoured forces and relieve the 1941 Siege of Tobruk. On 18 November 1941, the Eighth Army launched a surprise attack. From 18 to 22 November, the dispersal of British armoured units led to them suffering 530 tank losses and inflicted Axis losses of about 100 tanks. On 23 November, the 5th South African Brigade was destroyed at Sidi Rezegh but inflicted many German tank casualties. On 24 November Rommel ordered the "dash to the wire" and caused chaos in the British rear echelons but allowed the British armoured forces to recover. On 27 November, the New Zealanders reached the Tobruk garrison and relieved the siege. The battle continued into December, when supply shortages forced Rommel to narrow his front and to shorten his lines of communication. On 7 December 1941, Rommel withdrew the Axis forces to the Gazala position, and on 15 December, he ordered a withdrawal to El Agheila. The 2nd South African Division captured Bardia on 2 January 1942, Sollum on 12 January and the fortified Halfaya position on 17 January and took about 13,800 prisoners.

Wikipedia: Operation Crusader

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