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Title
Khamsin
Description
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 …
Subject
Publisher
Date
1942-06-13
Scenario#
20
Scenario Description
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 this 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 Armoured Brigades, sent to reinforces a Guards position on Rigel Ridge, met the 21st Panzer Division during the last stages of one of the desert’s violent sandstorms - a khamsin. A “most confused action” occurred amidst the swirling sand and dust, with heavy losses on both sides. By nightfall, 21st Panzer Division had overrun Rigel Ridge and secured the western portion of the 201st Guards Brigade Group perimeter. The loss of the Knightsbridge box forced the British to abandon the Gazala line, and Tobruk would fall eight days later.
Location
Tobruk, Libya
Battle Name
Battle Narrative
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 defenses. 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 coordinated 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.
Narrative Source
Wikipedia: Battle of Gazala
Combatants
British
German

Geolocation