The Panzer Thrust Is Slowed

The first day of the Gazala Battles. After slamming into the 4th Armoured Brigade and overrunning the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions of the Afrika Korps continued to run due north literally looking for a …

1942-05-27

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The first day of the Gazala Battles. After slamming into the 4th Armoured Brigade and overrunning the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions of the Afrika Korps continued to run due north literally looking for a fight with the remaining British armor. They found it near a place called Bir el Harmat at about 2:00 pm on the afternoon of the 27th of May, 1942, when they ran into the 22nd Armoured Brigade. A terrific tank battle ensued and the 22nd was quickly forced to retreat. As the Afrika Korps panzers followed up, they were struck on both flanks by British tanks from two additional Armoured Brigades, the 1st Army Tank from the west and the 2nd from the east. This vicious, mixed battle continued for the rest of the afternoon. Part of this battle featured sub-units of the 21st Panzer Division which were hit by Matilda tanks of the 44th Royal Tabk Regiment from the west and Crusader II and Grant tanks of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment from the east.

Bir el Harmat, 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 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.

Wikipedia: Battle of Gazala

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