Escape From Derna

As Rommel’s first offensive pushed across Cyrenaica, the British fighting withdrawal turned into a rout. Those forces falling back along the northern and southern edges of the Djebel Akhdar gravitated to the seaside town of Derna, where the coast road …

1941-04-07

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As Rommel’s first offensive pushed across Cyrenaica, the British fighting withdrawal turned into a rout. Those forces falling back along the northern and southern edges of the Djebel Akhdar gravitated to the seaside town of Derna, where the coast road climbed the escarpment and went east to Ttobruk. Early of 7 April, advance elements of the German 5th Light Division, comprising a MG battalion and the recon battalion, arrived in the Derna area to block this escape route and capture the large airfield atop the escarpment. Even as the Germans battles for the aerodrome, various British units were making determined attempts to escape from the cut-off town. One attempt involved the 5th RTR. Seeing that the only viable escape route was the escarpment road, an attack was organized with seven remaining tanks and elements of the Support Group. One section of the steep, twisting road had been prematurely demolished by Australian sappers, and three of the tanks became immobilized in the craters as they tried to negotiate them. The other four gained the top of the escarpment and attacked the German holding force. All four were knocked out in the ensuing fight, but only after they had destroyed an estimated eleven armored cars and three AT guns, thus opening a gap through which much of the transport filtering up the road were able to escape.

Derna, Libya

Operation Sonnenblume was the name given to the dispatch of German troops to North Africa in February 1941, during the Second World War. The Italian 10th Army had been destroyed by the British and Allied Western Desert Force attacks during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941). The first units of the new Deutsches Afrikakorps departed Naples for Africa and arrived on 11 February 1941. On 14 February, advanced units of the 5th Light Afrika Division, Aufklärungsbataillon 3 and Panzerjägerabteilung 39 arrived in Tripoli, Libya and were sent immediately to the front line at Sirte.

Wikipedia: Operation Sonnenblume

British

German