| Battle Of Gazala |
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The Battle of Gazala was an important battle of the World War II Western Desert Campaign , fought around the port of Tobruk in Libya from May 26 to June 21 1942 . The combatants on the Axis side were the Panzer Army ''Afrika'' , consisting of German and Italian units and commanded by the "Desert Fox" Colonel-General Erwin Rommel ; the Allied forces were the British Eighth Army , commanded by Major General Neil Ritchie under the close supervision of the Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Sir Claude Auchinleck . PRELUDE Following Rommel's attack in January 1942, the Allies had retreated across Libya to a strong position on a line between the fortified port of Tobruk on the Mediterranean coast and the town of Bir Hakeim to the south. BATTLE On May 27 Rommel personally led elements of Panzer Army ''Afrika'' – the '' Afrika Korps '', the Italian XX Motorized Corps , and the German 90th Light ''Afrika'' Division – in a brilliant but risky flank around the southern end of the British lines, trusting to the enemy's own minefields to protect his flank and rear. The Italian X Corps pinned the Allied troops down with a frontal attack on the Allied front line, and the Italian 101st Motorized Division ''Trieste'' attacked the fortified "box" at Bir Hakeim from the west while the Italian 132nd Armoured Division ''Ariete'' , on the left flank of Rommel's sweep, attempted to seize it from the rear. The box, defended by the 1st Free French Brigade under Marie-Pierre Koenig , proved to be a bigger problem than Rommel had anticipated, and Panzer Army ''Afrika'' found itself trapped in a region known as "the Cauldron", with Bir Hakeim to the south, Tobruk to the north, and the extensive mine belts of the original Allied front line to the west, and assailed by British armour from the east. Rommel solved the problem presented by the situation by means of several methodical steps, first attacking westward back toward his own original front line in order to restore a route of supply. He then weathered a somewhat late and uncoordinated British counterattack, dispatched strong forces southward to clear the Free French out of Bir Hakeim , and then resumed his eastward advance with his armour once more sweeping around the remaining positions in a repeat of his initial moves several days earlier. Though he drove the Allies off the field, he failed to bag several retiring divisions due to exhaustion and an insufficiency of troops. AFTERMATH On 14 June Auchinleck retreated east to a strong position on the Alamein Line on the border of Egypt , leaving the 2nd South African Division to defend an isolated Tobruk much as Wavell had done in April 1941. Since Tobruk had previously withstood a siege of nine months before being relieved by Operation Crusader in December 1941, the Allies expected it to do so again, but just seven days later, on 21 June 1942 the 2nd South African Division surrendered the city. The defeat at Gazala led to the dismissal of Ritchie, and later Auchinleck, and their replacement by Montgomery and Alexander respectively. After capturing Tobruk Panzer Army ''Afrika'' advanced into Egypt and attacked the Alamein Line on 1 July 1942 in the First Battle Of El Alamein . ORDERS OF BATTLE Allied
Axis
Strictly speaking Group Cruewell was part of Panzer Army ''Afrika'', but as a practical matter Rommel temporarily split his Army in half, with Cruewell commanding the infantry units along the original front line while Rommel joined the mechanized forces in the flanking move. SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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