Wikipedia

Siege of Tobruk

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Michael Johnson (talk | contribs) at 07:13, 31 January 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Siege of Tobruk was a lengthy confrontation between Axis and Allied forces, mostly Australian, in the North African Campaign of World War II. It started on 10 April 1941 as Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel invested the fort, besieging it for months, and launched attacks against the fort that were unsuccessful.

Siege of Tobruk
Part of World War II, North African Campaign
File:SBSK3.jpg
Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade's offensive on Derna, November 12, 1941
DateMarch 31, 1941 – November 27, 1941
Location
Tobruk, Libya
Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Australia
United Kingdom
Poland
Czechoslovakia		 Germany
Italy
Commanders and leaders
Leslie Morshead Erwin Rommel
Strength
14,000 35,000?
Casualties and losses
Britain:
9009 killed
941 captured
estimated 12,000 total		 8,000

Prelude

On the 21st of January,1941 engineers and sappers of the 2/1st Australian Field Company crawled into no-man's land to locate and disarm mines and booby traps. This was to clear it for an assault on the fort. At 5:40 PM the town was bombarded with fire from artillery and the RAF. The men of the 2/3rd and the 2/1st Australian battalions stormed through the weakened Italian defences.

Many posts fell easily while others defended solidly. In only 12 hours the Italian General Petassi Manella surrendered himself but refused to order the all out surrender of the town. This made little difference and soon all Italian soldiers were dead, wounded or captured.

At the end of the day the casualties were 49 Australian dead 306 wounded, to Italy's 27000 POWs. To ensure a safer trip across no-man's land the Italians were told that for every Australian killed by mines 2 Italians would be killed. A lack of sufficient numbers of soldiers caused the allied command to send POWs to camps accompanied by 1 or 2 armed soldiers. [1]

Siege Begins

At 4:00AM on the tenth of April, during one of the most fierce khamsin in a generation of Italian settlers, the men of the 2/48th Australian battalion of 9th division discovered they were being trailed by a German Panzer. The Australians made it to Tobruk in time to lose the Panzer. This alerted the Australian forces to the threat without and prepped them for the coming assault.

Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead resolved to stand and fight, and began giving out his pre-battle orders. Along with Colonel "Gaffer" Lloyd, Morshead divided the 30 mile perimeter into three rough sectors. It would be the job of the three Australian brigades to ensure these were not breached. The 26th would hold the western sector, the 20th would hold the south and the 24th would hold the east. These men would be assisted by British artillery, crucial to holding the port.

The precise setting up of these defences were shown when the men of the 2/28th observed three German armoured cars closing in on their position. The only available equipment was two Italian guns, so these were set up hurriedly. As the cars reached 500 yards the order was given and the very first shot was fired in the defence of Tobruk, by infantrymen with a weeks training in the use of guns, using Italian artillery.

On the German side of the trenches was the fast approaching General von Prittwitz. Ahead of him were troops of the 8th Machine-gun Battalion had stopped on a slope that lead to a destroyed bridge, and it appeared as though they were waving down the General. Von Prittwitz shouted out orders for them to keep charging. Back on the Australian side the gunners could not believe their luck with a good target just driving down the road. The gunner let loose and before he knew what hit him, von Prittwitz and his driver was killed. One of the first casualties of the siege of Tobruk was the German General who knew the battle plan the best. The skirmish lasted for three hours until the Germans finally fell back. Very hastily, sappers and engineers were laying out mine fields, mapping down where they were along with other works on communication and transport.

To General Morshead, a key during battles was having the ability to effectively communicate. Morshead ordered all Italian signalcables be re-laid. He wanted to know what was happening, and where, so he could adjust his forces accordingly. He also ensured he had a reserve of runners in case that the lines were disrupted by the German attack.

The Afrika Korps swept past Tobruk, cutting the Bardia Road, the only road from them to Cairo. The last road to the allies had been cut off, and the port city was surrounded. However, because of British Naval superiority, the allied troops were never for want of supplies, and wounded troops could be easily ferried out of the city. Even so, the siege of Tobruk had just begun, at noon on 11th of April, 1941, Good Friday.

Easter Attack

Just after noon, the Germans positioned themselves for a concentrated attack on the city. In order to make it appear as though the Germans had a larger force them they actually did, they were ordered to make more dust then normal.

The first Germans to draw fire was the 5th Panzer Regiment, to try to evaluate the defenders. After an hour of the appearance of the German tanks, 5 lay destroyed on the field as the others pulled back. At 3:00PM the men of the 2/13th saw roughly 400 German soldiers approaching. This in itself was an insult to the Australians. Did the Germans think that the allies would lay down their arms on sight of them approaching on their sector. Taking aim and awaiting the order, the Australians mowed down the Germans and sent them retreating, carrying their dead and wounded with them. Rommel's rationale behind the failure of the attack was that instead of bashing a hole in the enemies lines and concentrating all your force on that point, what was needed was to let yourself be stopped halfway and lie in wait.

At 4:00PM the men of the 2/17th saw 700 Germans launching an attack on their position. The artillery opened fire but they kept advancing. The Australians were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned with only two Bren guns, a few dozen rifles and a couple of Boyes anti-tank rifles. The Germans kept falling around each other but then came the tanks. Wave after wave of Panzers and Italian M13s set on the 2/17th. Just as they were set to fire on the Australians 4 British tanks arrived, firing over the head of the Australians. The Germans could not yet hurdle the obstacles set for them and they fell back to regroup. This attack yielded only one dead on the allied side, Private Arthur Beezley, struck by machine-gun fire.

A large part of Morshead's defence plan was to be aggressive, and a main point was retaliation for the previous attacks. He ordered rigorous patrolling of the anti-tank ditches, more mines laid out along with harsher defence methods. The aggressive patrolling appeared to work. The 2/13th encountered a German raiding party with a large amount of explosives. The party had clearly intended to blow the sides of the ditch allowing easier passage for tanks to cross.

Siege

Three attempts were made before the siege was successfully lifted by allied troops; these were known as:

For most of the siege, Tobruk was defended by the Australian 9th Division under General Sir Leslie Morshead. General Archibald Wavell instructed Morshead to hold the fortress for eight weeks, but instead they held it for over 8 months, before being gradually withdrawn and replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division and the Polish Carpathian Brigade and 11th Czechoslovak infantry battalion (East) just prior to the start of Operation Crusader. The Royal Navy also played an important role in Tobruk's defense; it provided gunfire support, ferried in supplies and fresh troops and ferried out the wounded.

Tobruk was the longest siege in British Empire military history, and was the first notable land defeat for a German army in World War II. Rommel nonetheless captured Tobruk in a new offensive in 1942 in the Battle of Gazala.

Further reading

Tobruk, Peter Fitzsimons, Harper Collins, 2006

See also

  1. ^ Tobruk, Peter Fitzsimons, Harper Collins, 2006
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Siege_of_Tobruk&oldid=104530811"