Siege of Tobruk
Australian soldiers on the defense line around Tobruk, 1941
| date | April 10 to November 27, 1941 |
|---|---|
| place | Tobruk , Italian Libya |
| output | allied victory |
| consequences | The siege was broken off and the Axis powers withdrew from Cyrenaica . |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Occupation of Tobruk United Kingdom Australia Czechoslovak government in exile Polish government in exile Relief forces : British India New Zealand |
|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 35,000 men | 27,000 men |
| losses | |
|
8,000 losses |
over 3,000 dead and wounded, |
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The siege of Tobruk was a confrontation between the Axis Powers and the Allies during the Africa campaign in World War II . It lasted - from the beginning of the siege of the city of Tobruk by an Italian - German army under the command of Erwin Rommel on April 11 to the relief of the city as part of Operation Crusader by the Allied 8th Army under the command of Claude Auchinleck on April 27 November 1941 - a total of 230 days.
background
Italy had declared war on France and Great Britain on June 10, 1940. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini assumed that the war would only be brief and hoped to be able to satisfy some of Italy's territorial claims through an alliance with the German Empire. In North Africa , on the one hand, these consisted of an expansion of the colony of Italian Libya to the west to include the French protectorate of Tunisia . To the east, Italy sought control over Egypt and the strategically important Suez Canal , as well as establishing a direct land connection to its colonies in East Africa . After France had been defeated in the western campaign and Tunisia belonged to the now allied Vichy France , the Italian expansion goals in North Africa turned entirely to Egypt. On September 9, 1940, Italy finally invaded Egypt with the 10th Army .
Course of the war in North Africa
However, the invasion was not very successful and, due to the poor supply and equipment of the troops, it only came to a halt a little more than 100 km behind the Egyptian-Libyan border. On December 8, the Allies launched a counter-offensive with Operation Compass . Originally limited to just a few days and aimed at driving the Italian army out of Egypt, it turned out to be so successful that the advance into Libya was continued. By the beginning of February 1941, the Allied troops had occupied Cyrenaica up to and including El Agheila and almost completely wiped out the 10th Italian Army.
The complete capture of Italian Libya did not occur, however, because parts of the Allied troops deployed in North Africa were needed to ward off the impending Balkan campaign of the German Reich in April 1941. While the Allies withdrew troops to defend Greece from February 1941 , Germany secretly shipped its first troop contingents to Tripoli at the same time in the so-called company Sonnenblume and founded the German Africa Corps .
Military starting position
In April 1941 the British Middle East Command had only a few and poorly trained units stationed in Cyrenaica. Due to ongoing attacks by the air force on Benghazi , the port could no longer be called by Allied ships, which made it increasingly difficult to supply the troops, especially with fuel for the vehicles. The Royal Air Force had relocated all of its forces to Greece, so that air sovereignty in North Africa lay with the Axis powers, which further restricted the supply and communication lines of the Allies.
On March 24th, about six weeks after the first German troops landed in Tripoli, an Italian-German unit under the command of Erwin Rommel went over to the counter-offensive in the Cyrenaica. In view of the difficult situation, the Allied troops withdrew gradually towards Bardia . On April 8th, the Axis powers captured Mechili and the remaining 2,700 Allied soldiers were taken prisoner of war . Only two days later the first peaks of Rommel's association reached the strategically important deep-water port of Tobruk .
Involved armed forces
Axis powers
The German-Italian troops led by Erwin Rommel in North Africa consisted of the German Africa Corps and the Italian XX. and XXI. Corps together. The arrival of the German troops in Africa ("Operation Sunflower") dragged on from the beginning of February to the end of May 1941, so that Rommel did not have full divisions at the beginning of the siege of Tobruk, but at the same time he always had reinforcements freshly arrived in Tripoli Siege troops collided.
- German Africa Corps
- Corps troops (various infantry, artillery and supply units)
- 5th easy division
- 15th Panzer Division
- Africa Division zbV (founded in August from parts of the corps troops and the other two divisions)
- 104th Artillery Command
- 55th Infantry Division "Savona" (Italian)
- XX. Italian corps
- 101st motorized division "Trieste"
- 132nd armored division "Ariete"
- Ragruppamento Esplorante ( "Enlightenment Group" )
- XXI. Italian corps
- 17th Infantry Division "Pavia"
- 25th Infantry Division "Bologna"
- 27th Infantry Division "Brescia"
- 102nd motorized division "Trento"
Allies
The allied troops stationed in Tobruk were mostly inexperienced, newly established units. The Australian division was originally relocated to North Africa to end its training and was still waiting for its artillery and cavalry units to arrive at the beginning of the siege . At the request of the Australian Parliament , they were finally withdrawn from the besieged city in September and October 1941 and replaced by the British 70th Division, as well as a Czechoslovak and Polish brigade. The XIII. Corps only intervened in the fighting for Tobruk from November 1941 as part of Operation Crusader.
Most of the city's defenses were built by the Italians and the Allies reinforced them with additional trenches and minefields . They consisted of two lines, the front one consisting of a series of concrete bunkers and positions, in front of which there were armored trenches and barbed wire barriers. The inner ring was formed by another row of bunkers, between which additional positions for anti-tank guns were prepared.
- Cyrenaica Command (" Command of the Cyrenaica ")
- 2nd Armored Division (British)
- 9th Australian Division (largely withdrawn from Tobruk from September)
- 4th Air Defense Brigade (British)
- 70th Infantry Division (Great Britain) (relocated to Tobruk from September)
- Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade (relocated to Tobruk from September)
- Czechoslovak 11th Infantry Brigade (relocated to Tobruk from September)
- XIII. Corps (as relief forces during Operation Crusader)
- 1st Army Tank Brigade (British)
- 4th Indian Division
- 2nd New Zealand Division
Course of the siege
Encirclement and attempt to storm
On April 10, 1941, the commander of the 15th Panzer Division, General von Prittwitz and Gaffron , fell in advance of Tobruk when his car was hit by a PaK during a reconnaissance trip. The first attacks by the Axis powers on Tobruk began on April 11, 1941 and were concentrated on the southern section of the fortification. Also to gauge the strength of the defense, three attacks were made along the road to El Adem on that first day of the siege , all of which were repulsed by the Australian defenders. In the days that followed, Rommel had various tactics tried out in order to break through the two rings of defense around Tobruk. This also included a commando company of pioneers who were supposed to blast a breach in the anti-tank trenches with a large amount of explosives . The Allies responded to these attempts with the laying of mines in the field and aggressive patrols , which brought them close to the enemy again and again and thus uncovered possible attacks at an early stage. On April 13th, Rommel launched another large-scale attack on the southern section of the defense, with the aim, if not to be able to break through, at least to secure a bridgehead for further operations. This attack, too, was finally repulsed after fierce fighting.
After these failures, Rommel shifted his efforts to the western section of the defense. On April 15, around 1,000 Italian soldiers attacked the Australian positions at Ras el Madauar . Although they managed to overrun a post, they were eventually thrown back by Allied reinforcements and concentrated artillery fire. Another planned attack by the Italian “Trento” division was discovered by an Allied patrol and was caught early on. The attacks by the Axis powers failed not least because of the poorly coordinated interaction between German armored troops and Italian infantry. For example, German tanks mistakenly fired at retreating Italian troops or tank attacks were unsuccessful due to Italian infantry moving too late.
After this renewed failure, Rommel initially put all further attack efforts on hold. On the one hand, this was due to the visit of Quartermaster I Friedrich Paulus , who was supposed to examine Rommel's plans to conquer Tobruk. The Wehrmacht High Command expressed concern at the halting advance of the Africa Corps, also because the troops tied there were urgently needed for the impending invasion of the Soviet Union . On the other hand, more contingents of the 15th Panzer Division moved to Africa arrived at the same time, which Rommel wanted to use for the next attack on Tobruk.
Finally, on the evening of April 30, the attack on Tobruk resumed. The 15th Panzer Division, together with the 5th Light Division and supported by Italian infantry, led the attack again from the west. In a first push succeeded in displacing the Australian defenders from a number of fortified positions and secured the hoped-for bridgehead. All further attempts to expand this position, however, failed. In the days that followed, there were long and fierce battles, without either side being able to record any significant gains in terrain. Finally, on May 4th, Rommel stopped all further attacks and his troops dug in for a longer siege of Tobruk.
Siege of Tobruk
Rommel used the following months to reinforce his troops through the gradually arriving reinforcements from Germany. At the same time, the interaction between Italian infantry and German tanks should be improved through intensive training. Rommel did not want to attempt another attack on Tobruk until November 1941. He left a number of Italian divisions behind to maintain the siege of Tobruk while the armored forces were moved to the front line on the Libyan-Egyptian border.
During this time the Allies made two attempts to relieve the besieged city. Operation Brevity , which started in May, was hardly able to gain any terrain and ended up with the capture of the Halfaya Pass , which, however, was recaptured by German troops in the same month. The next attempt at an Allied relief attack, Operation Battleaxe, ended with the loss of most of the Allied armored forces in Egypt and a successful German counterattack, in which the attackers only barely escaped the encirclement. Due to the failure of Operation Battleaxe, Archibald Wavell was released from the Middle East Command and replaced by Claude Auchinleck .
The troops trapped in Tobruk themselves also tried to regain control of some of the defensive positions lost in the May attacks. Although some positions could be recaptured, the Axis bridgehead remained stable overall. A final Allied attack in August ended in failure with high casualties, which eventually led British commander Leslie Morshead to forego further offensive operations against the besiegers. In response to these skirmishes, the Australian Parliament finally asked for the withdrawal of the Australian Division, which was largely carried out in the course of September and October. The defense of the city was taken over by the 70th British Infantry Division and a brigade each from the Polish and Czechoslovak governments in exile. Morshead was replaced by Ronald Scobie as commanding officer.
Supply and situation in the besieged city
Due to its deep water port and the control of the Royal Navy over the eastern Mediterranean, Tobruk could continuously be supplied by sea. In order to avoid losses of ships due to attacks by the German air force, Tobruk was soon approached by small convoys - nicknamed “Tobruk Ferry Service” - accompanied by one or two British and Australian warships at night. The usual supply route had its starting point in Alexandria . The ships left early in the morning loaded with supplies and arrived in Tobruk the following night. There the load was immediately unloaded and, among other things, brought to a bomb-proof warehouse by the Senussi Cave Railway . The wounded were taken in so that the ships could immediately return to Marsa Matruh . There they were reloaded so that they could call at Tobruk one more time at night. Then they returned to Alexandria to start the journey again. Even if the situation in Tobruk was difficult due to fighting and air raids, the well-rehearsed supply convoys ensured that the troops were supplied relatively well.
Relief of the besieged city
Before Rommel was able to send his troops to another storm on Tobruk in November of that year, the Allies made one last and finally successful attempt on November 18, 1941 to relieve the city. The so-called Operation Crusader saw a coordinated attack by the XIII stationed in Egypt. Corps of the 8th Army and the besieged troops. The eastern section of the siege belt was to be broken through on both sides in order to free a direct connection to Tobruk. On November 21, the enclosed 70th Division finally managed to advance about 5-6 km in the direction of Ed Duda . On November 27th, the New Zealand Division of the XIII. Corps coming from Egypt also through the lines of the besiegers and could thus secure a corridor to Tobruk.
The following days were marked by varying successes. Although Rommel succeeded in preventing further attempts to break out of Tobruk and repeatedly pushing away the approaching Allied troops, at the same time the New Zealand Division was able to hold the corridor to Tobruk successfully against all counterattacks and the 8th Army prevented any decisive defeat. The increasingly difficult supply situation for the German-Italian troops and the rapidly decreasing tank population as a result of the fighting ultimately tipped the balance. On December 7th, Rommel had the last besiegers around the city to withdraw his troops for a strategic retreat from Cyrenaica. The siege of Tobruk came to an end after 230 days.
consequences
For the Allies, the successful defense of Tobruk was an important stage victory. After the defeat in the Balkan campaign, the victory over Germany in North Africa was an urgently needed counterweight in the public eye. From a military point of view, it was of great importance as only the occupation of Tobruk, which was in the rear of the Axis powers, prevented Rommel's rapid advance into Egypt in the summer of 1941 after the Allied defeat in Operation Battleaxe.
For the Axis Powers, the unsuccessful siege was a painful strategic defeat that destroyed all hopes for a quick victory in North Africa. Even if the losses of around 8,000 men were not very high, the lost tanks in particular were supposed to represent a major loss in the further course of the campaign.
The siege from today's perspective
Especially in Australia , New Zealand , Poland , the Czech Republic and Slovakia , whose soldiers were each decisively involved in the battles around Tobruk, the siege is an important cornerstone of the respective consideration of the military events of the Second World War. This is reflected in the reception of these events in the literature, film and history of these countries. The greatest public awareness of the siege is probably to this day in Australia, where a swimming pool in Townsville , the Tobruk Memorial Baths, commemorates it. In Tobruk itself there is now a memorial with an obelisk (see photo) for the soldiers who died in the defense.
In Germany and Italy, “Tobruk” is more associated with the rapid and successful conquest of the city by Rommel in 1942 than the long and unsuccessful siege of Tobruk in 1941. The Nazi propaganda and the German newsreel hardly mentioned the latter and the former extensively.
reception
literature
- Paul Carell : The Desert Foxes. With Rommel in Africa. 1964. (2003, ISBN 3-7766-2340-3 ).
- Peter Fitzsimons: Tobruk . Harper Collins, Sidney 2006, ISBN 0-7322-7645-4 .
- Jon Latimer: Tobruk 1941: Rommel's Opening Move . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-275-98287-4 .
- Barton Maughan: Official History of Australia in the Second World War. Series 1st Army. Volume III - Tobruk and El Alamein . Australia War Memorial, Canberra 1966. ( Online edition )
- WE Murphy: The Relief of Tobruk. In: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch (ed.): The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Wellington 1961. Online edition
- Adalbert von Taysen: Tobruk 1941. The fight in North Africa (= individual writings on the military history of the Second World War. Volume 21). Rombach, Freiburg 1976, ISBN 3-7930-0180-6 .
swell
- Archibald Wavell: Operations in the Middle East from 7th February, 1941 to 15th July, 1941. Wavell's Official Despatches. In: London Gazette. (Supplement) No. 37638, pp. 3423-3444. July 2, 1946.
- Chester Wilmot: Tobruk 1941 . Halstead Press, Sidney 1944. (New edition: Penguin Australia, Sidney 1993, ISBN 0-670-07120-X ).
Other receptions
- The Australian War Memorial dedicated a special exhibition to the siege of Tobruk in 2011 .
- The 1944 Australian film Rats of Tobruk traces the fate of three Australian soldiers during the siege.
- Lawson Glassop's 1944 Australian novel “We were the Rats” describes the course of the siege.
- The American film Tobruk from 1967 takes up the events in a strongly fictionalized and propagandistic way.
- The Czech film Tobruk from 2008 describes the siege from the perspective of the Czechoslovak soldiers.
- A heavy metal band called Tobruk formed in Great Britain in the 1980s .
Web links
- Australian War Memorial - Siege of Tobruk , English
- WW2 People's War - An archive of World War 2 memories - written by the public, gathered by BBC. Siege of Tobruk ( Memento from February 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)