Operation Crusader
Operation Crusader (November 18 - December 30, 1941) was the third and largest attempt to relieve the Siege of Tobruk and the one which succeded.
Background and Orders of Battle
Following the costly failure of Operation Battleaxe, General Archibald Wavell was relieved as Commander-in-Chief Middle East and replaced by General Claude Auchinleck. The Western Desert Force was reorganized and renamed the Eighth Army under the command of Lt. General Alan Cunningham with its main strength comprising 30th Corps under Major General Neil Ritchie. The gallant but exhausted 9th Australian division of the Tobruk garrison under General Morshead was replaced by the 70th Division primarily composed of Polish troops which were brought in by the Royal Navy. Eighth Army was reinforced to 7 divisons with 700 tanks (including many of the new American light Stuart tanks and heavy Grant and Lee tanks ). Tactical air support was provided by 1,000 planes of the Desert Air Force.
Opposing them were the hardened veterns of General Erwin Rommel's German Afrika Korps comprising the 15th Panzer Division, 21st Panzer Division (total of 260 Panzers ) together with the understrength 90th and 164th light infantry divisions. Supporting them were 6 weak Italians divisions with 154 tanks organized into 3 corps. Axis Air support consisted of 120 German and 200 Italian planes.
The Battle
On 18 November, Eighth Army launched a surpise attack, striking to the northwest from its base in Mersa Matruh. The plan was to find and engage the Afrika Korps, while the main attack by 30th Corps fell against the Italians at Bardia in conjunction with a breakout attempt by the 70th division from Torbuk. But the offensive stalled when both 30 Corps and 70th Divison came under heavy artillery fire from Rommel's light divisions. On 21 November, Rommel seeing an opportunity (together with a need to relieve pressure on the wavering Italians) gathered his Panzer divisions and counter-attacked, with reinforced air support from the Luftwaffe, over the Egyptian frontier into the British rear areas. Near panic, Cunningham asked to withdraw, but Auchinleck insisted he stand his ground. On 22 November the Panzers were engaged and stopped by 13th Corps. On the 26th, the 13th Corps' New Zealand division had linked up with both the Tobruk garrison and 30th Corps. The Afrika Korps was now split in two with its light divisions surrounded. The besiegers had suddenly become the besieged, and the Panzers were forced to withdraw to try and help the light divisions breakout, which they eventually suceeded in doing by 6 December. On 7 December 1941, Rommel began to withdraw his battered forces to a defensive line at Gazala to the southwest of Tobruk. Meanwhile Auchinleck, having relieved the situation himself, now relieved Cunningham of his command, replacing him with Richie whom he now promoted to Lieutenant General. Richie continued to aggressively pressure Rommel's line, forcing him to make a fighting withdrawl back to El Agheila (28-30 December) from whence he had first begun his offensive in March of 41.
Aftermath
Auchinleck's determination together with Richie's aggressiveness had removed the Axis threat to Egypt and Suez for the time being. The Italian garrison of Bardia surrendered on 2 January 1942. Followed by another mass surrender at Halyfa on the 17th. The Eighth army now went to pursue Rommel at El Agheila, but it had taken heavy losses in the previous month's fighting and overextended itself. On 21 January, Rommel launched one his surprise counter-attacks against the tired and dispersed British forces, driving them back to Gazala where they took up defensive positions along Rommel's old line. Here a stalemate set in as both sides regrouped, rebuilt and reorganized. Operation Crusader, while it may have proved a limited success, showed Rommel's Afrika Korp could be beaten and is a fine illustration of the dynamic, back and forth fighting which charachterized the North African Campaign.
See also
References
- The Encyclopedia Of Military History: From 3500 B.C. To The Present. (2nd Revised Edition 1986), R. Ernest Dupuy, and Trevor N. Dupuy. PP 1072-1073, 1082.