At dawn on 21 January, Australian infantry broke into Tobruk and made a path for 18 British I tanks. The enemy rounded off his success in spectacular fashion. The bulk of the British tanks and guns were concentrated at the Alam el Halfa Ridge, which blocked the Axis advance 20 mi (32 km) behind the front. On 14 June, the British captured Fort Capuzzo and Fort Maddalena, taking 220 prisoners. The invasion was in three groups. Our correspondent in Cairo reported last night that in the north the old front, has been left far behind and the Italians yesterday spoke of "bitter and bloody fighting between El Alamein and Fuka" and of a subsequent Axis withdrawal "to new lines to the west." Small pockets of enemy infantry and armoured cars left in the area north of Bir Hacheim are being dealt with. Last evening's reports that our heavy and medium bombers on the way to attack the Tobruk area on Armistice night found the target already lit by scores of fires confirmed the conclusion, based on estimates of his losses, that the enemy's remnants could not attempt to stand on that position. Vichy authorities in Tunisia were pressed to allow British troops and then the Anglo-Americans, after December 1941, into French North Africa, which made it possible to invade Sicily. Benghazi fell on 28 January and Timimi on 3 February. The Halfaya Pass attack failed, Point 206 was captured and only one of three attacks on Hafid Ridge had any success. Warfare in the desert has been described as a "quarter-master's nightmare", given the conditions of desert warfare and the supply difficulties. The Egypt–Libya border was defended by the Egyptian Frontier Force and in June 1940, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division under Major-General Richard O'Connor took command in the Western Desert, with instructions to drive back the Italians from their frontier posts and dominate the hinterland if war began. [64], By February the front was at the Gazala Line, just west of Tobruk. The use of an armada for 20,000 long tons (20,321 t) of cargo ships, depleted the navy fuel reserve and only one more battleship convoy was possible. His replacement, General George Stumme, died of a heart-attack the day after the 900 gun bombardment of the German lines. For a while it looked like the the British would cut off Rommel's army but a sudden rain storm on 6th November turned the desert into a quagmire and the chasing army was slowed down. In the late afternoon our armoured forces attacked and drove off a number of German tanks which were endeavouring to interfere with operations being carried out west of El Adem by Sikhs, Punjabis, and the Royal Sussex Regiment. Those soldiers on foot, including large numbers of Italian soldiers, were unable to move fast enough and were taken prisoner. Hitler ordered the Mersa Brega line to be held at all costs but Rommel favoured a fighting retreat to the Gabès Gap in Tunisia, which would increase the supply distance for the Eighth Army to 1,500 mi (2,400 km). [31], A 7th Armoured Division screen to the west prevented the reinforcement of Sidi Barrani and on 10 December, the British cut the coast road and the 7th Armoured Division mopped up around Buq Buq, taking many prisoners. The North African campaign, also known as la guerra nel deserto in Italian or Afrikafeldzug in German, was one of the major “side shows” of the Second World War. Usually ships within 1 week. Some miles south-west of Acroma British armoured units shelled a concentration of enemy motor transport, burning some and damaging others. A Wargamer's Guide to The Desert War 1940-1943 128. by Daniel Mersey. 110. Sollum, Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo were captured but then the fort was lost to a counter-attack. I said that I did. He was the last man off the beaches at Dunkirk and since then he has done Burma. The 6th Australian Division went to Greece in March with an armoured brigade group of the 2nd Armoured Division; the remainder of the division and the new 9th Australian Division, minus two brigades and most of its transport, was sent to Greece and was replaced by two under-equipped brigades of the 7th Australian Division. Erwin Rommel launched his offensive on 26th May. The uncomfortable truth, however, remains that our Air Force in Egypt and in the Sudan is even at present heavily outnumbered. [101], Until May, monthly deliveries averaged 60,000 long tons (60,963 t), fewer than the smaller Axis force received from June to October 1941 but sufficient for an offensive. Desert War: Tactical Warfare in North Africa, 1940-43, is an historical simulation of the tactical Combat in North Africa from 1941 to 1943. [87], An attempt to drive the Eighth Army out of the Alamein position took place in the First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942). [66][b] Unternehmen Venezia (the Battle of Gazala) from 26 May to 21 June 1942, began when Afrika Korps and Italian tanks drove south, around the flank of the Gazala line and were isolated by Free French and other Allied troops at Bir Hakeim, who intercepted Axis supply convoys. [90], Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery took command of the Eighth Army in mid-August. Auchinleck spent a long weekend with me at Chequers. Armoured car patrols dominated no man's land but a lack of landing grounds reduced the effectiveness of the RAF and Malta was out of range. The Eighth Army suffered 13,500 casualties, a far smaller proportion of the force and 500 tanks (only 150 of them destroyed) and about 110 guns (mainly anti-tank guns). Buerat was not strongly defended and despite intelligence on the state of the Axis forces, Montgomery paused until 16 January 1943, when the Eighth Army had a 4:1 superiority in infantry and a 7.5:1 superiority in tanks.
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