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WW2 History: Tobruk continued... |
By the end of February 1941, a month after the capture of Tobruk, the British 8th Army had advanced into Libya, taken Benghazi and advanced another 175 miles along the coast. Here a number of factors caused them to halt. The troops were tired and their equipment in need of repair and resupply. Many units had been withdrawn to reform and refit. Supply lines going back to home territory in Egypt were now close to a thousand miles long. Most importantly though, Germany's invasion of Greece pulled many Commonwealth units away from Africa and into this theatre, including badly needed armour and air units. Given the seeming collapse of Italian resistance that had taken place in 1941 there seemed to be little cause for concern in halting and redeploying troops to other theatres.
In March 1941 the situation was completely altered when General Rommel arrived in Libya at the head of a new army. It consisted of two German divisions, the 15th Armoured Division and the 5th Light Motorized Division (which was effectively an armoured division as well and would soon be renamed the 21st Armoured Division). The main battle tanks in these divisions were Mk IIIs and Mk IVs, far superior in both armour and weaponry to their Commonwealth counterparts. In addition to these two powerful forces Rommel also brought 6 Italian divisions, including the armoured Ariete Division. The nearly 300 tanks of his total force were supplemented with ample artillery and numerous and effective anti-tank guns. Air power was also decidedly altered in the region, as the Luftwaffe sent more aircraft to support Rommel's army than the British had in the whole Mediterranean. The blitzkrieg combination now formed up in Africa had the aura of being unbeatable, a reputation gained from seemingly endless victories from 1939 to 1941.
Rommel with Italian generals
When Rommel's attack began at the end of March the British troops fell back in disarray, a retreat labeled by the Tommies as the 'Benghazi-Tobruk Handicap' or just the 'Tobruk Derby', a measure of who could run faster in the race to Tobruk. Without proper anti-tank or air support the 8th Army had to either retreat back to the Egyptian frontier or try and hold out in fortified coastal towns. They choose to garrison Tobruk for a siege and pull the rest of their forces back to the border to regroup.
Australian troops were once again to be involved in the battle, but this time it would be the 9th Australian Division, and it would act as the besieged force instead of the besieger. The size of the garrison was around 23,000, of which 15,000 were Australian infantrymen. The rest were British and Indian support units, artillerymen, and a small number of tankers. The lack of anti-guns was keenly felt, but luckily for the Australians there were still huge numbers of captured Italian field guns and machineguns left at Tobruk. These were doled out to the infantry in large numbers, and were valuable supplements to their firepower.
The garrison in Tobruk chose to defend the same lines as the Italians had used months before. They had less than a week to prepare the defenses, and so they were not significantly different than those which had failed to hold the Australians in their own attacks earlier. There were, however, several important changes as to how the Australians organized their defense. The first was the larger number of infantrymen which allowed for the creation of a second line of defense. Behind the perimeter the second line was strengthened with extensive wire and minefields and manned by reserve infantry battalions.
German forces reached the Tobruk area in mid-April 1941, and spent several days organizing their forces. On Easter Sunday, April 15th, they attacked. Rommel assigned 200 tanks to the assault force, including most of the 5th armoured Division and Ariete Division. At 2200 hours mortar and machinegun fire was directed onto the Australians forward posts inside the assault area. After an hour of fire German teams breached the wire. They quickly placed two field guns and several machineguns inside the wire to consolidate the bridgehead.
German forces move forward
The Australian platoon in the outpost nearest the German bridgehead responded with their own fierce counter-attack, sallying from their bunker and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the German assault troops. The Germans could not be dislodged, but the intensive fighting that followed seriously disrupted the attackers' timetable by keeping the breech in the wire from being enlarged. Corporal Edmondson, an Australian section leader who took part in this action, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth's highest military honor for valour in combat.
By 0215 the German bridgehead was expanded to several hundred yards wide, but by now heavy and accurate British artillery fire was being registered on the area, further slowing the development of the attack. Just before dawn, at 0520, German tanks moved through the gap that pioneers had cleared of mines. Unlike the
Australians own attack in the area, the German tanks quickly moved away from the perimeter to penetrate towards the second line, leaving their infantry behind.
Map of German attack
(Click to view large map)
At this point the defenders displayed a new tactic against the blitzkrieg methods used so successfully in Europe. The Australian infantry on the perimeter kept their head down and let the German tanks pass without contesting their advance. They waited until the following infantry and towed artillery came in close range before attacking with small arms. At the same time British artillery focused on the German tanks. This pinned down both the armour and the supporting troops, each at a disadvantage. The German infantry and artillery were pinned down without tank support, and the German tanks had no infantry to clear the British guns.
The German tanks were able to push forward two miles, at which point they came within direct sight of a British artillery position. Rather than falling back the medium-calibre guns engaged the tanks over open sights (the same tactic which had saved Rommel's division when he had been attacked by British tanks at Arras in 1940). Unused to such stiff resistance, and without infantry support, the German armour withdrew out of direct sight of the British guns. Not willing to spare them any time to regroup the Australian commander sent out a number of anti-tank guns mounted on top of trucks to harass the tanks from their flanks. The trucks would race into range, fire several rounds, and quickly withdraw.
Back at the wire on the perimeter the German forces were under heavy pressure. Having failed to clear a wide gap during the night, the lane through the wire was still within range of Australian rifle fire from the flanks, and still under direct observation by artillery spotters. Any unarmoured units trying to move through the narrow gap were punished by Australian infantry and British artillery.
At 0700, after several hours of shelling and harassing attacks, the Australian commander committed his own armour reserves against the German penetration. Carefully deployed Cruiser and Matilda tanks attacked the German armour from higher ground with the rising sun to their backs. Although the German tanks were far superior in every respect, they had battered themselves against unexpected heavy resistance, and now they wavered at the sight of the latest threat. Realizing the precariousness of their situation, the German tanks pulled back through the wire. By 0730 Axis troops were pushed out of the perimeter.
The German forces were stunned in the aftermath of their withdrawal. Never before had they encountered resistance of the type and ferocity seen by the Australian and British troops inside Tobruk. German tank commanders at the time described it as the most severely fought battle of the war. They were used to seeing the enemy infantry surrender once their armour had broken through the defenses and gotten behind their lines. The Australians had simply waited for them to pass before continuing to fight.
Australian patrol
The keys to the Australian defense lay with the spirit of their infantry, who were aggressive and believed in victory. A stronger defense in depth was also key to eventually stopping the German armour. When the time came for a counter-attack it was delivered when the German forces were reduced and without support, and a large force was used rather than the slow commitment of small groups. At no point from the beginning of the assault did the Commonwealth troops allow the German attackers time to regroup or reform, constant pressure was applied.
German casualties were 17 tanks lost, 110 dead, and 254 prisoners. Commonwealth casualties were 2 tanks lost, 20 killed, 60 wounded, and 12 missing. In addition, 12 German planes were destroyed at the cost of two British Hurricanes.
These two assaults on Tobruk, the first by Australians against defending Italians and the second by Germans against Australian defenders, are instructive when compared to each other. They occurred on the same ground and with nearly identical defenses. The relative superiority in weaponry for the attackers is arguably quite similar. The varying results then allow one to isolate particular tactics that proved successful and consider the affects of leadership and morale. It should be noted that the German commander, Rommel, appeared to have taken note. When he returned to Tobruk in June 1942 he was able to take the city in a single day, an action which marked the pinnacle of his career in Africa and earned him a promotion to Field Marshal.
Sources:
Forty, George. The Armies of Rommel, Arms and Armour, London, 1997
Forty, George. Tank Action, Allan Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill, 1995
Wilmot, Chester. Tobruk 1941, Penguin Books, Victoria, 1944
