Tobruk, sieges of

Tobruk, sieges of. Rommel's victories in the spring of 1941 during the Western Desert campaigns failed to include this Libyan port which contained two Australian brigades under Maj-General Morshead. Rommel realized he must eliminate Tobruk before advancing into Egypt, but his forces twice failed to take it, and then a raid by the garrison netted two Italian infantry battalions. After he had received reinforcements, Rommel tried again, but was again repulsed.

By now Tobruk had become a cause célèbre. Churchill signalled Morshead, ‘The whole Empire is watching your steadfast and spirited defence of this important outpost of Egypt with gratitude and admiration.’ But after two British offensives (BREVITY and BATTLEAXE) failed to relieve the siege the Australian government insisted its men be withdrawn, and between August and October 1941 they were partially replaced by British troops and those of the Polish Carpathian Brigade.

Rommel was now obsessed with taking this stubborn enclave behind his lines, but he was pre-empted from another all-out attack when the CRUSADER offensive was launched on 18 November 1941 by Auchinleck. As part of Auchinleck's plan, the garrison broke out of Tobruk and on the night of 26/27 November linked up with the 2nd New Zealand Division. This connection was temporarily severed by Rommel but within days his inadequate logistics forced his withdrawal and the siege was lifted. However, in June 1942, after his successes in the Gazala battle, Rommel attacked the port from the least expected point, the south-east. By then Auchinleck regarded it as indefensible; on 20 June it fell, and nearly all the 35,000-strong garrison, which included one-third of South Africa's ground forces in Libya, became prisoners-of-war. The port remained in Rommel's hands until his retreat after the second El Alamein battle that November.