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Afrike  and  Jack  in  Italy

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Last Hours

  

 Tobruk's defiance of Rommel's army for seven months

became a symbol of hope for Churchill and the

British public.  Tobruk's victory proved that right and 

decency could prevail over the Nazi war machine.

There was light at the end of the tunnel.

Churchill's generals saw the siege of Tobruk differently. 

It was all a wasted effort no matter the outcome. 

Ships, planes, troops and tanks should be put

to better purpose than supporting an unneeded

outpost behind enemy lines.

 General Klopper had his strongest forces facing west

to defend against Rommel's forces coming from Gazala.

An intense artillery barrage was reported by the Mahratta

Brigade facing southeast.  Klopper, commander of Tobruk,

took this as a feint and ignored the warning.

 A couple brigades of infantry, a few thousand men,

were stretched thin across Tobruk's southern section

of the perimeter.  Here was the soft underbelly

Rommel chose to exploit in what would become a 

dagger's thrust through King's Cross and all the

way to the harbor's edge in Tobruk itself.

Suddenly these riflemen faced the charge of a couple

hundred panzers coming their way with the dawn.

Rifles were no match for tanks and the British

defense was quickly swept aside.  

 Stukas flew from nearby El Adem to divebomb the

minefields protecting the British fortifications at  

King's Cross.  Once passage was cleared for

attacking tanks this vital junction fell, and with it

the Via Balbia was cut - the 8th Army's highway of

retreat, leaving the 2nd South African Division

trapped within the collapsing Tobruk resistance.

   

 Tanks are in the perimeter!  Alarm spread quickly.

The enemy was sighted by Klopper's staff at their

command HQ near Tobruk's harbor.  The General

made a final call for help to Ritchie then ordered 

communications equipment destroyed along with

all sensitive documents.  A white flag was raised.  

Rommel received thirty thousand Commonwealth troops

as pow's and over a month's worth of every kind of supply.

Rommel's Afrika Korps drove British trucks burning 

British petrol, ate British food and wore British khakis.

With his troops freshly nourished Rommel now vowed 

to immediately press on and destroy the 8th Army. 

 A knock at the door interrupted Churchill's White House

meeting with the President.  Roosevelt read the 

telegram handed him then passed it to the Prime Minister

without comment.  It was a gut punch.  Tobruk had fallen.

The question for Churchill was no longer 

how are we going to stop Rommel?

The question now became 

can we save the British Army?

* * * * * 

©  Tom Taylor

OVER  EASY

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 N O     G O O D     R E A S O N

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Mersa Matruh

  

The British 8th Army crossed over the border

into Egypt a beaten force; their tank formations

destroyed and doubt replaced confidence in their

view of leadership.  

General Auchinleck stuck his neck way out when

he picked Lieutenant-General Ritchie to lead the

8th Army in a winner-take-all confrontation with

Rommel's Afrika Korps.  A good number of 

battlefield experienced generals were ignored 

in favor of this untested staff officer.

Tobruk was captured and the 8th was 

nearly destroyed.  Firing Ritchie wasn't

enough.  Churchill would also fire Auchinleck

a couple months further down the road.

Rommel remained steadfast in adversity because

he believed he could always out-general the British.

Tobruk brought him the top rank of Field Marshall

and plenty of professional jealousy.  War of epic

scale raged with the Russians in the east while

Rommel soaked up the glory with a two division

sideshow in North Africa.

 The plan was to invade Malta once Rommel

cleared Libya of the British.  Holding North African

ports such as Tripoli and Tobruk wasn't enough

so long as Britain continued to sink Rommel's 

supplies coming from Italy.  Taking Egypt and the

Suez depended on Germany clearing the  

Mediterranean of the RAF and the subs

that patrolled from this strategic base.

 

 Rommel wants to pursue the British into Egypt now.

The opportunity to destroy the 8th Army is at hand.

Hitler agrees.  He's not keen on invading Malta.

It would be a big commitment of resources just when

everything possible is being done to supply the war

in Russia.  Besides Hitler doesn't trust Mussolini.

The Italians are incompetent and he is sure he would

be left to take Malta alone.

 Bernard Montgomery.

The guy talks truth to power.

Most everyone finds him to be a royal pain.

Churchill picked him to straighten out the

Eighth Army, but first they must survive

Rommel's push to destroy the British

at Mersa Matruh.

* * * * *

©  Tom Taylor-

-

OVER   EASY

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 A  N  T  I  C  S       O  V  E  R  N  I  T  E 

 

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Tobruk

  

 Rommel needed Tobruk and the British didn't.

Briton's Middle East commanders had no desire

to support another outpost in a siege well behind

enemy lines.  Even if successful, the venture

wasn't worth it to the military way of thinking.

Tobruk appears safe for the moment.

Rommel is stalled for lack of fuel.

"We have him now," General Ritchie proclaims.

Rommel's forces meanwhile take Sidi Muftah,

enabling them to directly resupply their formations.

British minefields inadvertently add to German defense.

Rommel takes this time to plan his next move.

 

 Four days later Rommel sprung from his lair,

known as 'The Cauldron,' to attack a series of 

British outposts strung between Knightsbridge

and El Adem.  The military situation everywhere

soon turned against the 8th Army.

Britain's generals were never trained to deal with

mobile armor.  Instead, the foot soldier still ruled

the battlefield.  The Matilda, Britain's best tank,

went no faster than troops moving double-time.

There was no need for a tank to go faster 

than a guy with his rifle.  

If your a corps commander you better quickly 

learn to think three times faster than you planned.

Forget your carefully prepared flank defense.

According to Rommel, delivering the first iron

punch is all the defense you need to know.

The 8th Army learned bitter lessons from the man

who first figured things out.

Orders from General Ritchie were ignored by 

commanders on the scene.  They were desperately

trying to get their forces to the Egyptian border

before they became trapped and annihilated

by the approaching panzer forces.

Tobruk fell quickly to Rommel.

 

 For Churchill the fall of Tobruk could not have come

at a worse time.  He was currently in Washington

conferring with his most important ally, Roosevelt.

The Prime Minister said, "Not only were the military

effects grievous, but it had affected the reputation

of the British Armies.  Defeat is one thing, disgrace

is another."

This string of failures had to end.

* * * * * 

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY

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P E L I C A N S

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