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?
* * * * *
OVER EASY
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