The Siege of Tobrukįor 241 days, the garrison at Tobruk held firm against constant German assaults.īetween April and August the garrison was made up primarily of men from the 9 th Australian Division. Stretching his supply lines to the maximum, Rommel continued his advance until the British had been pushed out of Libya, with the exception of Tobruk. The British, caught by surprise, fell back.

Against orders, Rommel advanced along the coast toward Benghazi. His arrival turned the North African campaign on its head. In February 1941, Erwin Rommel was sent to rescue the floundering Italians. But why did Germany invade the Soviet Union? What did Stalin and Hitler think of each other? And how did the invasion impact on Germany’s eventual defeat? Charlie Mills spoke to Dr. In June 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, opening up the Eastern Front in World War II – a campaign to which more forces were committed than in any other theatre of war in history. With the surrender of Benghazi, the near total collapse of the Italian forces in North Africa was complete. Though outnumbered, the British were superior to the Italians in every other respect. The Italians at Sidi Barrani were soon outflanked and enveloped.īardia and Tobruk were taken soon after in similar fashion, with the Australians taking responsibility for the latter. Having advanced some 50 miles into Egypt, the Italians established a line of bases at Sidi Barrani.

They possessed massive numerical superiority over the small British force in Egypt charged with defending the Suez Canal.

Italian forces moved into the Western Desert from the Italian colony of Cyrenacia (a region of modern-day Libya) in September 1940. Listen to hear more about the forgotten, secret heroes of the Second World War from Gershom, an expert historian, journalist and author of 'War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East'. Gershom Gorenberg has been investigating the Nazi’s use of intelligence, and how codebreaking was eventually used against them. In this episode, we uncover the secret to this success. Erwin Rommel, the ‘Desert Fox’, known as such because from 1940 until the end of 1942, he led his troops across the deserts of North Africa and towards the Middle East with an often uncanny sense of his enemies' plans and weaknesses.

Ww2 tank battles north africa