North Africa, 1942, Spring-Summer

After Rommel's tactical retreat from Cyrenaica, most of the High Command in Rome became instantly pessimistic about the war in Africa. This defeatism was felt through the chain of command and although more units were sent to the Afrika Corps, the supply situation and overall corporation of the Italian Navy was we becoming a problem. Despite all this doom and gloom, Rommel had been making plans for another attack. Although still greatly outnumbered, he knew that if he let the British build up defensive position, the war in Africa would be over. He also knew that the tank was of little value unless it was attacking. In a letter to his wife, he tells of how he is thinking about another offensive, but was keeping it to himself because of the current attitude of the command:

"The situation is developing to our advantage and I'm full of plans that I darn't say anything about round here. They'd think me crazy. But I'm not; I simply see a bit farther than they do. But you know me. I work out my plans early each morning, and how often during the past year and in France have they been put into effect within a matter of hours? That's how it should be and is going to be in the future."

It was by now a common fact that the Italian officers could not hold a secret and there was even rumors of high ranking officers selling secrets the British. In light of this, Rommel thought it best to not tell the High Command about his offensive and launch it without permission. He knew as always that if it was a failure it would be the end of him, but if a success he would be praised.

(Left: The Afrika Corps Infantry attacking, Right: The ME109, the standard German fighter in North Africa)

To keep the rift that would take place in Rome to a minimum when they would hear of the attack, Rommel decided just to use German troops for the assault, and just use the Italians for backup. First they struck north attacking Benghazi from the north and south, then striking east, with unrelenting attack. Although much fewer in numbers, the boldness of such a maneuver again shocked the British commanders, and demoralized their men. Rommel pushed them back the Meccelli and stopped there because of the threat of his open flank. He decided to hold a line here while the other troops caught up and a supply line could be made for a major offensive. Within 4 days the Afrika Corps pushed the British back to the Gazala Line.

The command in Rome was so upset that it pulled almost all Italian troops back, thinking that any day the British would counter-attack and they would be destroyed. But Rommel knew the British well by now. One of their traits that can be a flaw is that they are over cautious. Any out of the ordinary move or surprise attack can lead to a standstill of action on their part due to a strict accordance to the chain of command. Independent action was frowned upon and made their army ineffective in some situations that Rommel put them in. If they did decide to attack Rommel right there and then, they probably could had destroyed his forces and won, but they had to reorganize, make long drawn out plans, and bring 5 times more supplies then they needed. Their constant change of staff also did not help, as commanders had to learn the hard way about desert combat, and never really got to fully know Rommel's tactics. Once things settled down and the line formed, the command in Rome once again gave Rommel the full command of Italian troops.

(General Richie (left) commanded the British troops at the front, while Auchinleck (right) commanded from Cairo)

Rommel resented the fact that he was considered a gambler by the High Command and some of his critics back in Germany. He had to tirelessly defend all his decisions and took great care to explain the difference between a bold move and a gamble:

"It is my experience that bold decisions give the best promise of success. But one must differentiate between strategical or tactical boldness and a military gamble. A bold operation is one in which success is not a certainty but which in case of failure leaves one with sufficient forces in hand to cope with whatever situation may arise. A gamble, on the other hand, is an operation which can lead either to victory or to the complete destruction of one's force. Situations can arise where even a gamble may be justified-as, for instance, when in the normal course of events defeat is merely a matter of time, when the gaining of time is therefore pointless and the only chance lies in an operation of great risk."

After Rommel's initial limited attack in late winter that halted at the Gazala Line, the British started constructing elaborate defensive obstacles, bunkers, and mine fields. General Auchinleck and Richie knew that Rommel would attack, but the question was where. Rommel wanted them to think that he was going to attack the city of Gazala and the middle of the line so as to make them keep both their Armored Brigades (32nd, and 1st) behind their northern lines, or at least split them. He succeeded in doing this by having both Italian Infantry Division (XXI Corps and X Corps) attack the heavily defended north and middle line along with the support of a very heavy artillery barrage to give the illusion of a large scale attack. Auchinleck and Richie played into Rommel's hands and kept both the tank brigades in the north to support the defense.

(1st Phase of the attack. The Afrika Corps are red and the Italians are orange. The British are blue and the Free French are light blue)

Rommel then flanked the line from the south with the Afrika Corps, also using the Motorized Italian Divisions. Behind the line they clashed with 3 British Armored Brigades that were in reserve, while the German 90th Light Division went at full speed towards the east of Torbruk to head off the garrison and find the supply dumps. Rommel cleverly fixed aero engines on their vehicles to feign the movement of massed amour by raising as much dust as possible, thus causing panic and caution. At first the battle against the reserve brigades went bad for the Afrika Corps as they had first contact with the American-made Grant tank that was almost up to par with the Panzer IV, but then drew the brigades into combat one by one and severely mauled them. The heavy mining done by the British slowed them down enough for more support to come from the north. The 90th light Division got to some of the supply dumps and also rounded up a large amount of prisoners that they captured in complete surprise, but was confronted by a large tank force moving from the east and had to retreat back to the heavy fighting at the front. The British reacted strongly to this risk of being cut off from the flanking maneuver and a very violent head to head battle occurred. Rommel had orders for all Panzer brigades to wait for artillery support before charging ahead, but many unheeded his orders and attacked anyways with high casualties. Tank after tank on both sides were shattered by the heavy fire and they sky was filled with the black smoke of the burning vehicles.

(2nd phase. The Free French still hold on their own and Rommel lays a trap using the Italians as bait, while making lanes through the minefiields behind him for supplies)

After the 90th Light Division met back up with the Axis forces, Rommel decided to stop advancing and re-access the situation, and also make a hole in the line behind them for a supply route. Although the British reaction was slow to react to his movements thanks to General Richie, their tank brigades brought Rommel to a standstill due to the fact of numerical superiority and the new Grant tank. Although this was the case, Rommel still had split the line in the middle and still had pressure to the north due to the attacking Italian infantry. Independent pockets of Allied troops such as the Free French Brigade holding the south most line, was cut off from all communications and supplies. General Richie made a grave error in judgement at this point and instead of pushing back the Italians in the north, or trying to cut Rommel's supply, he ordered the direct attack of his armored brigades against the Axis wedge. The British still had many more tanks than the German (400 to 130). This turned out to being the decisive turning point in the battle.

(Left: Panzer Mark IV, Right: American made Grant Tank)

On June 3rd, Brigade after brigade of tank formations charged into Rommel's trap. The attack was supported by the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade and the 9th Infantry. Once in contact with the attacking forces, the middle of the Axis bulge withdrew, letting the units enter and get blasted with murderous fire from 3 sides. One after another they marched to their doom until Richie finally realized what was happening. But by this time it was too late and his 400 tanks was now 170 with little loss to Rommel's own forces. The 10th Indian Brigade was totally wiped out and 4,000 British troops were captured. But before Rommel could launch a counter-attack after his defensive victory, he had to take care of the Free French Brigade that was holding their own at Bir Hacheim against all odds. They were surrounded and attacked from all sides by the Italian Trieste Division and the 90th Light Division, but rebuked them with stubborn defense. The British and French had made nearly 1,200 defensive nests around the city and many minefields. Finally Rommel had to send the 15th Panzer Division to the city where the Free French fought almost to the last man, but could not hold. (The survivors somehow snuck through the ring and made it back to the east.)

(3rd phase. The French are wiped out and the bulk of British amour is destroyed, effectively winning the battle for the Axis)

With things now in his favor, Rommel continued his plan of driving for the sea and cutting off the British, and effectively destroying the 8th Army. Richie seemed unwilling to fall back despite his heavy losses and destruction of the southern part of his line, and continued to attack suffering heavy losses. He was forced to draw back the South African Division from Gazala and try to hold a line at El Adem with the defenses of Torbruk protecting their north flank. Field Marshall Kesselring (who was in charge of the Luftwaffe in North Africa) send Stuka dive bombers over the British units that were streaming east, picking off tanks and lorries one by one. By this time, Richie only had 70 tanks of his original 400, and Rommel had 72 of his 130. Richie now had new directive from the British command: hold Tobruk at all costs.

(British troops patroling the anti-tank ditches and barbed wire defenses of Tobruk)

Rommel once again laid siege at the fortress city of Tobruk while mopping up the random English units scattered around the area. He intended to follow through with his original plan to take Torbruk before Operation Crusader was launched. A feigned attack by the Italians and strong artillery would engaged the defense while a concentrated force would strike at night from the east. On the outset of the attack, every available Axis aircraft in Africa bombed the defense works. The whole of the Afrika Corps along with the 10th Italians attacked the dug in positions and maze of nests and wire. Though extremely dangerous, the German Engineers made the going faster by cutting wire, sapping obstacles, and bridging ditches. Bitter hand to hand combat in trench by trench fighting ensued as the Axis forces moved closer towards the city. Once lanes were cleared through the mines and ditches by the engineers, the Afrika Corp amour and Rommel in his transport went into the inner defense works, although still under heavy artillery fire. Soon after the break through and a heavy tank battle, they stormed the town and port. Six transport ships filled with British troops were starting to flee the port, but Rommel had the A.A. guns fire on them and they were sunk. (almost all the men were saved) The city of Torbruk was finally in Rommel's hands after a year of intense fighting. Both the Axis and British troops were totally exhausted after 3 hard weeks of battle. The British pulled back into Egypt stunned and very hurt while General Richie was fired for his ill decision making. The very day Torbruk was in his hands, Rommel starting making plans for the invasion of Egypt, and the final victory in North Africa.

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