World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseOperation Flipper

ww2dbaseIn Oct and Nov 1941, the British Eighth Army developed a plan to disrupt Axis defense at various locations just before the launch of the Operation Crusader major offensive by commando attacks; the plans included the assassination of Erwin Rommel at Beda Littoria, Libya, should the opportunity arise. The operation was launched on 10 Nov 1941 as submarine HMS Torbay (carrying Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Keyes' group of 28 men) and HMS Talisman (carrying Lieutenant Colonel Robert Laycock's group of 28 men) departed from Alexandria, Egypt.

ww2dbaseDuring the night of 14 to 15 Nov, HMS Torbay disembarked Keyes' group at Hamama, Libya, where the commandos met up with three men already behind enemy lines. Later on the same night, HMS Talisman was met with rough seas and was only able to disembark Laycock and seven others. With fewer men than originally planned, Laycock decided to eliminate two of the four targets. He set up a headquarters near HMS Talisman's landing beach in hope that the weather would ease to allow HMS Talisman to disembark the remaining men, and dispatched Keyes with a group of men for Rommel's headquarters and Lieutenant Cook with a group of six men for an Axis communications facility.

ww2dbaseKeyes' group moved to a hiding spot during prior to daybreak on 15 Nov, and remained there during daylight. After sundown, they moved up a 1,800-foot rise and then marched 18 miles before hiding again. After sundown on 16 Nov, they reached Rommel's headquarters. At 2359 hours, they approached the main building after bypassing the perimeter guards. Unable to find open doors or windows, Captain Campbell pounded on one of the doors, shouting in German. A German soldier opened the door and entered into a struggle, which had to be ended with a gunshot, which alerted the Germans nearby. A fire fight soon began. Keyes was shot and killed by the Germans, while Campbell was shot by friendly fire shortly afterwards. The group soon decided to abandon their objective and retreat back to Laycock's position.

ww2dbaseMeanwhile, Cook's group failed to achieve its objective as well.

ww2dbaseWaiting at the beach for weather to improve so that they could board the submarine, Laycock's position was discovered and attacked. Laycock ordered the commandos to disperse into smaller groups and make their own way back to friendly lines. After 37 days, only Laycock and one other man returned safely; 30 British were killed or captured.

ww2dbaseAfter learning of the attack, Rommel gave Keyes a burial with full military honors at a local Catholic cemetery; Keyes was also given a posthumous Victoria Cross medal by his home country.

ww2dbaseThe Main Offensive

ww2dbaseIn Jun 1941, the Allies launched the Operation Battleaxe offensive and it failed. With a new commander at the helm, Claude Auchinleck, the Allies planned a new offensive against the Axis forces in Libya, with particular focus on relieving the siege at Tobruk. While the British planned for such an attack, an effort was launched in parallel to deceive the Axis into thinking that the British would not be able to launch any major offensive until early Dec 1941; additionally, false intelligence was shaped in a way that, to the Axis leadership, it appeared that the offensive would come from the area of Giarabub, an oasis village far to the south. The offensive was planned under the codename "Crusader", inspired by the new tanks by the same designation that were now arriving in the theater in larger numbers.

ww2dbaseThe offensive was to be conducted by two British corps. The British XXX Corps, under Lieutenant General Willoughby Norrie, was consisted of Major General William Gott's British Armoured Division, Major General George Brink's South African 1st Infantry Division (two brigades), and the independent 22nd Guards Brigade. The British XIII Corps, under Lieutenant General Reade Godwin-Austen, was consisted of Major General Frank Messervy's 4th Indian Infantry Division, Major General Bernard Freyberg's New Zealand 2nd Division and the 1st Army Tank Brigade.

ww2dbaseOn the Axis side, two formations stood in the British offensive's path. German General Erwin Rommel's force was consisted of the German 15th Panzer Division, the German 21st Panzer Division, the German 90th Light Infantry Division, the Italian 55th Infantry Division "Savona", and General Enea Navarini's Italian XXI Army Corps (4 divisions). The other formation defending Axis territory was the Italian XX Motorized Corps, which was consisted of the Italian 132nd Armored Division "Ariete" and the Italian 101st Motorized Division "Trieste". A good portion of the Axis forces were near Tobruk as Rommel was planning on launching a major offensive against Tobruk on or around 24 Nov.

ww2dbaseBefore dawn on 18 Nov, the British Eighth Army advanced southwest from Mersa Matruh, Egypt, with the British 7th Armoured Division at the spearhead; this main column of the offensive crossed the Egyptian-Libyan border near Fort Maddalena and then turned northwest. Meanwhile, the South African Division protected the southern flank, and the British XIII Corps and the British 4th Armoured Brigade held the area west of Sidi Omar to counter a potential Axis counter offensive through that area. The opening phases of the invasion was originally to be assisted by some of the 724 British and Commonwealth aircraft assigned to the operation, but all ground support missions were canceled due to the unexpected bad weather; on the other side of the token, the bad weather aided the Allied efforts by preventing Axis reconnaissance flights from being launched, which could have detected the preparations for the operations. The first day of the offensive no resistance was met. In the morning of 19 Nov, the Italian Ariete Division halted the 22nd Armoured Brigade of the British 7th Armoured Division at Bir el Gubi; however, the 7th Armoured Brigade and the 7th Support Group of the same division were able to advance near Tobruk, capturing the Sidi Rezegh airfield during the process. Meanwhile on the same day, the British 4th Armoured Brigade engaged 60 tanks, supported by 8.8-centimeter guns, of the German 21st Panzer Division on the offensive's northern flank. On 20 Nov, the British 22nd Armoured Brigade continued its fight with the Italian Ariete Division, the British 7th Armoured Brigade repulsed an infantry counter attack launched by the German 90th Light Infantry Division and the Italian Bologna Division at Sidi Rezegh, and the British 4th Armoured Brigade fought a second tank battle with the German 21st Panzer Division.

ww2dbaseIn the afternoon of 20 Nov, the British 4th Armoured Brigade engaged with tanks of the German 15th Panzer Division. After losing about 40 tanks during this engagement, the British 4th Armoured Brigade was now down to about 120 tanks; it had began the campaign with 164 tanks. On the German side, the 21st Panzer Division was temporarily withdrawn for refueling. At dusk, the British 22nd Armoured Brigade arrived on the scene, but it was too late to assist the British 4th Armoured Brigade. During the night, Rommel withdrew all his tanks northwest in order to launch a major counter attack on Sidi Rezegh.

ww2dbaseOn 21 Nov 1941, the Allied garrison at Tobruk attempted a break out, which surprised the Axis forces. By mid-afternoon, the Allied advance from Tobruk had advanced about 5.6 kilometers. It was at that time that the Tobruk garrison learned that the British 7th Armoured Brigade, which was supposed to attack in the direction of Tobruk starting at 0830 hours, had changed its plans due to the unexpected presence of 200 German tanks to the southeast. Instead of a full offensive spearheaded by armor, the tanks of the 7th Armoured Brigade turned to face the new German threat, leaving the attack to infantry. Without tanks, the advance was slow, thus by mid-afternoon the link up attempt was abandoned. Meanwhile, German Panzer troops captured the airfield at Sidi Rezegh in the early afternoon, while fighting in the immediate area continued into the next day with heavy tank losses on either side, though the British saw more tanks lost. Also on 22 Nov, heavy fighting developed between New Zealand and Italian troops near Sollum, while troops of the Indian 7th Brigade captured Sidi Omar. On 23 Nov, troops of the New Zealand 5th Brigade advanced toward Sollum, cutting off Axis supply routes from Bardia. Also on 23 Nov, Rommel gathered the remainder of his two armored divisions and launched an attack together with the Italian Ariete Division to cut off and destroy the rest of the British XXX Corps; brutal fighting led to heavy casualties on both sides.

ww2dbaseOn 23 Nov, the Italian High Command in Rome, Italy agreed to put the Italian XX Mobile Corps, which included the Ariete Division and the Trieste Division, under Rommel's direct command.

ww2dbaseOn 24 Nov, German and Italian tanks sped for Sidi Omar, splitting the British XXX Corps. Pressing on, Rommel ordered further advances on 25 Nov toward Sidi Azeiz, but the column was discovered and attacked by Allied aircraft. At Sidi Omar, the German 5th Panzer Regiment attacked positions manned by troops of the Indian 7th Brigade, which fought off the repeated assaults with the help of their 25-pounder artillery; at the end of the day, the German 5th Panzer Regiment found itself exhausted. On 26 Nov, German and Italian forces converged toward Fort Capuzzo; by dusk, they met defenses manned by the New Zealand 5th Brigade.

ww2dbaseIn the morning of 27 Nov, Rommel withdrew the weakened German 21st Panzer Division from the fighting at the Egyptian-Libyan border, redeployment it at Tobruk to help counter the Tobruk garrison's attempts to break out; en route west, the 21st Panzer Division was harassed by troops of the New Zealand 22nd Battalion, delaying their arrival at Tobruk for a day. The German 15th Panzer Division, however, remained on the offensive. At Sidi Azeiz, the German 15th Panzer Division engaged in combat in the morning against outnumbered New Zealand troops, and captured the position with 700 prisoners captured; Rommel personally oversaw this attack from the front. At this point, the Axis forces were within four miles of the British Eighth Army's main supply base, but this fact was not known to Rommel until later. At noon, the German 15th Panzer Division reached Bir el Chleta, but was halted by the British 22nd Armoured Brigade and Allied aircraft. By the early afternoon of 27 Nov, it was clear to Allied leaders that the Axis offensive was beginning to lose steam. During that night, however, Rommel knew his tanks could still press on. For the most of the day on 28 Nov, the German 15th Panzer Division engaged British tanks, succeeding in pushing them back toward the west despite being outnumbered. Elsewhere, an Italian attack of two motorized battalions near Tobruk saw the capture of a New Zealand field hospital, which resulted in the capture of 1,000 troops and 700 medical staff members.

ww2dbaseOn 29 Nov, the German 15th Panzer Division started westward south of Sidi Rezegh in the morning. In the afternoon, the Italian Ariete Division overran the New Zealand 21st Battalion at Point 175. In the evening, the South African 1st Brigade was placed under the command of the New Zealand 2nd Division, which launched an attack in attempt to recapture Point 175. On 30 Nov, New Zealand 24th and 26th Battalions were battered by Axis attacked at Sidi Rezegh. At 0615 hours on 1 Dec, the German 15th Panzer Division began an assault on Belhamed, supported by large numbers of artillery pieces. The British 7th Armoured Division was ordered to counterattack at Belhamed, and they might had been able to do so successfully given they outnumbered the German tanks, but miscommunications resulted in the British tanks moving into rear positions to cover a potential retreat by the Allied troops. By the end of the day, the New Zealand 20th Battalion was practically wiped out.

ww2dbaseBetween 4 and 6 Dec, fighting took place across the front without decisive outcomes. The Allied reserves began to be committed as attrition began to take a toll, but the Allied leadership saw the situation as favorable to them. On 7 Dec, Rommel began to pull back by 10 miles toward Gazala, abandoning the Tobruk front. On 10 Dec, the siege at Tobruk was lifted.

ww2dbaseThe British Eighth Army launched an attack on the Gazala Line on 13 Dec. During the attack, the New Zealand 5th Brigade and Indian 5th Brigade attacked Alem Hamza, which was repulsed by the defending Italian Trieste Division, losing only Point 204 to the west. The Germans attempted a counterattack with 39 tanks followed by 300 trucks full of infantry, but the attack was stalled, albeit at a high cost for the Allies. On 14 Dec, the Polish Independent Brigade was moved to the front in preparation for a new offensive beside the New Zealand troops, which began at 0300 hours on 15 Dec; the attack surprised the Axis defenders, but it failed to breach the line. Later on that day, the Axis forces attacked and recaptured Point 204, causing high casualties among the Indian units defending that position. At the end of the day, Rommel decided to fall back from the Gazala Line during the night. Over the following ten days, the Axis forces fell back to the line between Ajedabia and El Haseia.

ww2dbaseEpilogue

ww2dbaseOn 27 Dec, after the Axis forces were able to replenish, an attack was launched that resulted in a tank battle of El Haseia; the British 22nd Armoured Brigade suffered heavy casualties. Nevertheless, this would prove to be the last attack during this period, and Rommel's forces were now unable to return to the border area between Libya and Egypt. On 2 Jan 1942, the last Axis garrison on the Egyptian-Libyan border, Bardia, surrendered to the South African 2nd Division, resulting in 7,000 men captured. Sollum was captured by South African troops on 12 Jan. Halfaya Pass, with a 5,000-strong garrison, surrendered on 17 Jan after running out of supplies. On 21 Jan, Rommel tried one last major counterattack, capturing Benghazi by the first week of Feb, but the offensive was halted at the Gazala Line. Rommel would find himself not able to regain the offensive momentum for the months to come.

ww2dbaseWith Tobruk relieved, Operation Crusader was considered an overwhelming success, and it was the first major victory over German forces in North Africa. At the end of the operation, the Allies suffered 17,700 casualties and lost 278 tanks and 300 aircraft; the Axis suffered 38,300 casualties and lost 300 tanks and 600 aircraft.

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Operation Crusader Timeline

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2.  Alan Chanter says:
8 Jul 2017 11:54:05 PM

Willoughby Norrie’s appointment to command 30 Corps was the consequence of an unfortunate accident. The Corps, consisting of 7 Armoured Division, 4 Armoured Brigade, 1 South African Division and 22 Guards Motor Brigade, was General Cunningham’s true striking force whose purpose was to ‘seek and destroy the enemy armour’. It should have been commanded by Lieutenant-General Vyvyan Pope, who arrived in Cairo in October, only to die almost immediately when his aircraft crashed on take-off at Heliopolis. This was an unqualified tragedy for the British. Pope had served in armour since the early 1920s, consorted with pioneers like Hobart, commanded the Mobile Force at Mersa Matruh in 1936, acted as armoured adviser at Lord Gort’s HQ in France in 1940, and thereafter held a key post as Director of Armoured Fighting Vehicles at the War Office. His qualifications for the command of 8th Army’s Strike Force were beyond question. Above all, his robust temperament and informed mind were supported by a fundamental creed that armour must always be used en masse and never dissipated.

General Auchinleck needed to find a replacement urgently. The most convenient man available was Major-General Norrie, who had reached the Middle East ahead of his I Armoured Division, which was still in transit from England. Norrie at least had some experience in handling armour, and so, with a quick promotion to Acting Lieutenant-General found himself appointed as the new Corps Commander. Unfortunately power still rested in the hands of Cunningham whose operational plan involved 30 Corps pushing down the Trigh el Abd as far as Gabr Saleh, due south of Gambut, and there in a featureless desert taking up a defensive position hoping to draw Rommel onto his guns. To be fair, Norrie argued strongly for an immediate drive to Sidi Rezegh at the outskirts of besieged Tobruk, but he was disregarded. Lacking the authority and experience in armour which Pope would have been able to assert, Norrie bowed to the bad plan of an inept Army Commander. If Rommel had been more alert and responsive to the recommendations of his senior commander Cunningham might have lost the battle within 24 hours, but Rommel was so obsessed with Tobruk that he let the chance slip away and CRUSADER now developed into a fearsome war of attrition where both sides would suffer heavy losses in both manpower and machinery.