Operation Crusader

18 Nov to 7 Dec, 1941

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After the utter defeat of Italian arms in North Africa, by the British, during Sept and Oct of 1940, Hitler decided to help Mussolini hold on to what was left by sending a corps size task force (The Afrika Korps) commanded by Erwin Rommel

Rommel was not one to sit on the defensive – In April of 1941, he defeated the British forces deployed near El Agheila and Bengazi – He then moved to surround the British held port of Tobruk

Archibald Wavell, the overall commander of the British forces in The Middle East and North Africa organized two operations to relieve the siege of Tobruk (Operation Brevity and Operation Battleaxe) – Both failed

Until Tobruk was taken, Rommel could not move further eastward to achieve his main goal of driving the British out of Egypt and controlling the Suez Canal

Churchill felt it was time for a new commander – He felt Wavell was tired - New ideas were needed

In July of 1941, Wavell was sent to command in India - He essentially changed places with Claude Auchinleck, the previous commander in India- Like Wavell, Auchinleck now had responsibility for the entire Middle East and northern Africa

Auchinleck

Auchinleck appointed Alan Cunningham (Victor over the Italians in Ethiopia) as head of the new 8th Army - an unfortunate choice

Cunningham

Cunningham was coming from a theater where he had commanded a maximum of 5 infantry brigades

He knew nothing about armor operations and a large part of the British forces in the upcoming operation would be armor

In his favor, Cunningham did not follow the usual British procedure by keeping armor and infantry completely separated – He organized two corps – 30th, containing most of the armor with a significant infantry component and 13th containing mostly infantry but with a significant armor component of Valentine and Matilda tanks

Still, he was way over his head with the size of the operation and his corps commanders had no clue about how to fight with coordinated armor, infantry, anti tank weapons (AT) and artillery

Auchinleck was able to fend off Churchill’s unceasing demands for a new offensive - He was able to delay the offensive until November to absorb new equipment and train the troops for desert warfare

Unfortunately, new equipment and enthusiastic troops could not make up for the incompetent commanders and obsolete tactics

Seeing all the new equipment, the troops were confident of victory

British Armor 1941-1942 - Operation Crusader

Matilda II - 40mm gunmax armor = 78 mm

Crusader II - 40 mm gunmax armor = 49 mm

Stuart - 37mm gunmax armor = 38mmMax Penetration 37 mm gun - 48mm of armor at 500m

Valentine II - 40 mm gunmax armor = 65mm

The U.S. lend Lease Stuart could fire canister rounds for use against infantry – The 40mm guns on British tanks fired only solid shot to kill enemy tanks

Max penetration 40 mm gun- 57 mm of armor at 500m

Afrika Corps Armor - 1941

Pz-1B - two 7.92mm MGsmax armor = 13mm

Pz-IIB - 20mm gunMax armor = 30mm

penetration = 20mm at 500m

Pz-IIIF - 50mm gunMax armor = 30mm

penetration = 58mm at 500mCould also fire HE rounds

Pz-IVE - 75mm gunMax armor = 30mm

penetration – HEAT AT rounds 70mmThe Pz-IV E was primarily an anti infantry weapon – firing mostly HE rounds

Italian Armor in North Africa

Autoblinda AB 41- 20mm gun - max armor = 9mm

Penetration = 20mm at 500m

L3/35 Tankette - 6.5mm MG -max armor = 13mm

M11/39 - 37mm gun - max armor = 30mm

Penetration = 35mm at 500m

M 13/40 - 47mm gun - max armor = 30mm

Penetration = 48mm at 500m37 and 47mm guns can fire bothHE and solid shot

British Advance to relieve TobrukBritish - 690 tanks (plus more in reserve) - 34,000 trucks

Germans - 244 tanks - Italians - 146 tanks - 10,000 trucks The British had the advantage of numbers in armor – Troop numbers were about the same – Brits-118,000 – Axis-119,000

Assembly area

Halfaya Pass

The battle turned into a confused melee as both sides lost control

Next map

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13th Corps

30th Corps22 Arm Bde = 163 Crusaders 7Arm Bde = 129 Crusaders4 Arm Bde = 166 Stuarts

60 Valentines60 Matildas1st Army Tank Bde =

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Cunningham’s original plan - await with massed armor at Gabr Saleh for German counter attack - Rain masked the advance – Germans didn’t know Brits were there in strength

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Cunningham discarded the original plan - Armor dispersed - 7th to Sidi Rezegh - 22 to Bir el Gubi - 4th stays at Gabr Saleh

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4th Arm Bde suffered significant tank losses but 21st Pz had to withdraw – Low on fuel – Ariete dug in – Held off 22 Arm Bde – 90th Light surrounded 7th Arm Bde at Sidi Rezegh airfield

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A mixed tank and infantry force from Tobruk tried to open a corridor to Sidi Rezegh while 15 Panzer attacked the unfortunate 4 Arm Bde and 13th Corps advanced toward Capuzzo - 22 Arm Bde recalled

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TobForce continued to try opening a corridor to Sidi Rezegh while 7 Arm Bde charged the two approaching Pz divisions with disatrous results

15 and 21 Panzer withdrew north to replenish ammo and fuel while 7 Arm Bde retreated to Sidi Rezegh – 30th Corps ordered to Sidi Rezegh while 13th Corps advanced to Sidi Azeiz and Bardia

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NZ Division dropped off a brigade at Sidi Azeiz and moved toward Sidi Rezegh – Rommel ordered an all out attack on British forces at Sidi Rezegh

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- First Battle of Sidi Rezegh

Battle occurred on – Totensonntag (Sunday of the Dead) – Fierce battle – each side lost about 60% of their armor

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With the British on the ropes, Rommel made a mistake

Gen. Ludwig Cruwell, commander of the German armored forces, urged Rommel to pursue and destroy the decimated British armor

Concerned about his own losses Rommel felt the a threat to surround the British forces would make them withdraw as it had in Brevity and Battleaxe

He could then recover much of his damaged armor and finally take Tobruk – Possession of Tobruk was a necessity if the Germans were to move on to Alexandria

The result of Rommel’s decision was Known as the “Dash to the Wire” (Barbed wire marking the Egyptian frontier) 24 to 26 Nov – It almost worked

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Rommel’s dash to the wire - 24 to 26 Nov

As Rommel heads for British rear, Ariete tries to join but runs into British armor –

21 Pz brushes the 4th Ind Div and heads into the British rear area – 15 Pz heads north to try and recapture Sidi Azeiz –NZ Div arrives at Sidi Rezegh and occupies the airfield – Still no corridor to Tobruk

British tank reinforcementsarrived at a rate of 40 per day

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Cunningham reacted exactly as Rommel had hoped – With 21 Pz on his supply route, he panicked and wanted to withdraw

Auchinleck realized German losses had also been high – He relieved Cunningham and took over direct command of the army around Tobruk – There would be no retreat

Rommel’s command vehicle was separated from 21 Pz Div – for several hours, Rommel was lost

Meanwhile, the NZ Division created a crisis at Sidi Rezegh – Col. Westphal used his prerogative as Rommel’s chief of staff and took command of the German forces – 15 Pz was ordered back to Sidi Rezegh

Once Rommel was back in communication, he approved Westphal’s action and also ordered 21 Pz back to Sidi Rezegh

Rommel’s dash to the wire had given 30th Corps time to reorganize and absorb reinforcements – A fatal mistake

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2nd Battle of Sidi Rezegh - 27 Nov to 1 Dec

German Panzer divisions were both recalled to Sidi Rezegh and reclaimed the airfield but German armor losses had been so high that they could not hold against reinforced 30th Corps

Afrika Korps troops formed a screen to slow down the British advance and allow the rest of the Axis forces to escape – Tobruk was relieved

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Although badly managed in its earlier stages, Operation Crusader was a victory of sorts for the British – A victory due entirely to Auchinleck’s courageous decision to continue the fight

British tank losses were heavy, although possession of the battle field allowed then to recover and repair all but 278 tanks (British started with 690 tanks)

The Germans and Italians were forced to retreat and left behind many repairable tanks – Combined tank losses for both Italian and German forces were 300 (They started with 390)

Casualties (killed wounded and missing) were about 18,000 British, 14,000 German and 24,000 Italians

There was air activity over the battlefield, but close air support for either side was not decisive – Many actions were bombing raids in the enemy’s rear – Aircraft losses were British-300, Axis-600

Rommel retreated to El Agheila to be nearer to his supply source (Tripoli) – He was followed hesitantly by the British

Halfaya Pass

Several supply convoys with replacement tanks and troops reached Tripoli shortly after Rommel reached El Agheila

Rommel began to contemplate another offensive despite objections from the Italian supreme commandThis would lead to the Gazala Battles and the fall of Tobruk