History of War Magazine Issue 62 Back Issue

TOBRUK
Throughout the ebb and flow of the North African Campaign during World War II, Tobruk, a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Libya, was a glittering prize. Possession of Tobruk facilitated operations east and west, and it became the scene of desperate fighting several times. However, the heroic defence of the city during more than two hundred and forty days of siege, from April to December 1941, is remembered as a defining chapter in the history of the armed forces of Britain and the Commonwealth. The epic siege itself came about somewhat by accident. Operation Compass, a British counter-offensive intended for only a limited duration, became a sustained action that produced a resounding triumph in the desert against the Italian Tenth Army. However, its bitter unintended consequence was the deployment of German forces – the vaunted Deutsches Afrika Korps – to the continent. The Afrika Korps commander, General Erwin Rommel, was later to become the ‘Desert Fox’, the stuff of legend.