This week, seventy years ago, the Commonwealth Forces in North Africa, reluctantly, launched Operation Battleaxe.  
    On June 15, 1941, the Commonwealth Forces - the Western Desert Force, now designated XIII Corps, commanded by General Sir Noel Beresford-Peirse - under pressure from London - launched Operation Battleaxe.  The Commonwealth Forces included: the British Seventh Armored Division, commanded by Maj.-Gen. Michael O’Moore Creagh; the Fourth Indian Division, commanded by Maj.-Gen. Frank Messervy; and the Twenty-Second Guard’s Brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Ian D. Erskine. It was a feeble attempt at relieving the siege of Tobruk. Today, the port city of Tobruk has a population of 300,000, and is currently under the control of the rebel forces in Libya. It is approximately 90 miles west of the Egyptian border, 270 miles east of Benghazi, 260 miles east of Agedabia and 630 miles east of the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
    The initial targets were Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo, to be attacked by the Indians, while the Seventh Armored Division - the “Desert Rats” - would swing around with a “left hook” and cut off the coastal garrisons at Sollum and Musaid. These were the same objectives which had been briefly gained - and lost - by Commonwealth Forces during Operation Brevity the previous month.
    Halfaya Pass is located in western Egypt, two miles south of the Mediterranean Sea, near the border with Libya. If one could not traverse the pass, the trip around was much longer, to the south, through the Sahara Desert. During the war it held much strategic importance. Sollum is in Egypt on its border with Libya, 91 miles east of Tobruk. Musaid is on the Libyan side of the border. Fort Capuzzo is also located near the border, on the Libyan side, about 50 miles south of Musaid.
    For the offensive, General Beresford-Peirse established his headquarters at Sidi Barrani, Egypt - a five-hour drive from the front, while R.A.F. commander Arthur Tedder established his headquarters even further west at Maaten Baggush. He had only been on the job since June 1, and then only because Air Marshal Owen T. Boyd was captured when his plane, en route from Malta to Egypt, was forced to land in Sicily by Italian fighters. Meanwhile, General Rommel had established his headquarters at Sidi Azeiz - ten miles northwest of Fort Capuzzo, on the Egyptian/Libyan border, where the Axis had established a small airfield.
    The offensive was originally scheduled to begin on June 7, 1941, but was postponed at the insistence of General Creagh, because his “Rats” had not received their promised new tanks, which had arrived in Alexandria on May 12. Finally, on June 9, they were delivered, giving the soldiers, and, as importantly, the mechanics, less than a week’s training with the new machines. British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill had insisted that the tanks be shipped straight through the shorter, more dangerous route of the Mediterranean Sea, to the consternation of the Royal Navy, than by the far longer, and safer route around Africa and through the Suez Canal. The route taken would expose the cargo to the depredations of Italian and German submarines, the Luftwaffe, Regia Aeronautica and the Regia Marina.  But Churchill was in a hurry to get the tanks to Commonwealth Forces so they would have no excuse to launch the offensive upon which he was insisting.    
    The 300 Commonwealth Tanks outnumbered the 185 German Tanks. But unlike the previous December, when the Commonwealth’s Matilda’s had run roughshod over the Italians, things had changed. Now the Matildas would be facing superior German and Italian tanks and the German “88,” as well as superior Italian artillery. And now, the Italian soldiers had a leader in whom they had confidence - Rommel - and consequently they performed better.
    Rommel - “The Desert Fox” - ordered that, “Halfaya will be held and the enemy beaten.” The Halfaya Pass was held by 400 Italian and 500 German soldiers, supported by five 88's, four 3.9" howitzers and a battery of French-built 155 millimeter guns.  After briefly losing that position to the last Commonwealth offensive - Operation Brevity - the Axis had dug the 88’s into the rocks of the Pass, so that from 50 yards out, they were invisible. And, of course, there was no Allied tank, anywhere, that could withstand an 88. The defense of Halfaya Pass was aided by the mines that the Axis defenders had laid. During the attack, the British Tank Commander, Major C.G. Miles, reported, “...they are shooting my tanks to pieces.” Within the hour he was dead, and all but one of his 17 Matildas was destroyed. The British dubbed the position “Hellfire Pass.”
    Things went better, inland. By noon of the first day, Fort Capuzzo was captured, for the fourth time, by the 7th Royal Tank Regiment. By the end of the day, Halfaya Pass was surrounded. General Rommel ordered the German 5th Light Division to relieve the garrison at Halfaya Pass and 15th Panzer Division to retake Fort Capuzzo. General Walter Neumann-Silkow had only been in command of the 15th for a week, while the Light Division’s Johannes Streich couldn’t get along with his boss and was on his way out.
    The next day the Desert Rats met the German Panzers, and though it was a close-run thing for the Germans, their superior weapons and training gave them the edge.  Rommel sent a message to the troops defending Halfaya Pass saying, “Our counterattack, now making fine progress from the west. Enemy forced onto the defensive.  Victory depends on your holding the Halfaya Pass and the coastal plain.” By midmorning, the Commonwealth was down to 39 tanks. This was the largest tank battle, in North Africa, up to that time.
    In the evening of June 17th General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, arrived and agreed with the field commanders that it was time to withdraw. By 4:00 P.M., Commonwealth troops were withdrawing. Fort Capuzzo was, once again, in Axis’ hands, Halfaya Pass relieved and the Siege of Tobruk continued. The Axis losses were 685 Germans, 592 Italians, 12 tanks and 10 planes. The Commonwealth losses were 969, plus 91 tanks - of which 64 were Matildas - and 36 planes. Holding the battlefield proved a significant advantage, as the Germans were able to recover and repair many of the disabled tanks - from both sides.
    The Commonwealth defeat resulted in a change of command.  General Sir Claude Auchinleck replaced General Sir Archibald Wavell on July 5, 1941, as Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, with General Wavell taking The Auk’s place as Commander-in-Chief, India.  Of course, Churchill thought that “The Auk” would immediately launch an offensive. Much to his chagrin, it was not until November that the new Eighth Army went over to the offensive. Churchill would later say that, “General Auchinleck’s four and a half months delay in engaging the enemy was alike a mistake and a misfortune.” General Beresford-Peirse was also replaced by Lt.-Gen. Reade Godwin-Austen. William Gott took over command of the 7th Armored from General Creagh.
    Change of command also occurred on the Axis side. On July 12th General Italo  Gariboldi, who had been Governor-General of Libya, was recalled to Italy and sent to the Russian Front, where he was given command of the newly formed Italian Eighth Army. His replacement, General Ettore Bastico, arrived on July 19th. General Bastico was a veteran of both the Ethiopian, and Spanish Civil Wars, where he had commanded, respectively a corps and the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, which participated in the Nationalist victory at the Battle of Santander. Rommel referred to General Bastico as “Bombastico” and described him as “difficult, autocratic and violent.”
    On July 23, Johan von Ravenstein took command of 5th Light Division.
    General Bastico’s second in command, General Gastone Gambara, was given command of the Corpo D’Armata di Manovra, which was composed of the Ariete Armored, and Trieste Motorized, Divisions. General Gambara had also served as commander of  the Corpo Truppe Volontarie in Spain during the Catalonia Offensive.  Rommel didn’t like either of them, calling them both “shits.”  Ariete and Trieste were commanded by Generals Ettore Baldassare and Alessandro Piazzoni, respectively.
    Commando Supremo Chief, General Ugo Cavallero, insisted that the command structure be streamlined so that one person commanded all Axis Forces on the front line, and recommended that that commander be Rommel. Consequently, Rommel was made Commander of Panzergruppe Afrika, which included all German units and the Italian XXI Infantry Corps, on August 15, 1941. The XXI Corps was commanded by Enea Navarini and included the Pavia, Bologna, Brescia and Trento Infantry Divisions, commanded by Generals Antonio Franceschini, Alessandro Gloria, Giacomo Lombardi and Luigi Nuvoloni the Savona Infantry division, commanded by Fedele di Giorgis, was dispatched to garrison the Bardia/Sollum/Halfaya Pass area. The new Panzergruppe, however, did not include General Gambara’s Corpo D’Armata di Manovra, which included the Ariete Armored Division - the best Italian division.
    No matter these changes, the most important factor remained unchanged - supply. All supplies for the Axis forces had to be transported across the Mediterranean Sea. With Tobruk still in Commonwealth hands, almost all supplies had to come through Tripoli - almost 800 miles driving distance from the front. This meant that a good part of the fuel that arrived in Tripoli had to be expended delivering it, and other materiel, the 800 miles to the army at the front. Of course, this also meant that the trucks were constantly on the road, with consequent wear, and exposed to the depredations of the R.A.F.  In addition, the allocation of German supplies to the North African Theater was negatively impacted by the commencement of Operation Barbarossa the following week, which dwarfed the North African sideshow, and sucked up supplies, replacements and reinforcements, as well as the Royal Navy.
    And to think that, if just a small percentage of the resources devoted to Operation Barbarossa had been allotted to North Africa and the Middle East, the Axis could have made the Mediterranean Sea an Axis pond, as Mussolini boasted, closed the Suez Canal to the British, satisfied their demand for oil, and if it was still necessary to attack the Soviet Union, could have done so from two fronts. Success in the Middle East and North Africa would probably have nudged Turkey into the war on the side of the Axis, as well.

NEXT WEEK: OPERATION BARBAROSSA - THE INVASION OF THE U.S.S.R.

Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.