Operation Crusader

Operation Crusader
Part of World War II, North African Campaign
Operation Crusader November 18, 1941 - December 31, 1941 (Click to enlarge)
Date November 18, 1941 – January 31, 1942 Location Tobruk, Libya Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom Australia New Zealand Poland	Germany Italy
Commanders and leaders
Claude Auchinleck Alan Gordon Cunningham Charles Norrie	Erwin Rommel Ludwig Crüwell
Strength
8th Army comprising XIII Corps, XXX Corps and 70th Division. 700 tanks and 1,000 planes.	Panzergruppe Afrika including the Afrika Korps and the Italian 10th, 20th and 21st Corps 414 tanks and 320 (at start, later reinforced to over 800) aircraft
Casualties and losses
18,600 total.	24,500 killed and wounded, 36,500 prisoners, 386 tanks, 850 aircraft.

Operation Crusader (November 18 - December 30, 1941) was the third, the largest, the longest and ultimately successful attempt to relieve the Siege of Tobruk.

Background

Following the costly failure of Operation Battleaxe, General Archibald Wavell was relieved as Commander-in-Chief Middle East and replaced by General Claude Auchinleck. The Western Desert Force was reorganized and renamed the Eighth Army under the command of Lt. General Alan Cunningham with its main strength comprising XXX Corps under Major General Charles Norrie with the 7th Armoured and 1st South African Divisions. Most of the remainder of its strength was in XIII Corps with the New Zealand and 4th Indian Infantry Divisions. The gallant but exhausted Australian 9th Division of the Tobruk garrison under General Morshead was replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division and the Polish Carpathian Brigade which were brought in by the Royal Navy. Eighth Army was reinforced to 7 divisions with 700 tanks (including many of the new Crusader Cruiser tanks, after which the operation was named, as well as the American light Stuart and heavy Grant and Lee tanks ). Tactical air support was provided by 1,000 planes of the Desert Air Force.

Opposing them were the hardened veterans of General Erwin Rommel's German Afrika Korps comprising the 15th Panzer Division, 21st Panzer Division (total of 260 Panzers ) together with the understrength 90th light infantry division. Supporting them were 6 weak Italians divisions with 154 tanks organized into 3 corps. Axis Air support consisted of 120 German and 200 Italian planes.

Battles

File:CrusaderII.jpg

Crusader Mk II Tank, Namesake of the operation

On 18 November, Eighth Army launched a surprise attack, striking to the northwest from its base at Mersa Matruh. The plan was to engage the Afrika Korps with the British 7th Armoured Division, while the main attack by XXX Corps fell against the Axis at Bardia in conjunction with a breakout attempt by the 70th division from Tobruk. But the offensive stalled when the British armour was defeated with heavy loss by Afrika Korps in a swirling and confusing tank battle at Sidi Rezegh, near Tobruk and both XXX Corps and 70th Division came under heavy artillery fire from Rommel's light divisions. The British armour also suffered heavy losses at Bir el Gobi against the Italian Ariete Armoured Division - losing 52 (or 45, 55, 82 tanks, according to different sources) tanks in exchange for 34 Italian tanks, and being bluntly repulsed. On 21 November, Rommel, seeing an opportunity, gathered his Panzer divisions and with reinforced air support from the Luftwaffe, counter-attacked over the Egyptian frontier into the British rear areas. Near panic, Cunningham asked to withdraw, but Auchinleck insisted he stand his ground, and the audacious manoeuvre by Afrika Korps failed as it outran its supplies and ran into resistance from the 4th Indian Division. On the 27th, the New Zealand Division had linked up with the Tobruk garrison after further heavy fighting around Sidi Rezegh. The Afrika Korps was now in grave danger with its light divisions surrounded. The besiegers had suddenly become the besieged, and the Panzers were forced to withdraw to try and help the light divisions breakout, which they eventually succeeded in doing by 6 December. On 7 December 1941, Rommel began to withdraw his battered forces to a defensive line at Gazala to the southwest of Tobruk. Outstanding Italian resistance around Bir el Gobi on December 3rd through 7th proved instrumental in Rommel's successful retreat. Meanwhile Auchinleck, having relieved the situation himself, now relieved Cunningham of his command, replacing him with General Neil Ritchie whom he now promoted to Lieutenant General. Ritchie continued to aggressively pressure Rommel's line, forcing him to make a fighting withdrawal back to El Agheila (28-30 December) from whence he had first begun his offensive in March 1941.

Aftermath

Auchinleck's determination and Richie's aggressiveness had removed the Axis threat to Egypt and Suez for the time being. The German-Italian garrison of Bardia surrendered on 2 January 1942, followed by another mass surrender - after some tough fighting - at Halfaya on the 17th, bringing the total number of German and Italian prisoners to over 30,000. The Eighth Army now went to pursue Rommel at El Agheila, but it had taken heavy losses in the previous month's fighting and overextended itself. On 21 January, Rommel launched one his surprise counter-attacks against the tired and dispersed British forces, driving them back to Gazala where they took up defensive positions along Rommel's old line. Here a stalemate set in as both sides regrouped, rebuilt and reorganized. Operation Crusader, while it may have proved a limited success, showed Rommel's Afrika Korps could be beaten and is a fine illustration of the dynamic, back and forth fighting which characterized the North African Campaign.

References

• The Encyclopedia Of Military History: From 3500 B.C. To The Present. (2nd Revised Edition 1986), R. Ernest Dupuy, and Trevor N. Dupuy. PP 1072-1073, 1082.
• . ISBN 0304352802. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Year= ignored (|year= suggested) (help)
• Richard Humble. Crusader. Leo Cooper, 1987.

External links

• BBC - WW2 People's War - Operation Crusader
• OPERATION CRUSADER and Rommel's Dash To The Wire
• Australian War Memorial
• WWII Operation Crusader