Operation Crusader
Operation Crusader (18 November – 30 December 1941) was a military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War by the British Eighth Army (with Commonwealth, Indian and Allied contingents) against the Axis forces (German and Italian) in North Africa commanded by Generalleutnant (Lieutenant-General) Erwin Rommel. The operation was intended to bypass Axis defences on the Egyptian–Libyan frontier, defeat the Axis armoured forces near Tobruk, raise the Siege of Tobruk and re-occupy Cyrenaica.
On 18 November 1941, the Eighth Army began a surprise attack. From 18 to 22 November, the dispersal of British armoured units led to them suffering 530 tank losses and inflicting Axis losses of about 100 tanks. On 23 November, the 5th South African Brigade was destroyed at Sidi Rezegh but caused many German tank casualties. On 24 November Rommel ordered the "dash to the wire" and caused chaos in the British rear but allowed the British armoured forces to recover. On 27 November, the New Zealanders reached the Tobruk garrison and ended the siege.
Lack of supplies forced Rommel to shorten his lines of communication and on 7 December 1941, the Axis forces withdrew to the Gazala position and on 15 December began a withdrawal to El Agheila. The 2nd South African Division captured Bardia on 2 January 1942, Sollum on 12 January and the fortified Halfaya position on 17 January, taking about 13,800 prisoners.[2] On 21 January 1942, Rommel surprised the Eighth Army and drove it back to Gazala where both sides regrouped. The Battle of Gazala began at the end of May 1942.
Background[edit]
Intelligence[edit]
Nachrichten Fernaufklärungs Kompanie (FAK 621 [Signals Unit 621]) provided Rommel with tactical intelligence of high quality from August 1941 to January 1942. The German organisation benefited greatly from British incompetence in the use of tactical codes, R/T signalling in clear and an ineffective call-sign procedure from brigade to battalion at the front. FAK 621 read much of the War Office high-grade hand cypher, which the wireless traffic from the Eighth Army HQ down to divisional HQs used. Until January, when the British improved their recyphering, the Germans obtained as much information on the British order of battle as the Government Code and Cypher School (GC & CS) Ultra decrypts revealed of the Axis equivalents. In October 1941, British Army Enigma decrypts had contained German data about increased British tank strengths. The German information was so accurate that the War Office became seriously worried about signals security but only July 1942, when the British captured FAK 621, did they learn the extent of German eavesdropping.[10]
Aftermath[edit]
The Axis threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal had been ended but the Axis strongholds on the Libya–Egypt border remained, despite Rommel's recommendation for an evacuation by sea, to block the coast road and tie down Allied troops. In early December, the Allies decided that clearing the Axis frontier positions was necessary to clear their supply lines and maintain the momentum of their advance. On 16 December, the 2nd South African Division commenced an attack on Bardia, garrisoned by 2,200 German and 6,600 Italian troops and on 2 January 1942, the port fell. Sollum fell to the South Africans on 12 January after a small but determined engagement.[106]
The South Africans surrounded the fortified Halfaya Pass (which included the escarpment, the plateau above it and the surrounding ravines) and cut it off from the sea. The garrison of 4,200 Italians of the 55th Infantry Division "Savona" and 2,100 Germans was already desperately short of food and water.[106] The defences against artillery and aerial bombardment led to relatively few casualties but hunger and thirst forced General Fedele De Giorgis and Major Wilhelm Bach to capitulate on 17 January. On 21 January, Rommel launched a surprise attack from El Agheila. The action was a "reconnaissance in force" but when Rommel found the Eighth Army forward elements to be dispersed and tired, he took advantage and drove the Eighth Army back to Gazala.[107][108]