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Home , Afrika Korps, Alan Cunningham, Fort Capuzzo, North African Campaign, Operation Battleaxe, Operation Crusader

DESERT WAR PART FOUR:

DATE: NOVEMBER 18 – DECEMBER 30 1941

Operation Crusader was conducted by the British Eighth Army against Axis forces in between November 18 and December 30 1941. The operation was intended to relieve the 1941 Siege of ; the Eighth Army tried to destroy the Axis armored force before advancing its infantry. The plan failed when, after a number of inconclusive engagements, the British 7th Armoured was defeated by the at Sidi Rezegh.

Lieutenant General ordered German armored divisions to Axis fortress positions on the Egyptian border but failed to find the main body of the Allied infantry, which had bypassed the fortresses and headed for Tobruk. Rommel had to withdraw from the frontier to Tobruk and achieved some tactical success in costly fighting. The need to preserve his remaining forces from destruction prompted Rommel to withdraw his army to the defensive line at Gazala, west of Tobruk and then all the way back to . It was the first victory over the German ground forces by British forces in .

PRELUDE

Following the costly failure of , General Archibald Wavell was relieved as Commander-in-Chief and replaced by General . The Western Force was reorganized and renamed the Eighth Army under the command of Lieutenant General , who was later replaced by Lieutenant General . The Eighth Army comprised two : XXX Corps under Lieutenant General Willoughby Norrie and XIII Corps under Lieutenant General Reade Godwin-Austen. The Eighth Army also included the Tobruk garrison with the 32nd Army Brigade, and the Australian which (in late 1941), was in the process of being replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division and the Polish Carpathian Brigade.

Opposing them were the German and Italian soldiers of Panzergroup Africa under General Erwin Rommel, with the Afrika Korps under Lieutenant General Ludwig Cruwell comprised of 15th Panzer Division, 21st Panzer Division, 90th Light Africa Division and the Italian 55th Infantry Division “Savona”. Directly under the Italian High Command were the Italian XX Corps and XXI Corps.

The Axis forces had built a defensive line of strong points along the escarpment running from near the sea at and Sollum and further along the border wire to . Elements of the 21st Panzer and the Savona divisions manned these defenses whilst Rommel kept the rest of his forces grouped near or around the Tobruk perimeter where a planned attack on November 14 had been put back to November 24 due to supply difficulties. Initial Axis air support consisted of about 120 German and 200 Italian serviceable aircraft, but these could be reinforced quickly by transfer of units from and Italy.

A single German motorized division needed 360 tons of supplies per day, and moving them 300 miles took 1,170 2-ton Lorries. With seven Axis divisions, and air and naval units, 71,000 tons of supplies per month were needed. From February to , a surplus of 46,000 tons was delivered; attacks from Malta had some effect, but in May, the worst month for ship losses, 91 percent of supplies arrived. Lack of transport in left German supplies in , and the Italians had only 7,000 Lorries for deliveries to 225,000 men. A record amount of supplies arrived in June, but at the front, shortages worsened.

OPERATION CRUSADER BEGINS

Before dawn on Nov 18, the British Eighth Army advanced southwest from , , with the 7th Armoured Division at the spearhead. This main column of the offensive crossed the Egyptian-Libyan border near Fort Maddalena and then turned northwest. Meanwhile, the South African Division protected the southern flank, and the XIII Corps and the 4th Armoured Brigade held the area west of Sidi Omar to counter a potential Axis counter offensive through that area.

The opening phase of the invasion was originally to be assisted by some of the 724 British and Commonwealth aircraft assigned to the operation, but all ground support missions were canceled due to unexpected bad weather. However, the torrential rain aided the Allied efforts by preventing Axis reconnaissance flights from being launched, which could have detected Crusader preparations. On the first day of the offensive the Allies met with no resistance. On the morning of Nov 19, the Italian “Ariete” Division halted the 22nd Armoured Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division at Bir el Gubi. Meanwhile, 7th Armoured Brigade and the 7th Support Group of the same division were able to advance towards Tobruk, capturing the Sidi Rezegh airfield during the process. On the offensive’s northern flank, 4th Armoured Brigade engaged 60 of 21st Panzer Division supported by 88 mm guns.

The following day, 22nd Armoured Brigade continued its fight with the Italian “Ariete” Division, while the 7th Armoured Brigade repulsed an infantry counter attack launched by the German 90th Light Infantry Division and the Italian “Bologna” Division at Sidi Rezegh. In the north, 4th Armoured Brigade fought a second tank battle with 21st Panzer Division, before the Panzers were temporarily withdrawn for refueling.

In the afternoon of Nov 20, 4th Armoured Brigade engaged with tanks of the 15th Panzer Division. After losing around 40 tanks during the engagement, 4th Armoured was now reduced to around 120 tanks. At dusk, 22nd Armoured Brigade arrived on the scene, but it was too late to assist 4th Armoured Brigade. During the night, Rommel withdrew all his tanks northwest in order to launch a major counter attack on Sidi Rezegh.

On Nov 21, the Allied garrison at Tobruk attempted a break out, taking the Axis forces by surprise. By mid-afternoon, the Allied advance from Tobruk had advanced about 3.5 miles. It was at this time that the Tobruk garrison learned that 7th Armoured Brigade, which was supposed to attack in the direction of Tobruk starting at 0830 hours, had changed its plans due to the unexpected presence of 200 German tanks to the southeast. Instead of a full offensive on Tobruk spearheaded by armor, the tanks of 7th Armoured Brigade turned to face the new German threat, leaving the attack to infantry. Without tanks the advance was slow, and by mid-afternoon the attempt to link up was abandoned.

Meanwhile, German Panzer troops captured the airfield at Sidi Rezegh in the early afternoon, while fighting in the immediate area continued into the next day resulting in heavy tank losses on both sides. Heavy fighting also developed between and Italian troops near Sollum, while troops of the Indian 7th Brigade captured Sidi Omar. On Nov 23, troops of the New Zealand 5th Brigade advanced toward Sollum, cutting off Axis supply routes from Bardia. Rommel now gathered the remainder of his two armored divisions together along with the Italian “Ariete” Division, and launched an attack (the Dash to the Wire) to cut off and destroy the rest of British XXX Corps. Brutal fighting led to heavy casualties on both sides.

On Nov 23, the Italian High Command in Rome agreed to put the Italian XX Mobile Corps, which included the “Ariete” Division and the “Trieste” Division, under Rommel's direct command.

The following day, German and Italian tanks sped for Sidi Omar, splitting the British XXX Corps. Pressing on, Rommel ordered further advances toward Sidi Azeiz, but the column was discovered and attacked by Allied aircraft. At Sidi Omar, 5th Panzer Regiment attacked positions manned by troops of the Indian 7th Brigade, which fought off repeated assaults with the help of their 25-pounder ; at the end of the day, 5th Panzer Regiment found itself exhausted. On Nov 26, German and Italian forces advanced on Fort Capuzzo. At dusk, they met with defenses manned by the New Zealand 5th Brigade.

In the morning of Nov 27, Rommel withdrew the weakened 21st Panzer Division from the fighting on the Egyptian-Libyan border, redeploying it to Tobruk to help counter the Tobruk garrison's attempts to break out. En route west, the Division was harassed by troops of the New Zealand 22nd Battalion, delaying their arrival at Tobruk by a day.

15th Panzer Division, however, remained on the offensive. At Sidi Azeiz, the Division engaged in combat against outnumbered New Zealand troops, and captured the position along with 700 prisoners. Rommel personally oversaw this attack from the front. At this point, Axis forces were within four miles of the British Eighth Army's main supply base, but this fact was not known to Rommel until later. At noon, 15th Panzer Division reached Bir el Chleta, but was halted by the 22nd Armoured Brigade and Allied aircraft.

By the early afternoon, it was clear to Allied leaders that the Axis offensive was beginning to lose steam. During that night, however, Rommel was certain that his tanks could still press on. For most of the following day, 15th Panzer Division engaged British tanks, and succeeded in pushing them back despite being outnumbered. Elsewhere, an Italian attack consisting of two motorized battalions near Tobruk saw the capture of a New Zealand field hospital, which resulted in the capture of 1,000 troops and 700 medical staff members.

On Nov 29, 15th Panzer Division started westward south of Sidi Rezegh. In the afternoon, the Italian “Ariete” Division overran the New Zealand 21st Battalion at Point 175. In the evening, the South African 1st Brigade was placed under the command of the New Zealand 2nd Division, which launched an attack in attempt to recapture Point 175.

On Nov 30, New Zealand 24th and 26th Battalions were battered by Axis attacks at Sidi Rezegh. At 0615 hours on Dec 1, 15th Panzer Division began an assault on Belhamed, supported by a large number of artillery pieces. The 7th Armoured Division was ordered to counterattack at Belhamed, and they might had been able to do so successfully given that they outnumbered the German tanks, but miscommunications resulted in the British tanks moving into rear positions to cover a potential retreat by Allied troops. By the end of the day, the New Zealand 20th Battalion was practically wiped out.

Between Dec 4 and Dec 6, fighting took place across the front with no decisive outcomes. The Allied reserves began to be committed as attrition began to take a toll, but the Allied leadership viewed the situation as favorable. On Dec 7, Rommel began to pull back by 10 miles toward Gazala, abandoning the Tobruk front.

The British Eighth Army launched an attack on the Gazala Line on Dec 13. During the attack, the New Zealand 5th Brigade and Indian 5th Brigade attacked Alem Hamza, which was repulsed by the defending Italian “Trieste” Division, losing only Point 204 to the west. The Germans attempted a counterattack with 39 tanks followed by 300 trucks full of infantry, but the attack was stalled, albeit at a high cost for the Allies.

On Dec 14, the Polish Independent Brigade was moved to the front in preparation for a new offensive alongside the New Zealand troops, which began at 0300 hours the following morning. The attack surprised the Axis defenders, but it failed to breach the line. Later on that day, Axis forces attacked and recaptured Point 204, causing high casualties among the Indian units defending the position. At the end of the day, Rommel decided to fall back from the Gazala Line during the night. Over the following ten days, the Axis forces were pushed back to the line between Agedabia and El Haseia.

THE AFTERMATH

On Dec 27, after Axis forces were able to replenish, an attack was launched at El Haseia. The 22nd Armoured Brigade suffered heavy casualties in the battle. Nevertheless, this would prove to be the last attack during this period, and Rommel's forces were now unable to return to the border area between Libya and Egypt. On Jan 2 1942, the last Axis garrison on the Egyptian-Libyan border, Bardia, surrendered to the South African 2nd Division, resulting in 7,000 men captured.

Sollum was captured by South African troops on Jan 12. Halfaya Pass, with a 5,000-strong garrison, surrendered on Jan 17 after running out of supplies. On Jan 21, Rommel tried one last major counterattack, capturing in the first week of February, but the offensive was halted at the Gazala Line. Here a stalemate set in as both sides regrouped, rebuilt and reorganized.

While Operation Crusader was considered a limited success, it proved that Rommel’s Afrika Korps could be beaten and is a fine illustration of the dynamic, back and forth fighting which characterized the . At the end of the operation, the Allies suffered 17,700 casualties and lost 278 tanks and 300 aircraft; the Axis suffered 38,300 casualties and lost 300 tanks and 600 aircraft.

M’44 SCENARIOS FOR DESERT WAR PART FOUR: OPERATION CRUSADER

Desert War Part Four: Operation Crusader includes 36 scenarios, including 3 Overlord (OL) maps and 1 Breakthrough (BT) map. These scenarios chronicle the major engagements of the Operation Crusader, and include only the best available in the Scenarios from the Front (SFTF) files section on the DoW website, as well as 3 official scenarios by Richard Borg and Jacques “jdrommel” David.

No campaign rules are included; not all M’44 players have access to the Campaign books. Instead, simply tally up the number of medals won in each scenario after playing both sides. This campaign is broken down into 3 smaller campaigns. Separate medal tally tables for each, as well as a final medal tally table are included below.

Scenarios include armies of various nations. Although optional, it is suggested that you use the unofficial Battle of Nations rules when playing the sides of these armies. Unless stated otherwise, BCF command rules and Italian Royal Army rules are in effect for all scenarios.

OPERATION CRUSADER PART ONE

1. NOV 18 – NOV 29: Operation Crusader OL 7. NOV 21: Sidi Rezegh – Action 2 2. NOV 19: Gabr Saleh – Action 1 8. NOV 21: Sortie of Tobruk 3. NOV 19: Debut of the Honey 9. NOV 22: Sidi Rezegh Airfield 4. NOV 19: Bir El Gobi – Action 1 10. NOV 22: Sidi Rezegh - Totensonntag 5. NOV 19: Sidi Rezegh – Action 1 11. NOV 22: Sidi Omar – Action 1 ** 6. NOV 20: Gabr Saleh – Action 2 12. NOV 22: Battle of Bir Ghirba

** Scenario notes:

1. Sidi Omar – Action 1: the 5 Allied infantry units closest to the right hand side of the board are Indian army.

There are a total of 152 medals if all scenarios are played and 128 medals without the Overlord map.

SCENARIO (+ total medal count) P1…………. P2…………. 1. Operation Crusader (OL) (24) 2. Gabr Saleh – Action 1 (10) 3. Debut of the Honey (12) 4. Bir El Gobi – Action 1 (12) 5. Sidi Rezegh – Action 1 (10) 6. Gabr Saleh – Action 2 (10) 7. Sidi Rezegh – Action 2 (12) 8. Sortie of Tobruk (12) 9. Sidi Rezegh Airfield (10) 10. Sidi Rezegh – Totensonntag (14) 11. Sidi Omar – Action 1 (12) 12. Battle of Bir Ghirba (12) TOTAL MEDAL TALLY

OPERATION CRUSADER PART TWO

1. NOV 23: Sidi Rezegh – Action 3 7. NOV 25: Sidi Omar – Action 2 ** 2. NOV 23: Sollum Barracks 8. NOV 26: Sidi Rezegh – Action 4 3. NOV 23: Point 175 – Action 1 9. NOV 26: El Duda – Action 1 4. NOV 23: Totensonntag OL 10. NOV 27: Bir El Menastir 5. NOV 24: Dash for the Wire BT 11. NOV 27: Sidi Azeiz 6. NOV 25: Dug in at Sidi Omar 12. NOV 27: Bir El Chleta

** Scenario notes:

1. Sidi Omar – Action 2: all Allied infantry units are Indian army.

There are a total of 166 medals if all scenarios are played, 142 medals without the Overlord map, and 118 medals if only the standard scenarios are played.

SCENARIO (+ total medal count) P1…………. P2…………. 1. Sidi Rezegh – Action 3 (12) 2. Sollum Barracks (12) 3. Point 175 – Action 1 (12) 4. Totensonntag (OL) (24) 5. Dash for the Wire (BT) (24) 6. Dug in at Sidi Omar (12) 7. Sidi Omar – Action 2 (12) 8. Sidi Rezegh – Action 4 (12) 9. El Duda – Action 1 (12) 10. Bir El Menastir (10) 11. Sidi Azeiz (12) 12. Bir El Chleta (12) TOTAL MEDAL TALLY

OPERATION CRUSADER PART THREE

1. NOV 29: Point 175 – Action 2 7. DEC 04: Bir El Gobi – Action 2 2. NOV 29: 2nd Battle of Sidi Rezegh OL 8. DEC 06: Bir El Gobi – Action 3 ** 3. NOV 30: Sidi Rezegh – Action 5 9. DEC 16: Battle of Bir Temrad ** 4. DEC 01: Battle of Belhamed 10. DEC 27: Battle of El Haseiat 5. DEC 03: Second Raid to Sollum ** 11. DEC 30: Bardia 6. DEC 04: El Duda – Action 2 ** 12. JAN 23 42: Gap at Antelat

** Scenario notes:

1. Second Raid to Sollum: all Allied infantry units are . 2. El Duda – Action 2: the 3 infantry units in Belhamed are New Zealand army. 3. Bir El Gobi – Action 3: the 3 Allied infantry units are Indian army. 4. Battle of Bir Temrad: all Allied tanks are British. Center infantry units are Indian army. Right flank infantry units are Polish army.

There are a total of 150 medals if all scenarios are played and 132 medals without the Overlord map.

SCENARIO (+ total medal count) P1…………. P2…………. 1. Point 175 – Action 2 (12) 2. 2nd Battle of Sidi Rezegh (OL) (18) 3. Sidi Rezegh – Action 5 (12) 4. Battle of Belhamed (12) 5. Second Raid to Sollum (12) 6. El Duda – Action 2 (12) 7. Bir El Gobi – Action 2 (12) 8. Bir El Gobi – Action 3 (12) 9. Battle of Bir Temrad (12) 10. Battle of El Haseiat (12) 11. Bardia (10) 12. Gap at Antelat (14) TOTAL MEDAL TALLY

OPERATION CRUSADER FINAL MEDAL TALLY

There are a grand total of 468 medals if all scenarios are played, 402 medals without the 3 Overlord maps, and 378 medals if only the standard scenarios are played.

OPERATION CRUSADER P1…………. P2…………. 1. Part 1 2. Part 2 3. Part 3 FINAL MEDAL TALLY

There is 1 additional scenario for Operation Crusader that you may wish to include in your campaign play:

1. Operation Crusader: Breakthrough map pack scenario booklet.

Acknowledgments to the authors of the scenarios that make up this Desert War Part 4 campaign compilation:

Richard Borg nemesszili jdrommel benedetto70 LooneyLlama Hydrommel educ yangtze Antoi

This Desert War Part 4 booklet was compiled by Semba