Gazala and the fall of Tobruk

On 26 May 1942, Italian infantry attacked the northern and central Gazala positions while Rommel moved the main mobile force around the open southern flank. The Eighth Army’s line ran from the coast near Gazala to Bir Hakeim, with fortified boxes and minefields covering much of its length. The 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions, the Italian Ariete and Trieste divisions, and the 90th Light Afrika Division crossed south of the line and turned north. The manoeuvre surprised the Allied forces, but the Free French garrison at Bir Hakeim resisted the Ariete attack and held the southern anchor of the line.

The Axis force became exposed in the area later called the Cauldron, between the Allied boxes, Bir Hakeim, and the minefields. British armoured units counterattacked, while the Axis supply position deteriorated. On 29 May, Italian troops opened a route through the minefields for a supply convoy. Rommel then attacked west on 30 May, linked up with the original Axis positions, and captured the Sidi Muftah box, where the British 150th Infantry Brigade was destroyed. The route through the minefield helped restore the Axis supply line and allowed the offensive to continue.

The Eighth Army attacked on 5 June to destroy the Axis force in the Cauldron, but the assault made little progress. Rommel counterattacked east toward Bir el Harmat and disrupted British command and communications. Fighting around Knightsbridge and Bir Hakeim continued over the following days. The Free French broke out of Bir Hakeim on the night of 10/11 June after repeated attacks had reduced the perimeter. Axis forces then pressed toward El Adem; after the fall of Knightsbridge, the Eighth Army began withdrawing from the Gazala Line. The 1st South African Division retreated along the coast road through Tobruk, while the 50th Division broke out westward through the Italian X Corps, swung south round Bir Hakeim and turned east for the frontier.

The withdrawal left Tobruk increasingly isolated. Its defences had been weakened, and the Eighth Army had lost the Gazala position and fallen back toward Egypt. Axis forces surrounded Tobruk before the assault that began on 20 June. German tanks penetrated the south-eastern perimeter with heavy air and artillery support, then pushed into the port’s defences. The garrison surrendered on 21 June. The Axis took about 33,000 prisoners at Tobruk, according to the battle account; other summaries gave differing totals for the wider Gazala defeat.

The capture opened the route east into Egypt, but it did not end the campaign. The Eighth Army continued its retreat, and the Axis advance was later checked at El Alamein. Estimates of total losses varied substantially: one account gave about 50,000 Allied killed, wounded, or captured and approximately 6,360 German and Italian casualties, while another gave about 98,000 Allied and 32,000 Axis casualties. Those totals covered the wider fighting and were not directly comparable. The figures for Allied prisoners at Tobruk also differed among accounts.