Tobruk: The Great Siege 1941-42

by William F. Buckingham

Overview

The siege of Tobruk was the longest in British military history. The coastal fortress and deep-water port was of crucial importance to the battle for North Africa, and the key that would unlock the way to Egypt and the Suez Canal. For almost a year the isolated garrison held out against all attempts to take it. For both sides it assumed a propaganda role that outweighed even its great strategic value. Goebbels referred to its defenders as "rats," which, in characteristic British fashion, the whole army proudly adopted as their title, the "Desert Rats," and the port became a symbol of resistance when the war was going badly for Britain. When it fell and 25,000 men surrendered to an armored assault on 21 June 1942, Churchill said it was "one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war." William F. Buckingham’s startling account, drawing extensively on first-hand testimony from veterans on both sides, is a comprehensive history of this epic struggle, and essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Western Desert Campaign.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752452210
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	4.80(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

William F. Buckingham is the author of D-Day: the First Seventy-two Hours, Arnhem 1944 and Paras.

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

1 Lines in the Sand and Black Shirts: Egypt, Libya and the Horn of Africa, c.200 BC - 1940 10

2 Down the Slippery Slope, Ready or Not: Italy's Entry into the Second World War, September 1939 - September 1940 30

3 Stroke and Counter-Stroke: The Italian Invasion of Egypt and Operation COMPASS, June 1940 - December 1940 56

4 Tobruk Captured: The British Advance into Libya, December 1940-January 1941 86

5 COMPASS Concluded: The Conquest of Cyrenaica and the Battle of Beda Fomm, 22 January 1941 - 9 February 1941 116

6 Tobruk Menaced: The Arrival of the Deutsches Afrikakorps in Libya and the British Retreat from Cyrenaica, 7 February 1941 - 8 April 1941 140

7 Tobruk Invested: 8 April 1941 - 12 April 1941 173

8 Tobruk Attacked: 12 April 1941 - 18 April 1941 215

9 Tobruk Assailed: 19 April 1941 - 4 May 1941 240

10 Tobruk Besieged: 4 May 1941 - 25 October 1941 270

11 Tobruk Relieved: 25 October 1941 - 10 December 1941 303

12 Epilogue: Tobruk Taken:10 December 1941 - 21 June 1942 319

Notes 325

List of illustrations 339

Bibliography 341

Index 344