Operation Battleaxe (15–17 June 1941) was a
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
offensive during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
to raise the
Siege of Tobruk
The siege of Tobruk () took place between 10 April and 27 November 1941, during the Western Desert campaign (1940–1943) of the World War II, Second World War. An Allies of World War II, Allied force, consisting mostly of the 9th Division ...
and re-capture eastern
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...
from
German and
Italian forces. It was the first time during the war that a significant German force fought on the defensive. The British lost over half of their tanks on the first day and only one of three attacks succeeded.
The British achieved mixed results on the second day, being pushed back on their western flank and repulsing a big German counter-attack in the centre. On the third day, the British narrowly avoided disaster by withdrawing just ahead of a German encircling movement. The failure of Battleaxe led to the replacement of
British General Sir
Archibald Wavell
Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded ...
,
Commander-in-Chief Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
, by
Claude Auchinleck
Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck ( ) (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), was a British Indian Army commander who saw active service during the world wars. A career soldier who spent much of his militar ...
; Wavell took Auchinleck's position as Commander-in-Chief, India.
Background
/Operation Sunflower
In late March 1941, soon after the arrival of the in
Tripoli,
Libya
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
to reinforce the Italians, the Axis forces quickly captured the British
front line
A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an Military, armed force's Military personnel, personnel and Military technology, equipment, usually referring to ...
position at
El Agheila and by mid-April, had reached as far as
Sallum,
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. The British held the fortified port of
Tobruk
Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...
, which was besieged by the Axis. Having been informed by General Wavell that the
Western Desert Force was vastly inferior to the Axis forces now in Africa, Churchill ordered that a convoy of tanks and
Hawker Hurricanes,
Operation Tiger (Convoy WS 58), be sailed through the Mediterranean instead of around the
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...
to cut forty days off the journey.
Tobruk
The German Armed Forces High Command (''
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
The (; abbreviated OKW ː kaːˈveArmed Forces High Command) was the Command (military formation), supreme military command and control Staff (military), staff of Nazi Germany during World War II, that was directly subordinated to Adolf ...
'') sent General
Friedrich Paulus to Africa to investigate the situation. On 12 May, Paulus, after witnessing one of Rommel's failed attempts to assault Tobruk, sent a report to OKW describing Rommel's position as weak, with critical shortages of both fuel and ammunition. With
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
imminent,
Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
Walther von Brauchitsch
Walther Heinrich Alfred Hermann von Brauchitsch (4 October 1881 – 18 October 1948) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) and Commander-in-Chief (''Oberbefehlshaber'') of the German Army during the first two years of World War ...
, Commander-in-Chief of the
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
, ordered Rommel not to advance further or attack Tobruk again.
[Bradley, p. 166]
Operation Brevity
Through
Ultra intercepts, the British also received the report by Paulus. Churchill, believing that one strong push would dislodge German forces, began to increase the pressure on Wavell to attack.
Operation Brevity was quickly planned as a limited operation to seize Sollum,
Halfaya Pass and
Fort Capuzzo, then advance on Sidi Aziz and Tobruk. The operation was to continue as far as supply would allow but not risk the forces committed; the objective was to destroy as much Axis equipment as possible and secure a foothold for the larger Operation Battleaxe, once the new tanks were made available.
[Playfair, p. 116][Playfair, p. 163] Brevity began on 15 May and Fort Capuzzo and Halfaya Pass were captured but next day
William Gott, concerned that his
22nd Guards Brigade would be destroyed if caught in the open by Germans tanks, decided to pull almost the entire force back to Halfaya Pass. The operation ended on 17 May, with only the Halfaya Pass captured. The pass was retaken by a small German force on 27 May, in
Operation Skorpion.
Greece and Crete
By the end of May, the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
island of
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
had been captured in the
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...
, providing the ''Luftwaffe'' with more airfields from which to attack Allied shipping and protect their supply convoys and troops in Cyrenaica; delaying Battleaxe could mean stronger Axis opposition. The British Chiefs of Staff stated that it was imperative that control be wrested in the area between Sollum and
Derna and British air power be re-established there.
Prelude
Tiger Convoy
On 12 May, the Tiger convoy arrived in
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
with and consisting of tanks (including fifty of the new
Crusader tanks) and There were delays in unloading the tanks, which also had to be adapted for desert use, so Battleaxe was postponed until 10 June.
[Playfair, p. 164] The tanks were intended for the
7th Armoured Division, which had been out of action since February, after most of its tanks had worn out during
Operation Compass
Operation Compass (also ) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British metropolitan, Imperial and Commonwealth forces attacked the Italian and Libyan forces of ...
.
British plan

On 28 May, Wavell gave his orders for Operation Battleaxe, an operation in three stages; the Axis forces were to be defeated on the frontier and the area of Halfaya, Sollum, Capuzzo and Sidi Aziez was to be secured. In the second phase, XIII Corps was to secure the area around Tobruk and El Adem, then the areas of Derna and
Mechili were to be captured.
The plan was based on intelligence information, which incorrectly indicated that of the German tank strength was at Tobruk, which would put the British at a decisive material advantage on the frontier.
[Brown, p. 135] The attack was originally scheduled for 7 June, but was pushed back at the insistence of General O'Moore Creagh, whose squadrons did not receive their tanks until 9 June. The new date was 15 June, giving Creagh five days for additional training.
[Pitt, p. 295]
In the first stage, the British would advance in a three-prong assault to clear the frontier region. Along the coast was Coast Force and inland was Escarpment Force. The former was responsible for capturing Halfaya Pass, while the latter was to capture the remainder of the frontier at Fort Capuzzo, Musaid and Sollum.
[Maule (1961), p. 119] The 7th Armoured Brigade Group and the
artillery
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...
of the Support Group were to engage and destroy the German tanks, which were thought to be at
Hafid Ridge. This would also trap Axis units on the frontier between themselves and the remainder of the British forces. After capturing the frontier, the brigades of the 7th Armoured Division would reform and continue north to relieve Tobruk. Once joined by the Tobruk garrison, the combined forces would press on to the west, driving the Germans as far back as possible.
[Delany, p. 37]
Three days prior to the start of Battleaxe, to help soften the Axis forces, the Royal Air Force was to bomb Benghazi while all aircraft capable of ground attack were to bomb Axis movement on the frontier.
Once the battle began, fighters were to patrol defensively over Allied ground forces, while medium bombers were to stand by to engage Axis columns.
Such was the priority on Battleaxe that
Arthur Tedder (Air Officer Commander-in-Chief, Middle East) was instructed by the Chiefs of Staff to accept significant risks in other theatres by diverting all possible air support for it.
Beresford-Peirse and Tedder established headquarters well to the rear, at
Sidi Barrani and
Maaten Baggush. Beresford-Peirse chose Sidi Barrani as, even though it was more than a five-hour drive from the battlefield, it was equipped with the most advanced airfield for reconnaissance aircraft and was also the most forward position from which communications could be maintained with Maaten Baggush.
Axis preparations

Though Brevity had failed to yield any territory to the British, it showed Rommel that his front line defences were quite easy to breach. Anticipating further British attacks, the Axis forces created a line of fortified positions from Halfaya to
Sidi Aziz, placing a number of
anti-tank gun
An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...
s and
anti-tank mine
An anti-tank or AT mine is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive charge, and a fuze desi ...
s on the Halfaya Pass, Point 206 (south of Forth Capuzzo) and on Point 208 (west of Fort Capuzzo on the Hafid Ridge). The primary responsibility of the frontier defence was charged to the
15th ''Panzer'' Division, which had received a new commander, General
Walter Neumann-Silkow, on 8 June.
Poor signals security in the 7th Armoured Division gave Rommel nine hours notice of the operation. Rommel sent the
5th Light Division to the south of Tobruk, ready to use it against either the Sollum area or on Tobruk and ordered a big artillery bombardment of Tobruk the night before the operation, to prevent the Allied garrison from breaking out.
Battle
15 June
For the RAF, everything went according to plan on the first day. Axis supply columns and airfields had been hit repeatedly up to the start of the attack and once the operation began, and British columns were able to move unmolested from their starting points at
Sofafi and
Buq-Buq to their destinations covered by RAF fighters. Axis aircraft managed only six attacks that day. On the eastern side, at 05:15, Coast Force—commanded by Brigadier
Reginald Savory and charged with capturing Halfaya Pass, started to move on to their objective.
[''Valour Enshrined: A History of the Maratha Light Infantry'', p. 284] On the
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...
was the ''Halfaya Group'', composed of the 2nd Battalion
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, the 13 tanks (twelve Matildas and one light tank) of C Squadron, 4th Royal Tank Regiment (which had captured Halfaya Pass during Operation Brevity) and an artillery battery from the 31st Field Regiment.
[Liddell Hart, p. 84][Liddell Hart, p. 78] To their east and below the lip of the escarpment were the 1st Battalion 6th
Rajputana Rifles and 2nd Battalion 5th
Mahratta Light Infantry, two troops of A Squadron, 4th Royal Tank Regiment and a few
25-pounder guns.
At 05:40, British artillery for the Halfaya Group was scheduled to open fire on the German and Italian forces in Halfaya, to cover the tanks and infantry but the battery had become bogged down by soft sand.
[Liddell Hart, p. 85] After waiting until 06:00, 15 minutes after the fighting began to the west below the escarpment, the commander of C Squadron ordered his tanks to attack at the top of the pass; soon after, the
anti-tank guns
An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...
of the defenders opened fire and within a few hours all but one light tank and one of the Matildas had been destroyed, including Miles' own.
The Cameron Highlanders were soon driven back by a detachment of German
armoured cars and
motorised infantry.
[Maule (1961), p. 120] Below the escarpment four of the Matildas were disabled by anti-tank mines which were supposed to have been cleared; this blocked the path of the remaining two and reduced the small tank force to acting in a
pillbox capacity.
The Rajputana Rifles and Mahrattas made several attempts to reach the pass but were repelled each time; the former lost their commanding officer in the final attack.
[Maule, p. 121]
In the centre, the 7th Royal Tank Regiment reached Fort Capuzzo by noon and scattered the defenders, who retreated north to join the 15th ''Panzer'' Division, between them and Bardia.
[Delany, p. 39] Soon afterwards, they faced several counter-attacks by a battalion from the 8th ''Panzer'' Regiment of the 15th ''Panzer'' Division. After being joined by the 22nd Guards Brigade, they faced the final and largest counter-attack at 18:30 but managed to repulse it.
[Pitt, p. 299] These were not serious assaults, as Rommel would not commit the 15th ''Panzer'' Division to battle without more information on the situation. The 8th ''Panzer'' Regiment skirmished briefly and then feigned a disorderly retreat to lure Matilda tanks into a chase into range of concealed anti-tank guns. Neither side took much damage from these actions.
[Delany, p. 41] In response to the British capture of Capuzzo and concerned with a possible attack on Sollum and Bardia, Rommel ordered the 5th Light Division to Sidi Azeiz ready for a possible counter-attack.

The rest of the 4th Royal Tank Regiment had been used as a flank guard for the 7th Royal Tank Regiment. While B Squadron was kept in reserve, the three remaining troops of A Squadron (12 tanks) had initial success against Battle Position (B.P.) 38, capturing 200 Axis prisoners and eight field guns with virtually no loss. These gains were lost when A Squadron were repelled at Point 206 and German forces counter-attacked at B.P. 38. In the evening, after A Squadron was down to only one remaining tank, the sixteen tanks of B Squadron were brought into action and Point 206 was captured.
In capturing these objectives, the British also took over 500 German and Italian prisoners.
[Moorehead, p. 127] That night, the
2nd Scots Guards—a battalion of the 22nd Guards Brigade—were able to advance further eastward and capture an outpost at Musaid.
On the western side, the 7th Armoured Brigade had placed the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, equipped with older cruiser tanks, in front of the 6th Royal Tank Regiment to use their new Crusader tanks as a surprise. The force reached Hafid Ridge (which actually consisted of three
ridge
A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...
s) by about 09:00. After 2nd Royal Tank Regiment had crossed over the first ridge, they were attacked at near point-blank range by dug in anti-tank guns, destroying two A9 cruiser tanks before the rest could retreat.
This development posed a serious problem for the brigade, as the cruiser tanks were armed with
2-pounder anti-tank guns which lacked the High Explosive (HE) rounds needed to engage infantry and artillery. Artillery support was not available as it was attached to the Support Group in the south-west, was covering the 7th Armoured Brigade's flank.
It was decided to attempt a flanking attack while waiting for the artillery to arrive. A small force of tanks from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment was sent to the western part of the Hafid Ridge, with orders to turn into the first valley. The attack went well at first, as the tanks caught the Axis forces unaware and were able to strafe along their trenches with their machine guns, losing only one tank in the process.
As they approached point 208 on their way eastwards, the commander became aware of its fortifications and ordered his units to disengage; due to an equipment shortage, only one tank per
troop
A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...
was equipped with a radio and five of his tanks, not receiving the order, continued towards Point 208 and were destroyed by its
88 mm guns.
Soon, reports came in from Allied aircraft that German tanks were approaching and the order was given to clear the ridges to use the advantageous terrain for the upcoming tank battle.
At 17:30 reports came in from forward observers that the defenders were withdrawing from Hafid Ridge.
After clearing the first ridge, it looked as though the reports were accurate, as German trucks and towed guns were seen moving away over the second crest. Pursuit began but upon the British forces clearing the second ridge, the Axis forces sprung their trap and fired on the Crusader tanks at near point-blank range; within minutes, 11 of the Crusaders were destroyed and six more heavily damaged.
[Pitt, p. 300] The Axis infantry and anti-tank guns, bereft of entrenchments, also took significant casualties.
Over thirty German tanks from a battalion of the 5th ''Panzer'' Regiment, part of the 5th Light Division which had earlier been stationed north at Sidi Azeiz, were seen arriving from the west.

By the end of the first day, Fort Capuzzo had been captured but not Halfaya Pass and Hafid Ridge and the British had lost a significant number of tanks. In the 7th Armoured Brigade, the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment was down to 28 cruiser tanks and the 6th Royal Tank Regiment to only 20 of their 50 Crusaders; many of the tanks which had been damaged, were abandoned in the field as the 7th Armoured Brigade withdrew from Hafid Ridge, leaving them for seizure by German tank recovery teams. The 4th Armoured Brigade, from its original strength of roughly 100 Matildas, was down to 37 (though 11 more were repaired by the following morning). German ''panzer'' losses were trifling, though there had been many casualties among the garrisons at Hafid Ridge, Point 206 and Fort Capuzzo. Beresford-Peirse planned to have the 11th Infantry Brigade continue its attack next day on Halfaya Pass, the 22nd Guards Brigade to hold their position and for the 4th Armoured Brigade to reinforce the 7th Armoured Brigade for a combined attack on the outnumbered 5th Light Division.
Through the wireless intelligence service, Rommel had a fairly clear picture of the British situation, including their losses, problems and the new orders issued by Beresford-Peirse. Rommel was concerned for the forces at Halfaya Pass, which were trapped by the 22nd Guards Brigade on one side and the 11th Infantry Brigade on the other and running low on supplies. His plan was to have the 5th Light Division, which by midnight had almost fully reached Sidi Azeiz, drive south towards
Sidi Omar and then east towards Sidi Suleiman and then north-east to Halfaya Pass, approaching the 11th Infantry Brigade from the rear. To prevent the re-deployment of Matildas, either to reinforce the 7th Armoured Brigade as Beresford-Peirse planned or to assist the British forces at Halfaya, Neumann-Silkow was ordered to attack Capuzzo. He ordered the attacks to begin while still dark, as the British intended to start their operations shortly after dawn.
[Pitt, p. 303]
16 June

The 11th Infantry Brigade renewed their attack on Halfaya Pass, but met with same failure as the day prior. Bach's forces—though outnumbered and running low on supplies—were now totally surrounded, and thus could not retreat even if they were inclined to do so. Messervy saw this lack of progress and disregarded Beresford-Peirse's orders to release his tanks and decided to retain the few remaining Matildas he had until some breach of the Axis defences could be made.
[Delany, p. 43] Neumann-Silkow began his attack on British held Fort Capuzzo at 06:00. He organised the 80 tanks under his command into two columns and attacked Capuzzo from either side.
The attack went poorly from the onset, as the 15th ''Panzer'' Division ran directly into heavy artillery from 25-pounders which had been brought up during the night and Matilda tanks in entrenched positions. By 10:00, the 15th ''Panzer'' Division had lost fifty of its tanks, and by 12:00, they were forced to withdraw.
Soon after the German forces withdrew the Scots Guards advanced further west, capturing the Sollum barracks to prevent Axis forces from either flanking on the east or linking up with the Halfaya garrison.
Starting at dawn, the 5th Light Division began to advance southwards past the western edge of Hafid Ridge. The 7th Armoured Brigade kept pace with them to the east, joined by the 7th Support Group as the two forces approached Sidi Omar. During the running skirmish, the British tanks had a few successful attacks against unarmoured German transport vehicles, but they found themselves at a significant disadvantage when they engaged the ''panzer''s, who utilised an extremely effective tactic against them. The
''Panzer'' IVs, armed with high-explosive
guns with an effective range of ~2750 m,
[Pitt, p. 304] would open fire while still well out of the roughly range of the 2-pounder guns found on British tanks.
While this would do minimal damage to the British tanks, it decimated their towed 25-pounder artillery, which would be forced to withdraw. Without British artillery to concern them, the Panzer IV and
gun armed
Panzer III
The ''Panzerkampfwagen III (Pz.Kpfw. III)'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Nazi Germany, Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was List of Sd.K ...
s could then safely close range with their British counterparts and pick off the thinly armed cruiser tanks while still remaining beyond the range of the British tank guns.
If the British tanks attempted to move forward to engage the panzers, the latter would quickly retreat behind a screen of anti-tank guns while lighter armoured elements would begin to move around the British flanks.
To make matters worse for the 7th Armoured Brigade, they suffered numerous breakdowns.
By evening, both regiments of the 7th Armoured Brigade had retreated east of the
Frontier Wire and the 7th Support Group and withdrawn even further. At 19:00, just as
dusk
Dusk occurs at the darkest stage of twilight, or at the very end of astronomical twilight after sunset and just before nightfall.''The Random House College Dictionary'', "dusk". At predusk, during early to intermediate stages of twilight, enoug ...
fell, the 5th Light Division further weakened the 7th Armoured Brigade with an attack which only ended when night fell.
[Pitt, p. 306]
Rommel—who had seen several of the engagements between the 7th Armoured Brigade and 5th Light Division—decided to attempt a full thrust against the 7th Armoured Brigade. At 16:00, he ordered the 15th ''Panzer'' Division to leave only minimal elements at its position north of Fort Capuzzo and make all haste to the northern flank of the 5th Light Division, which was pressing eastward to
Sidi Suleiman.
[Delany, p. 44] He hoped to cut off the majority of the British forces, encircling and then eliminating them. During the afternoon, Wavell had flown to Beresford-Peirse, to simplify the making of decisions. When he arrived, Beresford-Peirse was away, meeting with Messervy and Creagh, where he reconfirmed his orders for the infantry to maintain its attack on Halfaya and hold Capuzzo, while the 4th Armoured Brigade was to join the 7th Armoured Brigade, to confront the 5th Light Division to the west.
That night, on learning of the 5th Light Division advance, Messervy took the initiative and ordered his forces to withdraw and ordered the remaining Matildas of the 4th Armoured Brigade to form a screen, to protect the retreating infantry from the advance of the ''panzers'' to the west.
The 7th Armoured Brigade had lost more than half of the cruiser tanks operational in the morning and was down to 21 runners. The 4th Armoured Brigade had been reduced to 17 Matildas.
17 June
At 04:30, Rommel's ''panzer''s began their advance.
[Pitt, p. 307] The 5th Light Division encountered the 7th Armoured Brigade at 06:00 and began pushing them back. By 08:00 that morning, they had reached Sidi Suleiman. At Capuzzo, the early morning movements of the 15th Panzer Division led Messervy to believe another attack was imminent, and he thus cancelled Beresford-Peirse's orders for the 4th Armoured Brigade to reinforce the 7th so that they could be retained.
[Liddell Hart, p. 89] The combination of the two events caused serious alarm to Creagh, who then sent a message to Beresford-Peirse, requesting his presence for instruction;
Wavell, who was with Beresford-Peirse, took command of the operation and boarded a plane to Creagh's command post at Halfway House.
This message was also intercepted by the Germans, as Rommel later wrote,
The 5th Light Division and the 15th Panzer Division, attacking from the south-west and north-west respectively, were only from Halfaya.
[Liddell Hart, p. 90] At 10:00, as the ''Panzer'' divisions pushed eastward, they ran into the remaining Matildas of the 4th Armoured Brigade, joined on the flank by the remaining cruisers and artillery of the 7th Armoured Brigade and 7th Support Group. The tanks formed a screen to protect the 22nd Guards Brigade and 11th Indian Infantry Brigade as they retreated toward Halfway House.
[Pitt, p. 308] At 10:45, Messervy contacted Creagh over the radio and, speaking
Hindustani for security, informed him that he had ordered a retreat of his infantry from Capuzzo and Halfaya, to begin at 11:00.
At noon, Wavell and Beresford-Peirse arrived at Halfway House and learned of the retreat, to which Wavell then gave his approval.
The British armour stalled the panzer advance to Halfaya until 16:00, by which time the 22nd Guards had escaped.
Aftermath
Analysis
Churchill was displeased with the results of Operation Battleaxe. He had been expecting nothing less than complete success and had instead received news that the operation had failed and the tanks sent for it had been lost. Churchill sacked Wavell but could not have it look as though he was being punished or have Wavell return to England, as embarrassing questions could be raised. Churchill had Wavell exchange duties with General
Claude Auchinleck
Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck ( ) (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), was a British Indian Army commander who saw active service during the world wars. A career soldier who spent much of his militar ...
,
Commander-in-Chief, India
During the period of the Company and Crown rule in India, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the Indian Army from 1833 to 1947. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...
. Along with Wavell went
Michael O'Moore Creagh, who was replaced by Gott.
Beresford-Peirse was criticised for both his plan and control of the operation and on 4 October was sent to
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
with the position of
General Officer Commanding, Sudan. Beresford-Peirse took the place of
William Platt, who had been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the newly created
East Africa Command.
Beresford-Peirse was replaced as commander of XIII Corps by Lieutenant-General
Reade Godwin-Austen, who had been promoted from command of the
12th (African) Division in the
East African Campaign.
Casualties
The Allies had 969 casualties, with 122 killed, 588 wounded and 259 missing. The Germans had 678 casualties, with 93 killed, 350 wounded and 235 missing and the Italians suffered 592 casualties.
[Playfair, p. 171][Greene, p. 73] The British lost 98 tanks (3 light, 30 cruisers and 65 Matildas) and the Axis had roughly 50 disabled, excluding tanks which had been knocked out and repaired during the battle. The Axis held the battlefield and recovered disabled vehicles; only 12 tanks were written off.
The British lost 33 fighters and three bombers against 10 German aircraft.
RAF fighter losses were caused by lack of pilot training and the need for continuous air cover; standing patrols could only be maintained by a few aircraft while the bulk were in transit to the battlefield, being repaired, rearmed and refuelled.
Orders of battle
Allied forces
* Western Desert Force (Lieutenant-General
Noel Beresford-Peirse)
**
4th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General
Frank Messervy)
***
22nd Guards Brigade
**
7th Armoured Division (Major-General Sir
Michael O'Moore Creagh)
Coast Force
* 7th Armoured Brigade Group
** 7th Armoured Brigade (4 × A10 Cruiser tanks with brigade HQ)
***
2nd Royal Tank Regiment (10 × A9, 11 × A10, 21 × A13 Mk II Cruiser tanks)
***
6th Royal Tank Regiment (53 × Crusader I)
*** 3rd Hussars (16 × Mk VIb light tanks)
** 7th Support Group
*** 1st
The King's Royal Rifle Corps
*** 2nd
The Rifle Brigade
***
3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
***
4th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
*** 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
Escarpment Force
** 22nd Guards Brigade
*** 2nd
Scots Guards
The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...
*** 3rd
Coldstream Guards
The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...
*** 1st
The Buffs
**
4th Armoured Brigade (2 × A10 Cruiser tanks with brigade HQ )
***
4th Royal Tank Regiment (44 × Matilda II Infantry tanks, 6 × Mk VIb light tanks)
***
7th Royal Tank Regiment (48 × Matilda II Infantry tanks, 6 × Mk VIb light tanks)
Coast Force
** Halfaya Group
*** 2nd
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
*** C Squadron, 4th RTR (12 × Matilda II Infantry tanks)
**
11th Indian Infantry Brigade Group
*** 1st/
6th Rajputana Rifles
*** 2nd/
5th Mahratta Light Infantry
*** Two
troop
A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...
s from A Squadron, 4RTR (6 × Matilda II Infantry tanks)
[Liddell Hart, p. 83]
RAF
* 98
fighters in six squadrons
* 105
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes
air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles.
There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...
s in eight squadrons (
204 Group).
Total British strength for the operation came to 25,000 men, (28 × Light, 100 × Cruiser and 92 × Infantry).
Of the cruiser tanks, 38 were older cruiser models (
Mk I,
II and
III/
IV) and 53 were the new Crusader.
[Liddell Hart, p. 86] The Crusader and Matilda tanks were fitted with a Rotatrailer, an un-armoured trailer with of water and 12-man/days of rations, 100 rounds of 2-pounder ammunition and of lubricating oil, with of fuel carried in the wheels.
Axis forces
Italo Gariboldi
(DAK) under
Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of ...
*
5th Light Division (
Johann von Ravenstein
Johann "Hans" Theodor von Ravenstein (1 January 1889 – 26 March 1962) was a German general (''generalleutnant'') in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He commanded the 21st Panzer Division from May 1941 until being made a prisoner of war in la ...
) was in reserve with 57 × Panzer III and Panzer IV, 39 × Panzer I and Pz II.
5th ''Panzer'' Regiment of the 5th Light Division, which had 96 tanks of which 57 were medium tanks.
*
15th ''Panzer'' Division (
Walter Neumann-Silkow) was on the frontier. The
8th ''Panzer'' Regiment of the 15th ''Panzer'' Division had 36 × Panzer II and about 62 ×
''Panzer'' III and
IV.
[Jentz, p. 157] Most of the remaining units of the division were dispersed to various strong points along Rommel's defensive line.
*
62nd Infantry Regiment of the
102nd Motorised Division "Trento"; Most of the division was at Bardia but three infantry battalions and an artillery regiment were in the Sollum–Musaid–Capuzzo area.
Total Axis strength was 13,200 men (5,700 German, 7,500 Italian), ~194 tanks (75 × Panzer II, 119 × Panzer III and Panzer IV), 130 × fighters (60 × German and 70 × Italian) and 84 × bombers (59 × German, 25 × Italian).
[Jentz, p. 157]
See also
*
List of World War II Battles
*
North African campaign timeline
*
List of British military equipment of World War II
*
List of German military equipment of World War II
*
List of Italian military equipment in World War II
Notes
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
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*
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Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Lone Sentry: The Development of German Defensive Tactics in Cyrenaica 1941, Military Intelligence Service, Special Series No. 5, 16 October 1942
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070930204510/http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/jun41/f15jun41.htm 15 June 1941 On WarAnimated Map of Operation Battleaxe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battleaxe
Conflicts in 1941
1941 in Libya
Western Desert campaign
Tobruk in World War II
Battles and operations of World War II involving India
Battleaxe
Battles of World War II involving Germany
Battles of World War II involving Italy
Tank battles of World War II
Tank battles involving Germany
Tank battles involving the United Kingdom
Erwin Rommel
June 1941 in Africa
Siege of Tobruk