Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on

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 ...

'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), ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2006, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, ''Concise.Britannica.com'
BC-Tobruk
. Tobruk port 23

Tobruk was the site of an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

colony and, later, of a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica. Over the centuries, Tobruk also served as a waystation along the coastal caravan route. By 1911, Tobruk had become an Italian military post. During

World War II 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 ...

, Allied forces, mainly the Australian 6th Division, took Tobruk on 22 January 1941. The Australian 9th Division (" The Rats of Tobruk") pulled back to Tobruk to avoid encirclement after actions at Er Regima and Mechili and reached Tobruk on 9 April 1941. There prolonged fighting followed, against a siege by German and Italian forces. Although the siege was lifted by Operation Crusader in November 1941, a renewed offensive by Axis forces under Erwin Rommel the following year resulted in Tobruk being captured in June 1942. It was held by the Axis forces until November 1942, when it was recaptured by the Allies. Rebuilt after

, Tobruk was later expanded during the 1960s to include a port terminal linked by an oil pipeline to the Sarir oil field. King Idris of Libya had his palace at Bab Zaytun. Tobruk was traditionally a stronghold of the Senussi royal dynasty and one of the first to rebel against

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

in the Arab Spring.

Geography

Tobruk has a strong, naturally protected deep harbour. It is probably the best natural port in northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, although due to the lack of important nearby land sites it is certainly not the most popular. The city is effectively surrounded by a desert lightly populated with nomadic herdsmen who travel from

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentescarpments (cliffs) to the south of Tobruk, as is common across Cyrenaica, the eastern half of Libya. These escarpments generally have their high sides to the south and their low sides ( dip slopes) to the north. This constitutes a substantial physical barrier between the north and south of Libya in the Tobruk area. Previously, Tobruk was some from Benghazi through the Libyan Coastal Highway, but this distance was shortened to after the construction of the Charruba–Timimi Road between the years 1975 and 1985. Construction of the Tobruk–Ajdabiya Road reduced the distance between those two cities from to about . Because it is approximately away from

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 ...

by land, Tobruk is also an important hub for merchants from both

and

, and for travellers between the two countries as well as those from Bayda and Derna. Tobruk suffers a serious saltwater intrusion problem. A factory for the

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

of sea water has been built there.

Climate

Tobruk features a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWh'' according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

.) However, its maritime location allows it to receive significantly more precipitation than areas further inland in the Sahara desert.

History

Ancient

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

agricultural colony, ''Antipyrgus'' () was once on the site of modern Tobruk, and the ancient name is still occasionally in use. The name roughly meant "across from Pyrgos", referring to a location in

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 ...

across the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

from Antipyrgos. In the Roman era, the town became a Roman

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

guarding the Cyrenaican frontier. With the spread of Christianity, Antipyrgus became an

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

. Only one of its ancient bishops is known by name: Aemilianus, who took part in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. No longer a residential bishopric, Antipyrgus is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. Later the site became a way station on the caravan route that ran along the coast.

World War II

At the beginning of

, Libya was an Italian colony and Tobruk became the site of important

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

s between the Allies and

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

. Tobruk was strategically important to the conquest of Eastern Libya, then the province of Cyrenaica, for several reasons.

Strategic importance

Tobruk had a deep, natural, and protected harbour, which meant that even if the port were bombed, ships would still be able to anchor there and be safe from squalls, so the port could never be rendered wholly useless regardless of military bombardment. This was of critical importance, as it made Tobruk an excellent place to supply a desert warfare campaign. It was also heavily fortified by the Italians prior to their invasion of Egypt in November 1940. In addition to these prepared fortifications, there were a number of escarpments and cliffs to the south of Tobruk, providing substantial physical barriers to any advance on the port over land. Tobruk was also on a peninsula, allowing it to be defended by a minimal number of troops, which the Allies used to their advantage when the port was under siege. An attacker could not simply bypass the defenders, for if they did, the besieged would sally forth and cut off the nearby supply lines of the attacker, spoiling their advance. But Tobruk was also strategically significant, due to its location with regard to the remainder of Cyrenaica. Attackers from the east who had secured Tobruk could then advance through the desert to Benghazi, cutting off all enemy troops along the coast, such as those at Derna. This advance would be protected from counterattack, due to escarpments that were quite difficult for a military force to climb, running generally from Tobruk to Suluq. Due to the importance of maintaining supply in the desert, getting cut off in this area was disastrous. Therefore, whoever held both Suluq and Tobruk controlled the majority of Cyrenaica. Finally, south of the port was the largest airfield in eastern Libya. This was significant due to the importance of air power in desert warfare.

Italian advance

Italian forces (and their native Libyan allies—about two

divisions Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...

of the latter) invaded Egypt in early September 1940 but halted their advance after a week and dug in at Sidi Barrani. In early December,

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

forces—an armoured division and two infantry divisions—launched a counterstrike codenamed

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 ...

. The Italians had previously invaded Albania and occupied part of the south of France, and had now made a military incursion into a British

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

British capture of Tobruk

The counterstrike involved the British pocketing two of the Italian camps against the Mediterranean, forcing their surrender. This led to a general Italian retreat to El Agheila. Tobruk was captured by British, Australian and Indian forces on 22 January 1941. Italy called on her German ally, which sent an army

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

, under the name '' Deutsches Afrika Korps'' (DAK). Italy also sent several more divisions to Libya. These forces, under Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel, drove the Allies back across Cyrenaica to the Egyptian border, leaving Tobruk isolated and under siege. The defenders of the fortress consisted of the Australian 9th Division, the Australian 18th Brigade and some British tanks and artillery. They were later reinforced and replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division, Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, a Czechoslovak battalion and a British tank brigade. The siege lasted until December, when Operation Crusader pushed the DAK and Italians back out of Cyrenaica. Smiling Indian Soldiers in Tobruk 1941

German capture of Tobruk

Rommel's second offensive took place in May and June 1942. Tobruk was taken in an outflanking attack on 21 June 1942, capturing the largest number of British Commonwealth troops after the fall of Singapore earlier in the year, where over 80,000 were captured. Rommel was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall, shortly thereafter and was the youngest in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

Heer to achieve this rank. The following units were deployed in Tobruk on 20 June 1942, and most of them were captured by the Axis forces: * 2nd South African Infantry Division * 4th Royal Tank Regiment * 7th Royal Tank Regiment * 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards * 1st Battalion, Sherwood Foresters * 1st Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment * 2nd Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders * 2nd Battalion, 5th Mahratta Light Infantry * 2nd Battalion, 7th Gurkha Rifles * 67 Medium Regiment,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

* 68 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery * 25th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

British Commando raid

A British raid on Tobruk on 13–14 September 1942, codenamed Operation Agreement, intended to destroy port facilities and stores being used to support the Axis forces further west. Special forces approached from across the desert while Commandos attacked from the sea. A preparatory air raid by RAF heavy bombers served only to alert the Italian and German defenders. The special forces were unable to silence the coastal artillery batteries and the seaborne assault had to be abandoned after some of the Commandos had been landed in the wrong place. The retiring vessels were then attacked from the air. The British sustained almost 800 casualties, together with a cruiser, two destroyers and several smaller ships and boats.

British recapture

Tobruk remained in Axis hands until 11 November 1942, when the Allies captured it after the

Second Battle of El Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian Railway station, railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa ...

. It remained in Allied hands thereafter. Although not as much a reason for its strategic significance, the British built a rail line from El Alamein to Tobruk during the course of the war. This rail line was significant both for purposes of supply and as a sense of pride to the Allied troops, as the rail line was built through a little-populated, inhospitable desert.

Libyan Civil Wars

At the outset of the

First Libyan Civil War The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

, the city quickly came under the control of the NTC. In September 2014 the internationally recognized government of

relocated to a Greek car ferry in Tobruk harbor. A rival New General National Congress parliament continued to operate in Tripoli. In October 2014 they again re-located, to a hotel named ''Dar al-Salam'' also known as the Al Masira Hotel in Tobruk. In November 2014 that government was declared illegal by Libya's highest court.

Notable people

Professor Omar El Barasi (b. 1951), who once managed the Libyan branch of Society of Petroleum Engineers, and later became a deputy of Libya PM Abdurrahim El-Keib is from Tobruk and gained his doctorate in petroleum engineering from Waseda University,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Eman al-Obeidi, a Libyan woman who was abused by the Gaddafi government during the

, is from Tobruk. Omar Mukhtar was born in Zanjhur, near Tobruk.

Transportation

The city is served by Tobruk Airport, with two major domestic airlines serving it.

Notes

References

External links

Tobruk: Australian toughness beats Rommel

{{Authority control Baladiyat of Libya Antipyrgos Cyrenaica Greek colonies in Libya Populated places in Butnan District Port cities and towns in Libya