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Operation Crusader

Operation Crusader. xx. xx. xx. 18 Nov to 7 Dec, 1941. 21. 7. Ariete. British. Italian. German. Units.

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Operation Crusader

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  1. Operation Crusader xx xx xx 18 Nov to 7 Dec, 1941 21 7 Ariete British Italian German Units

  2. After the utter defeat of Italian arms in North Africa, by the British, during Sept and Oct of 1940, Hitler decided to help Mussolini hold on to what was left by sending a corps size task force (The AfrikaKorps) commanded by Erwin Rommel Rommel was not one to sit on the defensive – In April of 1941, he defeated the British forces deployed near El Agheila and Bengazi – He then moved to surround the British held port of Tobruk

  3. Until Tobruk was taken, Rommel could not move further eastward to achieve his main goal of driving the British out of Egypt and controlling the Suez Canal Archibald Wavell, the overall commander of the British forces in The Middle East and North Africa organized two operations to relieve the siege of Tobruk (Operation Brevity and Operation Battleaxe) – Both failed

  4. In July of 1941, Wavell was sent to command in India - He essentially changed places with Claude Auchinleck, the previous commander in India - Like Wavell, Auchinleck now had responsibility for the entire Middle East and northern Africa Auchinleck Auchinleck appointed Alan Cunningham (Victor over the Italians in Ethiopia) as head of the new 8th Army - an unfortunate choice Cunningham Churchill felt it was time for a new commander – He felt Wavell was tired - New ideas were needed

  5. Cunningham was coming from a theater where he had commanded a maximum of 5 infantry brigades He knew nothing about armor operations and a large part of the British forces in the upcoming operation would be armor In his favor, Cunningham did not follow the usual British procedure by keeping armor and infantry completely separated – He organized two corps – 30th, containing most of the armor with a significant infantry component and 13th containing mostly infantry but with a significant armor component of Valentine and Matilda tanks Still, he was way over his head with the size of the operation and his corps commanders had no clue about how to fight with coordinated armor, infantry, anti tank weapons (AT) and artillery

  6. Auchinleck was able to fend off Churchill’s unceasing demands for a new offensive - He was able to delay the offensive until November to absorb new equipment and train the troops for desert warfare Seeing all the new equipment, the troops were confident of victory Unfortunately, new equipment and enthusiastic troops could not make up for the incompetent commanders and obsolete tactics

  7. British Armor 1941-1942 - Operation Crusader Matilda II - 40mm gun max armor = 78 mm Stuart - 37mm gun max armor = 38mm Max Penetration 37 mm gun - 48mm of armor at 500m Valentine II - 40 mm gun max armor = 65mm Crusader II - 40 mm gun max armor = 49 mm Max penetration 40 mm gun - 57 mm of armor at 500m The U.S. lend Lease Stuart could fire canister rounds for use against infantry – The 40mm guns on British tanks fired only solid shot to kill enemy tanks

  8. Pz-IIIF - 50mm gun Max armor = 30mm penetration = 58mm at 500m Could also fire HE rounds Pz-1B - two 7.92mm MGs max armor = 13mm Pz-IVE - 75mm gun Max armor = 30mm penetration – HEAT AT rounds 70mm Pz-IIB - 20mm gun Max armor = 30mm penetration = 20mm at 500m Afrika Corps Armor - 1941 The Pz-IV E was primarily an anti infantry weapon – firing mostly HE rounds

  9. Italian Armor in North Africa L3/35 Tankette - 6.5mm MG -max armor = 13mm M11/39 - 37mm gun - max armor = 30mm Penetration = 35mm at 500m M 13/40 - 47mm gun - max armor = 30mm Penetration = 48mm at 500m • Autoblinda AB 41- 20mm gun • max armor = 9mm • Penetration = 20mm at 500m 37 and 47mm guns can fire both HE and solid shot

  10. Next map Halfaya Pass Assembly area British Advance to relieve Tobruk British - 690 tanks (plus more in reserve) - 34,000 trucks Germans - 244 tanks - Italians - 146 tanks - 10,000 trucks The British had the advantage of numbers in armor – Troop numbers were about the same – Brits-118,000 – Axis-119,000 The battle turned into a confused melee as both sides lost control

  11. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx xx 21 15 90 Ariete II xx II 33 Savona 3 xx x x x x x xx xx NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Crusader - Opening Moves - 18 Nov 13th Corps 22 Arm Bde = 163 Crusaders 7Arm Bde = 129 Crusaders 4 Arm Bde = 166 Stuarts 30th Corps 60 Valentines 60 Matildas 1st Army Tank Bde =

  12. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx xx 21 15 90 Ariete II xx II 33 Savona 3 xx x x x x x xx xx NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Crusader - Opening Moves - 18 Nov Cunningham’s original plan - await with massed armor at GabrSaleh for German counter attack - Rain masked the advance – Germans didn’t know Brits were there in strength

  13. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx xx 21 15 90 Ariete II xx II 33 Savona 3 xx x x x x x xx xx NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Crusader - 19 Nov Cunningham discarded the original plan - Armor dispersed - 7th to SidiRezegh - 22 to Bir el Gubi - 4th stays at GabrSaleh

  14. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx xx III III III 21 15 90 90 90 90 Ariete II xx II 33 Savona 3 xx x x x x x xx xx NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Crusader - 19 Nov 4th Arm Bde suffered significant tank losses but 21stPz had to withdraw – Low on fuel – Ariete dug in – Held off 22 Arm Bde – 90th Light surrounded 7th Arm Bde at SidiRezegh airfield

  15. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx III III III 15 21 90 90 90 Ariete xx Savona xx x x x x x xx x xx NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd TOBF 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Crusader - 20 Nov A mixed tank and infantry force from Tobruk tried to open a corridor to SidiRezegh while 15 Panzer attacked the unfortunate 4 Arm Bde and 13th Corps advanced toward Capuzzo - 22 Arm Bde recalled

  16. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx III III III 15 21 90 90 90 Ariete xx Savona xx x x x x x xx x xx NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd TOBF 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Crusader - 21 Nov 15 and 21 Panzer withdrew north to replenish ammo and fuel while 7 Arm Bde retreated to SidiRezegh – 30th Corps ordered to SidiRezegh while 13th Corps advanced to SidiAzeiz and Bardia TobForce continued to try opening a corridor to SidiRezegh while 7 Arm Bde charged the two approaching Pz divisions with disatrous results

  17. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx III III III 21 15 90 90 90 Ariete x xx x x x x x xx x xx NZ NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd TOBF 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Crusader - 22 Nov - First Battle of SidiRezegh NZ Division dropped off a brigade at SidiAzeiz and moved toward SidiRezegh – Rommel ordered an all out attack on British forces at SidiRezegh Battle occurred on – Totensonntag (Sunday of the Dead) – Fierce battle – each side lost about 60% of their armor

  18. With the British on the ropes, Rommel made a mistake Gen. Ludwig Cruwell, commander of the German armored forces, urged Rommel to pursue and destroy the decimated British armor Concerned about his own losses Rommel felt the a threat to surround the British forces would make them withdraw as it had in Brevity and Battleaxe He could then recover much of his damaged armor and finally take Tobruk – Possession of Tobruk was a necessity if the Germans were to move on to Alexandria The result of Rommel’s decision was Known as the “Dash to the Wire” (Barbed wire marking the Egyptian frontier) 24 to 26 Nov – It almost worked

  19. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx III III III 15 21 90 90 90 Ariete x xx xx x x x x x xx x xx NZ NZ x 7 22 4 22Gd 2 SA TOBF 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 Rommel’s dash to the wire - 24 to 26 Nov British tank reinforcements arrived at a rate of 40 per day 21 Pz brushes the 4thInd Div and heads into the British rear area – 15 Pz heads north to try and recapture SidiAzeiz –NZ Div arrives at SidiRezegh and occupies the airfield – Still no corridor to Tobruk As Rommel heads for British rear, Ariete tries to join but runs into British armor –

  20. Cunningham reacted exactly as Rommel had hoped – With 21 Pz on his supply route, he panicked and wanted to withdraw Auchinleck realized German losses had also been high – He relieved Cunningham and took over direct command of the army around Tobruk – There would be no retreat Rommel’s command vehicle was separated from 21 Pz Div – for several hours, Rommel was lost Meanwhile, the NZ Division created a crisis at SidiRezegh – Col. Westphalused his prerogative as Rommel’s chief of staff and took command of the German forces – 15 Pz was ordered back to SidiRezegh Once Rommel was back in communication, he approved Westphal’s action and also ordered 21 Pz back to SidiRezegh Rommel’s dash to the wire had given 30th Corps time to reorganize and absorb reinforcements – A fatal mistake

  21. xx xx Bologna Trento xx Pavia xx xx xx III III III 15 21 90 90 90 Ariete x xx xx x x x x x xx x xx NZ NZ x 7 22 4 2 SA 22Gd TOBF 1 SA 1ATB 4 IND 7 2nd Battle of SidiRezegh - 27 Nov to 1 Dec German Panzer divisions were both recalled to SidiRezegh and reclaimed the airfield but German armor losses had been so high that they could not hold against reinforced 30th Corps AfrikaKorps troops formed a screen to slow down the British advance and allow the rest of the Axis forces to escape – Tobruk was relieved

  22. Although badly managed in its earlier stages, Operation Crusader was a victory of sorts for the British – A victory due entirely to Auchinleck’s courageous decision to continue the fight British tank losses were heavy, although possession of the battle field allowed then to recover and repair all but 278 tanks (British started with 690 tanks) The Germans and Italians were forced to retreat and left behind many repairable tanks – Combined tank losses for both Italian and German forces were 300 (They started with 390) Casualties (killed wounded and missing) were about 18,000 British, 14,000 German and 24,000 Italians There was air activity over the battlefield, but close air support for either side was not decisive – Many actions were bombing raids in the enemy’s rear – Aircraft losses were British-300, Axis-600

  23. Halfaya Pass Rommel retreated to El Agheilato be nearer to his supply source (Tripoli) – He was followed hesitantly by the British Several supply convoys with replacement tanks and troops reached Tripoli shortly after Rommel reached El Agheila Rommel began to contemplate another offensive despite objections from the Italian supreme command This would lead to the Gazala Battles and the fall of Tobruk

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