The Battle of Gazala, also the Gazala Offensive (Italian: Battaglia di Ain el-Gazala; German: Schlacht von Gazala), was fought near the village of Gazala during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Libya, from 26 May to 21 June 1942. Axis troops consisting of German (Panzerarmee Afrika; Generaloberst Erwin Rommel) and Italian units fought the British Eighth Army (General Sir Claude Auchinleck, also Commander-in-Chief Middle East) composed mainly of British Commonwealth, Indian and Free French troops.
The Axis troops made a decoy attack in the north as the main attack (Operation Venezia) moved round the southern flank of the Gazala position. Unexpected resistance at the south end of the line around the Bir Hakeim box by the Free French garrison left the Panzerarmee Afrika with a long and vulnerable supply route around the Gazala Line. Rommel retired to a defensive position backing onto Allied minefields (the Cauldron), forming a base in the midst of the British defences. Italian engineers lifted mines from the west side of the minefields to create a supply route through to the Axis side.
Operation Aberdeen, an attack by the Eighth Army to finish off the Panzerarmee, was poorly co-ordinated and defeated in detail; many British tanks were lost and the Panzerarmee regained the initiative. The Eighth Army withdrew from the Gazala Line and the Axis troops overran Tobruk in a day. Rommel pursued the Eighth Army into Egypt and forced it out of several defensive positions. The Battle of Gazala is considered the greatest victory of Rommel's career.
As both sides neared exhaustion, the Eighth Army checked the Axis advance at the First Battle of El Alamein. To support the Axis advance into Egypt, the planned attack on Malta (Operation Herkules) was postponed. The British were able to revive Malta as a base for attacks on Axis convoys to Libya, greatly complicating Axis supply difficulties at El Alamein.
Background
Benghazi
Following Operation Crusader, in late 1941, the British Eighth Army had relieved Tobruk and driven the Axis forces from Cyrenaica to El Agheila. The Eighth Army advance of 500 mi (800 km) over-stretched its supply lines and in January 1942, the Allies reduced the front line garrison for work on lines of communication and supply dumps, preparatory to another westwards advance against Tripolitania. The elimination of Force K from Malta, which ran into an Italian minefield off Tripoli in mid-December and the arrival of Fliegerkorps II in Sicily, neutralised Allied air and naval forces in Malta, allowing more Axis supplies to reach Libya. After a two-month delay, German and Italian forces in Libya began to receive supplies and reinforcements in men and tanks, which continued until the end of May, when Fliegerkorps II was transferred to the Russian front.
While aware from signals intelligence of these reinforcements, GHQ in Cairo underestimated their significance and Axis fighting strength, having greatly exaggerated the casualties inflicted on the Axis during Operation Crusader. In an appreciation made in January 1942, Auchinleck alluded to an Axis fighting strength of 35,000 men, when the true figure was about 80,000 (50,000 German and 30,000 Italian troops). The Eighth Army expected to be ready by February and GHQ Cairo believed that the Axis would be too weak and disorganised to mount a counter-offensive in the meantime. On 21 January, Rommel sent out three strong armoured columns to make a tactical reconnaissance. Finding only the thinnest of screens, Rommel changed his reconnaissance into an offensive, recaptured Benghazi on 28 January and Timimi on 3 February. By 6 February, the Allies had fallen back to a line from Gazala to Bir Hakeim, a few miles west of Tobruk, from which the Italo-Germans had retired seven weeks before. The Allies had 1,309 casualties from 21 January, lost 42 tanks knocked out, another 30 through damage and breakdowns and forty field guns.
Gazala line
Between Gazala and Timimi, just west of Tobruk, the Eighth Army was able to concentrate its forces sufficiently to turn and fight. By 4 February, the Axis advance had been halted and the front line stabilised from Gazala on the coast 30 mi (48 km) west of Tobruk, to an old Ottoman fortress at Bir Hakeim 50 mi (80 km) inland to the south. The Gazala line was a series of defensive boxes accommodating a brigade each, laid out across the desert behind minefields and wire, watched by regular patrols between the boxes. The Free French were to the south at the Bir Hakeim box, 13 mi (21 km) south of the 150th Infantry Brigade box, which was 6 mi (9.7 km) south of the 69th Infantry Brigade box. The line was not evenly manned, with a greater number of troops covering the coast road, leaving the south less protected but the line was behind deep minefields and a longer line would make an attack around the southern flank harder to supply. Behind the Gazala line, were several defensive boxes. Commonwealth Keep (also known as Hill 209) was at Ras El Madauur on the main defence line of Tobruk, about 9.0 mi (14.5 km) west-south-west of the port. The Acroma, Knightsbridge (12 mi (19 km) south of Acroma) and El Adem boxes were sited to block tracks and junctions. A box at Retma was finished just before the Axis offensive but work on boxes at Point 171 4.0 mi (6.4 km) south-east of Bir Hakeim and Bir el Gubi did not begin until 25 May.
Prelude
British preparations
Churchill pressed Auchinleck to attack to push the Axis out of Cyrenaica and relieve the pressure on Malta, which Churchill felt was essential to the war effort,
... having particular regard to Malta, the loss of which would be a disaster of the first magnitude to the British Empire and probably fatal in the long run to the defence of the Nile delta.
— Winston Churchill
The Eighth Army received new equipment, including 167 American Lend-Lease M3 Grant tanks equipped with 75 mm guns, and large numbers of 6-pounder anti-tank guns. Rommel thought that Allied minefields ended well north of Bir Hakeim and did not know of the "mine marsh" surrounding the box. The Eighth Army was in the process of reorganising, changing the relationship between infantry and artillery, while the RAF commander Arthur Tedder concentrated the efforts of the Desert Air Force (DAF) on supporting the troops on the ground. Army commanders lost the power to direct air operations, which was reserved for the air commanders. A new fighter-bomber concept was developed and Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Coningham, commander of the DAF, moved his headquarters to the Eighth Army HQ to improve communication.
Axis commanders knew that the entry of the United States into the war would give the Eighth Army access to an increase in materiel but sought to forestall an Allied offensive before these supplies could influence events. By late May, the 1st South African Division was on the Gazala line nearest the coast, the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division to the south and the 1st Free French Brigade furthest south at Bir Hakeim. The 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions waited behind the main line as a mobile counter-attack force, the 2nd South African Division formed a garrison at Tobruk and the 5th Indian Infantry Division (which had arrived in April to relieve the 4th Indian Infantry Division) was held in reserve. The Allies had 110,000 men, 843 tanks and 604 aircraft.
Axis preparations
The Axis retreat to El Agheila after Operation Crusader reduced the supply distance from Tripoli to 460 mi (740 km). The discovery of 13,000 long tons (13,000 t) of fuel at Tripoli eased the supply crisis, despite the delivery of only 50,000 long tons (51,000 t) of supplies in January. The Panzerarmee had a much shorter supply line and the British were burdened by an over-extended supply line. Luftflotte II in Sicily had also regained air superiority for the Axis. Rommel asked for another 8,000 lorries but this unrealistic demand was rejected and Rommel was warned that an advance would cause another supply crisis. On 29 January, the Panzerarmee recaptured Benghazi and next day ammunition supply to the front line failed. By 13 February, Rommel agreed to stop at Gazala, 900 mi (1,400 km) from Tripoli.
Until May, monthly deliveries averaged 60,000 long tons (61,000 t), less than the smaller Axis force received from June–October 1941 but sufficient for an offensive. The 900 mi (1,400 km) advance to Gazala succeeded because Benghazi was open, reducing the transport distance for about 33 percent of the supplies of the Panzerarmee to 280 mi (450 km). The Italians tried to restrain Rommel by advocating the capture of Malta, which would postpone another offensive in Africa until the autumn but agreed to an attack on Tobruk for late May. An advance would stop at the Egyptian frontier, another 150 mi (240 km) east and the Luftwaffe would redeploy for Operation Herkules. The capture of Malta would not alter the constraints of port capacity and distance; protecting convoys and a large port close to the front, would still be necessary for victory.
Air attacks directed by Kesselring against Malta greatly reduced its offensive capacity, allowing supply convoys from Italy to reach Axis forces in Africa with increased regularity. Unternehmen Venezia (Operation Venice), the Axis plan of attack, was for armoured forces to make a flanking manoeuvre south of the fortified "box" at Bir Hakeim. On the left flank, the 132nd Armoured Division "Ariete" would neutralise the Bir Hakeim box and on the right flank, the 21st Panzer Division and 15th Panzer Division would advance north behind the Eighth Army defences, to destroy the Allied armour and cut off the infantry divisions on the Gazala line. On the far right of the attack, a kampfgruppe (battle group) from the 90th Light Afrika Division was to advance to El Adem, south of Tobruk and cut the line of supply from the port to the Gazala line while holding Allied troops at Tobruk.
The rest of the XX Motorized Corps and the 101st Motorised Division "Trieste", would open a gap in the minefield north of the Bir Hakeim box near the Sidi Muftah box, to create a supply route to the armour. Rommel anticipated that, having dealt with the Allied armour, he would capture El Adem, Ed Duda, Sidi Rezegh and "Knightsbridge". The Axis tanks would then be in a position to attack on the following day westwards against the Eighth Army defensive boxes between Gazala and Alem Hamza, meeting the eastwards attack by X Corps and XXI Corps. By late May, the Axis forces comprised 90,000 men, 560 tanks and 542 aircraft. On 26 May, Comando Supremo ordered Bastico and Rommel to launch the offensive, defeat the British armoured forces and capture Tobruk.
Battle
Operation Venice
At 14:00 on 26 May, X Corps and XXI Corps attacked on the central Gazala positions, after an artillery concentration, beginning Unternehmen Venezia (Operation Venice). A few elements of the Afrika Korps and XX Mobile Corps were attached to these assault groups. During the day, the bulk of the Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) moved, to give the impression that this was the main Axis assault. When night fell, the armoured formations turned south in a sweeping move around the southern end of the Gazala line.
In the early hours of 27 May, Rommel led the elements of Panzerarmee Afrika, DAK, XX Motorised Corps and the German 90th Light Afrika Division, in a bold flanking move around the southern end of the Allied line, using the Allied minefields to protect the Axis flank and rear. The "Ariete" Division was held up for about an hour by the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division, dug in about 3.7 mi (6 km) south east of Bir Hakeim at Rugbet el Atasc. The 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment of the "Ariete" Division sent its experienced VIII and IX Medium Tank battalions forward, while the fresh X Medium Tank Battalion was in support. The Indian position was overrun with the loss of 23 tanks, some of which were repairable on the field, 30 men killed and 50 wounded, while the Indians lost 440 men killed and wounded and about 1,000 prisoners, including Admiral Sir Walter Cowan and most of its equipment. The 21st Panzer Division was advancing south of the position and did not take part in the action.
Further to the east, the 15th Panzer Division had engaged the 4th Armoured Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division, which had been ordered south to support the 3rd Indian and 7th Motorised brigades. In a mutually costly engagement, the Germans were surprised by the range and power of the 75 mm guns on the new M3 (Grant) tanks. The 4th Armoured Brigade then withdrew toward El Adem and spent the night near the Belhamed supply base, east of El Adem. By late morning, the Axis armoured units had advanced more than 25 mi (40 km) north but by noon had been stopped by the 1st Armoured Division in more mutually-costly fighting.
On the far right of the Axis advance, the 90th Light Afrika Division engaged the 7th Motorised Brigade at Retma and forced it to withdraw eastwards on Bir el Gubi. Resuming their advance toward El Adem before noon, armoured cars of the 90th Light came upon the advanced HQ of 7th Armoured Division near Bir Beuid, dispersing it and capturing a number of officers, including the commander, Frank Messervy, who pretended to be a batman and escaped. The "inexcusable" lapse in security left the division without effective command for the next two days. As planned, the 90th Light Division reached the El Adem area by mid-morning and captured a number of supply dumps. The following day, the 4th Armoured Brigade was sent to El Adem and the 90th Light Division was driven back to the south-west.