Battle of Gazala

The Battle of Gazala (near modern town of Ayn al Ghazālah) was fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, around the port of Tobruk in Libya from 26 May to 21 June 1942. The combatants on the Axis side were the Panzerarmee Afrika (Colonel-General Erwin Rommel), consisting of German and Italian units and the Allied forces of the Eighth Army (Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie) under the supervision of the Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Sir Claude Auchinleck. The Axis distracted the British with a decoy attack in the north and made the main attack round the southern flank of the Gazala position. The advance succeeded but the defence of the French garrison of Bir Hakeim at the southern end of the line left the Axis with a long and vulnerable supply route behind the British line.

Rommel retired to the Cauldron, a defensive position backing onto the British minefields, forming a base in the midst of the British defences and created a route through to the Axis side to receive supplies. When the Eighth Army counter-attacked the operation was poorly co-ordinated and was defeated in detail, many tanks were lost and the Axis were able to regain the initiative. The British withdrew from the Gazala line and the Axis troops overran Tobruk in a day; the battle is considered the greatest victory of Rommel's career. Rommel exploited the success by pursuing the British into Egypt, denying them time to recover from the defeat. As both sides neared exhaustion, the Eighth Army managed to check the Axis advance at the First battle of El Alamein.

Gazala

Gazala, or Ain el Gazala (Arabic: عين الغزالة‎), is a small Libyan village near the coast in the northeastern portion of the country. It is located 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Tobruk.

In the late 1930s (during the Italian occupation of Libya), the village was the site of an Arab concentration camp, which the men of the Senussi resistance tried in vain to penetrate.

Gazala is perhaps best known for the memorable World War II battle that took place in the surrounding area from May to June 1942 between Axis forces (led by Erwin Rommel) and Allied forces (led by Neil Ritchie). This battle resulted in an Axis victory and the subsequent capture of Tobruk on 21 June 1942.

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