CHAPTERS
TOBRUK FALLS
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Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Hell We Go.....
THE MIDDLE AND FAR EAST - WW2
Tobruk was heavily reinforced by 25,000 men included in which was the 61st Sirte division under General Della Mura. The defenses included nearly 65 light and medium tanks, 200 artillery pieces as well as two forts, Solaro and Pilastrino along with the usual fortifications of wire and anti tank ditches. Preceeding the attack on Tobruk, on the nights of the 19th and 20th of January, Wellingtons and Blenheims dropped 20 tons of bombs on the Italian defences and other strategic objectives including the ship San Georgio which, although grounded, was being used for anti-aircraft defense.
Following this softening up and a delay caused by sandstorms, at dawn on January 21st, the 6th Australian Division, 16, 17, and 19th brigades utilizing 12 Matilda tanks and captured Italian M13 tanks (cheerfully painted with their leaping kangaroo crest), attacked Tobruk. Simultaneously the Blenheims of 45, 55, and 113 Squadrons, in support of the troops, attacked enemy positions within Tobruk making a total of 87 sorties throughout the day. West of Tobruk, the Gladiators of 3RAAF and Hurricanes of 73 and 274 squadrons ran offensive patrols to cover the ground operations but apparently only one engagement with the enemy took place. Air operations continued into the following morning of the 22nd January which saw 208 squadron providing close troop support.
Shortly after dawn this day the Australians entered the town while the Free French troops broke through the perimeter along the sea to the west. The Italians fought well but after a brief tank battle on the aerodrome Fort Solarno fell and Pilastrino followed shortly afterward. Neither turned out to be much of a fort and both were taken quickly. As the troops moved forward, thousands of surrendering Italians were being thumbed back to the rear. Unlike some of the previous battles, the Italians gave up very little ground without putting up at least a token resistance and in many cases showed they could be a force equal to the best. Their spirit however was easily broken and this was as evident here as it had been elsewhere.
Late on the 21st the harbour area lay covered under a hudge pall of black smoke as the Italians destroyed their fuel and ammunition dumps and it was clear they had enough and were preparing to throw in the towel. Sadly, in yet another of their bungled operations, they were to needlessly loose hundreds more men when that evening the thousands of Italian POWs lighting fires behind the lines in an attempt to stay warm were bombed and straffed by their own aircraft. The following morning the Austrailians moved forward and although there were pockets of stiff defence, once again surrendering Italians streamed through their lines to the rear by the thousands. General Della Mura, Commander of the 61st, was captured early and shortly afterwards another captured Commander was inticed to call other positons and order them to surrender, which they did. Late that afternoon Australian Brigadier Robertson, along with a brace of reporters was led to Admiral Massmiliano who in ritual surrendered his sword to Robertson, and with that Torbuk fell! Along with the capture of the fort came another 25,000 Italians as well as hundreds of guns, tanks and trucks. Included among these trophies was the sea water distillation plant which had been captured intact. The strategic Port of Tobruk, O'Conners chief interest, was up and running again within days, only this time it was delivering supplies to the Allies.
Between the 23rd of January and 1st of February RAF HQ 202 Group moved forward to Sidi Mahmoud. 73 and 274 Squadrons were moved to Gazala and 3RAAF squadron along with 208 squadron moved to El Tmimi.
It is worth noting at this juncture that the Italians are not quite the inept bunglers that history and indeed this story makes them appear to be. Of course it is absurd to think that an entire army and all of its generals and chain of command were all fools and this certainly wasn't the case. There are many long winded hypothetical and technical theorys about what went wrong but the bottom line all comes down to the cold hard fact that the masses of Italian front line soldiers did not have their heart in what they were doing and all of the errors, bungling, lost opportunity and missjudgement comes down to this one simple fact. The allies fought with passion believing they were fighting for their freedom, their way of life. What were the Italians fighting for? They were without a cause, the kind of a cause that makes a man dig deep in his soul and drives him to success at any cost. To say their allegiance to the madmen Hitler and Mussolini was superficial and had less than full support of the Italian people would be a great understatement. Had it been otherwise the outcome is likely to have been the same, however it can be safely said that a great many more lives would have been lost on both sides. Nonetheless, the Italians wern't licked yet, read on.
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