The Group Crüwell Feint DTO (id:#61011)

(Afrikakorps - AK007 Battle of Gazala ID: AK 52)   [next]   [previous]

East of Bir Temrad, Libya 1942-05-26 (1 other)

Overview:

By late May, Rommel had assembled a potent strike force and needed merely to decide where to attack. He finally decided on a grand sweep around the south end of the British line at Bir Hacheim, held by Free French forces. The sweep would be accompanied by a feint in the north, aimed to distract the British command. Rommel instructed General Crüwell to take one German mechanized infantry brigade and two Italian infantry divisions, along with all of the Axis heavy artillery for an attack in the north. To further confuse the British, trucks mounted with aircraft engines were to raise huge clouds of dust behind this attack to suggest large mobile forces were assembling there. The frontal feint by Group Crüwell began on schedule at about 1400 hours on the 26th. However, as Robert J. Icks reveals in his book Famous Tank Battles, the “...Italians pressed the attack so half-heartedly that the British decided it was only a feint...” Units from the Second South African Brigade held off Italian infantry units from ‘Sabratha’ Infantry Division, ‘corset-laced’ with German troops from the 15th Rifle Brigade. Seven hours later the grand sweep south of Bir Hacheim by the rest of the Afrika Korps was launched. The Battle of Gazala had begun....

Defender: British (2nd South African Brigade)  

Errata (source)