Mitcham Jr., Samuel W. Rommel's Greatest Victory: The Desert Fox and the Fall of Tobruk, Spring 1942. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998.

ISBN 0-89141-656-0
243 pages

Acknowledgments; Table of Equivalent Ranks; maps; photos; orders of battle; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

The see-saw nature of the war in Egypt and Libya scarcely needs mentioning, but it still seems incredible that Rommel, defeated during Operation Crusader and driven out of Cyrenaica, could rebound and stun his Allied adversaries -- for the second time in less than a year! -- with a textbook blitzkrieg that regained Cyrenaica and then, in another masterpiece of campaigning, capture the previously unconquerable fortress of Tobruk.

Mitcham's new book tells the story of how all this happened, evenly balancing views of the action from both sides. The Desert Fox, however, loomed so large in the consciousness of the 8th Army, forcing British generals to react to what he was doing as well as what they feared he might do, that Rommel is clearly the protagonist.

The book begins with a brief overview of the war in the desert leading up to Gazala, a comparative survey of Axis and Allied weapons and tactics, orders of battle, and the opposing plans. Rommel, as usual, managed to strike first and -- despite his inferiority in tanks, infantry, and aircraft -- proceeded to concentrate his striking power at the critical points and defeat Allied battalions and brigades piecemeal. Here the German superiority in combined-arms tactics continued to pay dividends as the Allied leaders still failed to heed the lessons Rommel had previously taught them about deploying their tanks, infantry, antitank guns, and artillery properly.

The Desert Fox and his troops were not flawless, and the Allied generals and their multi-national units were not fools or cowards, but time and again the Germans and Italians crushed the mis-handled British tank brigades, taking possession of the battlefields with their precious litter of repairable tanks. The Free French brigade at Bir Hacheim provided one of the few exceptions to the litany of defeated and destroyed Allied formations, managing to withstand the Axis onslaught for days and then finally succeed in making a hasty withdrawal to safety.

   After a brief conference with Colonel Bayerlein, he [Rommel] ordered Group Baade (the bulk of Lt. Col. Ernst-Guenther Baade's 115th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 15th Panzer Division) down from the Cauldron area. Baade -- a highly capable officer despite his eccentricities (he occasionally went into battle dressed in a Scottish kilt and carrying a broadsword) -- led his regiment into the attack with Koenig's Free French Brigade with his usual skill. Well supported by the Stukas, he stormed Point 186, the high ground north of Bir Hacheim, overlooking the main French positions.
   Although Renton's battered 7th Motor Brigade had been running convoys of supplies, ammunition, and water to the garrison at night, and taking out wounded, the loss of Point 186 made Bir Hacheim untenable in the long run. The British XXX Corps tried to take some of the pressure off the garrison on 9 June by sending columns from the 7th Motor, 29th Indian Infantry Brigade, and 4th Armoured Division to distract Rommel, and they did force him to divert part of 90th Light to deal with them, but he continued to tighten his grip on the fortress. The next day forty Stukas and twenty Ju-88 bombers dropped some 130 tons of bombs on Bir Hacheim. This time, the RAF could not break through the fighter screen. Meanwhile, on the ground, the grenadiers of the 90th Light Division (attacking without tank support) broke into the main defensive perimeter, and Rommel signaled OKW that Bir Hacheim would finally fall the next day. For some time, Field Marshal Kesselring had been pressuring Rommel to bring down stronger forces (including panzer battalions) to speed up the capture of the fortress, but, with British armor bruised but still intact, the Desert Fox wanted to save his tanks for fighting in more open terrain; he did not want to waste them in the minefields around Bir Hacheim. Events were to prove him right.
   That evening, Pierre Koenig signaled Ritchie: "Am at the end of my tether. The enemy is outside my HQ." The Eighth Army commander knew that the end had come; he ordered the French garrison to break out that night.
   Early on the morning of 11 June, the German wireless intercept unit picked up the news that the garrison was about to break out. The 1st Free French were attacked as they worked their way through a narrow gap, but, even so, more than half the brigade managed to escape, although it lost twenty-four guns and many of its motorized vehicles. Out of an original garrison of 3,600, about 2,300 or so made their way back to friendly lines, including 200 wounded. General Koenig was among those who got away. Ironically, he would become the military governor of the French Occupation Zone in Germany after the war.

Inexorably Rommel's forces rolled forward. As the Allies withdrew, Churchill signaled questions regarding plans for Tobruk. In fact, as he was aware, it had long since been decided that in such a situation Tobruk could not be sustained again by the Royal Navy and consequently no effort would be made to hold the fortress. Other opinions were voiced, resolve weakened, and political factors intervened. Thus the South African General Klopper found himself holding the isolated port with his 4th and 6th South African Brigades, 11th Indian Brigade, 201st Guards Brigade, and 32nd Tank Brigade along with a motley collection of stragglers, supporting units, and base troops.

Unlike the first siege of Tobruk, Rommel in 1942 would not be denied. After the heaviest concentration of air bombardment and support yet seen in the desert, his panzers smashed through the stunned 2/5 Mahrattas of 11th Indian Brigade, flooded into the interior of the fortress before reserves could react, and seized the key ground and harbor. More than 35,000 prisoners were taken along with 2000 tons of fuel, 2000 operational vehicles, and 5000 tons of provisions. Suddenly the scene was set for the Axis advance to Alamein, carried forward by captured trucks and supplies.

But that is another story, for here ends Rommel's Greatest Victory.

Mitcham has created a synthesis of all the published works on the battle and the generals, ranging from classics like Agar-Hamilton and Corelli Barnett to the Time-Life series. In that sense it proves rather derivative and, like his earlier Eagles of the Third Reich, tends to rely heavily on the opinions and conclusions of others. Still, this is a fast-paced and undemanding account of a popular topic and, as such, a book likely to find a wide audience.

Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Presidio Press.

Thanks to Presidio for providing this review copy.