Battle of El Agheila - Background

Background

On 4 November 1942, Rommel decided finally to end the desperate fighting at El Alamein and withdrew west toward Libya. In doing so, he defied the "Stand to the last" orders of Adolf Hitler, in order to save the remainder of his force. Rommel's forces reached the village of Fuka the next day. Italian forces had arrived earlier (they withdrew from El Alamein on 3–4 November) and they had formed a defensive line. However, the Italians resumed their withdrawal on the same day and. after a successful Allied attack, the Germans followed them. Montgomery rested some of his formations after their efforts at El Alamein and pursued mainly with the 7th Armoured Division and 4th Light Armoured Brigade.

Rain on the afternoon of 6 November impeded the British pursuit as the Axis forces continued their withdrawal and a new defence line was established at Marsa Matruh the following day, some 110 mi (180 km) west of El Alamein. Rommel received a warning from Hitler of an expected Allied landing between Tobruk, and Benghazi, but on 8 November Rommel discovered that this was wrong. Instead, there were Anglo-American landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch). The Eastern Task Force—aimed at Algiers—landed with 20,000 troops and began moving east towards Rommel. Facing the prospect of a large Allied force to his rear, he decided to withdraw in one bound to El Agheila.

Axis forces evacuated Sidi Barrani on 9 November and Halfaya Pass (on the Libyan-Egyptian border) on 11 November, thereby abandoning Egypt. The whole of Cyrenaica was evacuated without serious resistance. However, Rommel wanted to retain Tobruk for as long as possible, to save 10,000 short tons (9,100 t) of equipment, but it fell to the British on 13 November. An attempt by Montgomery to trap the Tobruk garrison by an enciclement toward Acroma—west of Tobruk—failed and the garrison evacuated toward Benghazi, almost intact. Meanwhile, Derna and its airfield Martuba were captured on 15 November. Martuba's capture was particularly welcome to the British as they were thus able to provide air cover for an essential Malta convoy on 18 November. Axis forces had now withdrawn 400 mi (640 km) in 10 days.

Despite the importance of the Port of Benghazi to the Axis supply chain, Rommel had to evacuate the town in order to avoid the possibility of a repeat of the disastrous entrapment suffered by the Italians at the Battle of Beda Fomm in February 1941. Regretfully, Rommel ordered the destruction of the port facilities and materiel in Benghazi, writing afterward:

"...in Benghazi, we destroyed the port facilities and platforms and the chaos overwhelmed the civilians in this miserable town.."

Benghazi was occupied by the British on 20 November. Three days later, the Axis forces evacuated Ajdabiya and fell back to Brega.

During their withdrawal to Brega, the Axis forces faced many difficulties, including British air superiority which allowed them to target the Axis supply columns, crowding of the Axis forces on the coastal road and a shortage of fuel. In order to delay the British advance at any cost, Axis sappers laid mines in the Brega area. To delay clearance, helmets were laid to mislead British mine detectors.