Siege of Tobruk - The Siege

The Siege

The besieging troops were mainly Italian belonging to the following five Divisions: the Ariete and Trieste (the XX Motorised Corps), the Pavia, Bologna, and Brescia (the XXI Infantry Corps). The Australian commanders remained determined to recapture the ground lost on 1 May. On 3 May, the Australians launched a counterattack employing the 18th Brigade but by 4 May were only able to recapture one bunker. An Australian historian wrote later that the Italians were involved in the action in the Australian attacks on the outposts of R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 and R8. On the night of 16/17 May, the Axis forces retaliated and two platoons of the 32nd Combat Sappers Battalion breached the barbed-wire entanglements and minefields guarding the S11, S13 and S15 posts. With the obstacles removed, the Brescia Division assaulted the defences using flame-thrower groups and tanks. The Commanding Officer of the 32nd Combat Sappers—Colonel Emilio Caizzo—was killed in a satchel attack on an Australian machine-gun position, an action which earned him a posthumous Gold Medal. An Italian narrative has recorded:

On the night on 16 May 1941, two platoons of the 3rd Combat Engineer Company in union with assault groups of the "Brescia" Infantry Division, which had been sent as reinforcements on the 11th of that month, initiated the attack. With total disregard to danger and usual stealthiness, the combat sappers opened three paths in the wire fencing in front of each assault group. They used explosive charges in tubes. Fighting side by side with the assaulters, in fierce hand-to-hand combat, they inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, and obtained the objective.

The Italian attackers then came under intense machine-gun fire — with the loss of officers, the attack faltered, and those who were not killed or taken prisoner were only able to retreat through the gaps in the wire with difficulty. Casualties to the attackers were heavy, and the next day the Australians rounded up 21 Italian prisoners and a number of weapons. A German attack against S8, S9 and S10 immediately to the south captured the three posts, but two of the posts were retaken by immediate Australian counterattacks. On the basis of a false report from a German prisoner, Major-General Leslie Morshead was furious and ordered the Australians to be far more vigilant in the future. A few days later, the third post was retaken in an Australian counter-attack.

On 2 August, in the belief that the enemy battalions had largely abandoned various post along the Salient, an attack was launched by a company of the 2/43rd Battalion and a company of the 2/28th Battalion from the town. The attack was skilfully planned and supported by more than 60 field guns, but the enemy infantry swiftly replied, and the attack failed with heavy loss of lives. This was the last Australian effort to recover the lost fortifications. Criticism has been levelled at General Morshead for the failure of the attack.