Crisis at Knightsbridge DTO (id:#61016)

(Afrikakorps - AK007 Battle of Gazala ID: AK 57)   [next]   [previous]

South of Bir Lefa, Libya 1942-06-12 (4 others)

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Overview:

Even though an almost unbroken series of mistakes and defeats had befallen the British since the Gazala battles had begun on the 27th of May, on the morning of the 11th of June neither side could honestly be said to have possessed a decisive superiority. Both the Axis and the British forces had suffered severe casualties, the Germans most importantly in infantry and the British in armor, but both sides were relatively the same strength, especially where the most powerful armored forces lay facing each other – at Knightsbridge. The British decided to attack the 15th Panzer Division on the next day, the 12th of June, and to allow for this, the 2nd Armoured Brigade joined the 4th Armoured Brigade. But a confusion in orders compelled the two armored brigades to halt and wait for orders in a position south of Bir Lefa. Rommel immediately seized the opportunity and struck the stopped British tanks with the 15th Panzer Division from the south and the 21st Panzer Division from the northwest. The result was reported succinctly in the British Official History as having “disastrous consequences for the British”. . .

Defender: British (2nd Armoured Brigade)  

Errata (source)