The Probert Encyclopaedia of Warfare

BATTLE OF GAZALA

The Battle of Gazala was a German victory over British forces in North Africa during May and June 1942. It was the most severe defeat inflicted on the British during the entire desert campaign of the Second World War. Field Marshal Rommel launched a powerful surprise attack on Gazala on the 26th and 27th of May 1942, but the British fought back well and trapped him between a minefield and their own defensive 'box'. Rommel was contemplating surrender until the Italian Trieste Division managed to open a route through the minefield and get a supply column to him. Indecision and arguments in British headquarters also helped and he broke out of the Cauldron on the 1st of June and overwhelmed the British 'box'. He pushed on toward Tobruk, defeating several British units, and the British were forced to abandon their positions and fall back to the El Alamein line in Egypt.
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