World War II - Tobruk

The wars of North Africa are thought to have been part of the campaign to control the Suez Canal. Libya was the stage on which a number of crucial World War Two battles were exercised; the most famous of which is the Battle of Tobruk.

Tobruk is located about 250 miles east of Benghazi city in the region of Barka (Barqa) or Cyrenaica. Relics of Rommel’s army's military machinery and cemeteries of European soldiers continue to receive visitors from England, Germany, France, Italy and Australia.

The wars began as early as October 1935 when Italy invaded Ethiopia; leading Egypt to grant Britain the permission to bring in large forces into the country. When Germany invaded France in June 1940, Benito Mussolini joined in and declared war on Britain and France, and then managed to invade Egypt in September 1940. On September 13, 1940, Italy's Graziani moved into Egypt. Fearing a German invasion, the British were in no immediate rush to counter the Italian move. But after additional 126,000 Commonwealth troops arrived in Egypt from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and India, the Western Desert Force attacked the Italians at Sidi Barrani; eventually leading the British to push the Italian Tenth Army out of Egypt, and to finally score a major victory at Bardia, and subsequently took Tobruk. By February 1941, the Italian Tenth Army surrendered and Libyan Cyrenaica fell to the British.

In March, the Axis forces, under the command of the German general Erwin Rommel, attacked Cyrenaica and cut off the British troops at Tobruk; only to be regained by the British Eighth Army commander general Claude Auchinleck in November. As is the nature of conflict, Rommel took Cyrenaica again, and continued to Egypt, only to be halted at al Alamein, 100 kilometres from Alexandria. In October the Eighth Army, this time under the command of general Bernard Montgomery, broke through the Axis lines at al Alamein, and the capture of Cyrenaica was completed for the second time, again in November.  By mid-February, the last Axis troops had been driven out of Libya. However, the Germans returned and took Tobruk on June 2, 1942, and Rommel was promoted to Field Marshall by Hitler. General Montgomery fought back and recaptured Tobruk on November 13, 1942.

The World War Two cemeteries you can visit in Tobruk include the Allied Cemetery, the French Cemetery, Knightsbridge Cemetery and the German Cemetery, the latter of which is located inside a castle, with the names of DAK soldiers killed in the wars inscribed on its surrounding walls. The Commonwealth Cemetery is the home of many British, Australian, New Zealand, South African, Polish, Czech, Canadian, French and Greek graves. There are also some monuments, like the Australian obelisk, the Stone of Remembrance, and the Graves of the Polish SBSK (Samodzielna Brygada Strzelcow Karpackich) Brigade.

The remains of the war machinery on display in Tobruk include the Lady Be Good, the American plane which crash-landed in the Libyan desert, cannons, tanks, a system of concrete trenches left by the Italians, and not to count how many land mines left behind, some of which still are a source of worry to the local people of Tobruk and the surrounding areas.