Editing Erwin Rommel (section)

==== Siege of Tobruk ====
{{Main|Siege of Tobruk}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-783-0150-28, Nordafrika, Panzer III.jpg|thumb|Afrika Korps [[Panzer III]] drives past a vehicle burning in the desert, April 1941]]

The [[siege of Tobruk]] was not technically a siege, as the defenders were still able to move supplies and reinforcements into the city via the port.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=221}} Rommel knew that by capturing the port he could greatly reduce the length of his supply lines and increase his overall port capacity, which was insufficient even for day-to-day operations and only half that needed for offensive operations.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=258}} The city, which had been heavily fortified by the Italians during their 30-year occupation, was garrisoned by 36,000 Commonwealth troops,{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=221, 224}} commanded by Australian [[Lieutenant General]] [[Leslie Morshead]].{{sfn|Hoffman|2004|p=35}} Hoping to catch the defenders off-guard, Rommel launched a failed attack on 14 April.{{sfn|Fraser|1993|p=242}}

[[File:BattleaxeContestedArea.svg|thumb|Map of [[Halfaya Pass]] and surrounding area]]

Rommel requested reinforcements, but the OKW, then completing preparations for [[Operation Barbarossa]], refused.{{sfn|Hoffman|2004|p=39}} General [[Friedrich Paulus]], head of the Operations Branch of the OKH, arrived on 25 April to review the situation.{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=240–241}} He was present for a second failed attack on the city on 30 April. On 4 May, Paulus ordered that no further attempts should be made to take Tobruk via a direct assault.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=244}} Following a failed counter-attack in [[Operation Brevity]] in May,{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=250}} Wavell launched [[Operation Battleaxe]] on 15 June; this attack was also defeated.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=271}} The defeat resulted in Churchill replacing Wavell with General [[Claude Auchinleck]] as theatre commander.{{sfn|Lewin|1998|p=48}}

In August, Rommel was appointed commander of the newly created [[Panzer Army Africa]], with [[Fritz Bayerlein]] as his chief of staff.{{sfn|Lewin|1998|p=53}} The Afrika Korps, comprising the 15th Panzer Division and the 5th Light Division, now reinforced and redesignated 21st Panzer Division, was put under command of Generalleutnant [[Ludwig Crüwell]]. In addition to the Afrika Korps, Rommel's Panzer Group had the [[90th Light Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|90th Light Division]] and four Italian divisions, three infantry divisions investing Tobruk, and one holding Bardia. The two Italian armoured divisions, formed into the [[Italian XX Motorized Corps]] under the command of General [[Gastone Gambara]], were under Italian control.{{sfn|Lewin|1998|p=54}} Two months later Hitler decided he must have German officers in better control of the Mediterranean theatre, and appointed Field Marshal [[Albert Kesselring]] as Commander in Chief, South. Kesselring was ordered to get control of the air and sea between Africa and Italy.{{sfn|Lewin|1998|p=54}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-443-1599-20, Nordafrika, bei Bir Hacheim, feuernde Flak.2.jpg|thumb|Near Bir Hachiem [[8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41|8.8cm Flak 18 guns]] firing. Rommel's vehicle in the background]]

{{anchor|Operation Crusader}}Following his success in Battleaxe, Rommel returned his attention to the capture of Tobruk. He made preparations for a new offensive, to be launched between 15 and 20 November.{{sfn|Lewin|1998|p=57}} Meanwhile, Auchinleck reorganised Allied forces and strengthened them to two corps, [[XXX Corps (United Kingdom)|XXX]] and [[XIII Corps (United Kingdom)|XIII]], which formed the [[British Eighth Army]]. It was placed under the command of [[Alan Cunningham]].{{Sfn|Butler|2015|pp=292–293}} Auchinleck launched [[Operation Crusader]], a major offensive to relieve Tobruk, on 18 November 1941.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=294}} Rommel reluctantly decided on 20 November to call off his planned attack on Tobruk.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=295}}

<!--[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1982-0927-503, Bei El Agheila, Rommel bei italienischer Division.jpg|thumb|Rommel conversing with his staff near [[El Agheila]], 12 January 1942]]--->
In four days of heavy fighting, the Eighth Army lost 530 tanks and Rommel only 100.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=298}} Wanting to exploit the British halt and their apparent disorganisation, on 24 November Rommel counterattacked near the Egyptian border in an operation that became known as the "dash to the wire". Cunningham asked Auchinleck for permission to withdraw into Egypt, but Auchinleck refused and soon replaced Cunningham as commander of the Eighth Army with Major General [[Neil Ritchie]].{{sfn|Fraser|1993|pp=287–289}}{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=300–301}} The German counterattack stalled as it outran its supplies and met stiffening resistance, and was criticised by the German High Command and some of Rommel's staff officers.{{sfn|Fraser|1993|p=288}}

While Rommel drove into Egypt, the remaining Commonwealth forces east of Tobruk threatened the weak Axis lines there. Unable to reach Rommel for several days, Rommel's Chief of Staff, [[Siegfried Westphal]], ordered the 21st Panzer Division to withdraw to support the siege of Tobruk. On 27 November, the British attack on Tobruk linked up with the defenders, and Rommel, having suffered losses that could not easily be replaced, had to concentrate on regrouping the divisions that had attacked into Egypt. By 7 December, Rommel fell back to a defensive line at Gazala, just west of Tobruk, all the while under heavy attack from the [[Desert Air Force]].{{sfn|Fraser|1993|pp=291–293}} The Allies kept up the pressure, and Rommel was forced to retreat all the way back to the starting positions he had held in March, reaching [[El Agheila]] in December 1941.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=304}} The British had retaken almost all of Cyrenaica, but Rommel's retreat dramatically shortened his supply lines.{{sfn|Douglas-Home|1973|p=131}}