Operation Skorpion
Operation Scorpion/Unternehmen Skorpion | |||||||||
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Part of the Second World War | |||||||||
The area of fighting from 24 March – 17 June 1941 | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
United Kingdom | Germany | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
William Gott | Maximilian von Herff | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Infantry battalion and supporting arms | Kampfgruppe von Herff | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
173 men 12 guns 5 Infantry tanks |
Operation Skorpion (Unternehmen Skorpion) from 26 to 27 May 1941, was a military operation during the
Skorpion pushed the British out of Halfaya Pass and forced them to retire to the area from Buq Buq to Sofafi. The Germans and Italians fortified the pass and built other strong points back towards Sidi Azeiz as tank killing zones, ready to meet another British attack. The British continued with preparations for
Background
Unternehmen Sonnenblume
After the British victory over the
Halfaya Pass
The
Prelude
Operation Brevity
Operation Brevity (15–16 May) was a limited British offensive, planned as a rapid blow against weak
Halfaya Pass was taken against determined Italian opposition and in Libya, the British captured Fort Capuzzo but German counter-attacks regained the fort during the afternoon, causing many casualties among the defenders. The operation had begun well and had thrown the Axis commanders into confusion but most of its early gains were lost to counter-attacks and with German reinforcements arriving from Tobruk, the operation was called off. Gott became concerned that his forces risked being caught in the open by German tanks and conducted a staged withdrawal to the Halfaya Pass on 16 May.[5]
Plan
Unternehmen Skorpion was intended to recapture Halfaya Pass by a demonstration on a wide front, bluffing the British into a withdrawal. On the frontier, Kampfgruppe von Herff (Oberst
Battle
During the evening of 26 May, Kampfgruppe von Herff assembled on the coast at the foot of Halfaya Pass. The kampfgruppe attacked the next morning, intending to bluff the British into retiring from the plateau above the escarpment. A panzer battalion west of Fort Capuzzo manoeuvred as a decoy, to give the British the impression that an outflanking move was under way on the desert flank.[7][8][9] Only Gruppe Bach encountered opposition and in the afternoon, Herff ordered the tanks of Gruppe Cramer to move northwards to defeat the British at Halfaya. The move took place during the night and at dawn on 27 May, Gruppe Knabe attacked the head of the pass, Gruppe Bach attacked the foot and the panzers appeared at the top of the escarpment and bombarded the coastal plain. The commander of the nine 4th RTR tanks at Halfaya ordered an advance to engage the German tanks and during the morning, Gott authorised a withdrawal. Moubray managed to extricate the battalion, although some Guards were captured at the bottom of the pass by Gruppe Bach.[10] There were no British forces near enough to reinforce and the pass was re-occupied by Axis troops.[11]
Aftermath
Analysis
The Axis victories during Operation Brevity and Unternehmen Skorpion were a consequence of the technical superiority of some German equipment, particularly in anti-tank guns and wireless. German field intelligence gleaned and exploited quickly, tactically useful information from British wireless signals and captured documents. British intelligence had the advantage of Ultra decrypts, particularly from Luftwaffe signals but the time taken to send the information from England to Cairo and then deliver it to the commanders on the frontier, made much of it obsolete, even when it contained useful tactical information. Rommel was able secretly and rapidly to reinforce the frontier posts from Tobruk when Operation Brevity began and then spring the surprise at Halfaya Pass on 27 May.[12] (The garrison at Tobruk had made two small raids during Operation Brevity but the commander had not been informed of the operation until 17 May.)[13]
Casualties
British casualties were 173 men, four 25-pounder field guns, eight 2-pounder anti-tank guns and five Infantry tanks.[9] Herff reported that forty prisoners, nine 25-pounder field guns, seven Matilda tanks and two other tanks had been captured.[14]
Tiger Convoy
On 12 May, the Tiger convoy arrived in
Subsequent operations
Axis defensive preparations
After the re-capture of Halfaya Pass, the Axis forces fortified the Gazala line and the siege lines around Tobruk in Libya. The 5th Light Afrika Division was withdrawn on 8 June, to refit at El Adem near Tobruk and replaced on the frontier with the
Six strong points were built in which 88 mm guns and 50 mm anti-tank guns were dug in down to their barrels, camouflaged and organised for all-round defence. Even with a relatively small force on the frontier, supply difficulties made stocking the defences with water, fuel and ammunition difficult.
Operation Battleaxe
On 15 June, the Axis garrisons of Halfaya Pass, Bardia, Sollum, Capuzzo and Sidi Aziez were to be destroyed by
On 17 June, XIII Corps was ordered to retire before the 22nd Guards Brigade was trapped; by dark, the British had withdrawn to the area of Sidi Barrani–Sofafi and the Axis troops had returned to their positions on the frontier. The British suffered 969 casualties, 27 of the 90 Cruiser tanks and 64 of the 100 Infantry tanks which had started the operation. German casualties were 678 men, 12 tanks destroyed, about 50 damaged (excluding vehicles repaired during the battle) and ten aircraft. British troops captured about 350 Italians but let most go when they withdrew. On 1 July, Wavell was sacked and replaced by General
See also
- North African campaign timeline
- List of World War II Battles
- List of German military equipment of World War II
- List of British military equipment of World War II
Notes
- ^ Panzer Regiment 8 (two battalions), Reconnaissance Unit 33, I Battery, Artillery Regiment 33, I Battalion, Motorised Infantry Regiment 104, Panzerjäger (tank hunter) Battalion 33 (twenty-one 37 mm and twelve 50 mm PAK 38 anti-tank guns), Motor-cycle Battalion 15, an anti-aircraft battery (with thirteen 88 mm guns three Italian infantry battalions and three Italian field artillery batteries).[17]
Footnotes
- ^ a b Playfair et al. 2004, pp. 35–36.
- ^ Playfair et al. 2004, pp. 29–35.
- ^ Playfair et al. 1957, pp. 115–116.
- ^ Howard & Sparrow 1951, p. 77.
- ^ a b c Playfair et al. 2004, pp. 159–163.
- ^ Maughan 1966, pp. 274–275.
- ^ Lyman 2009, pp. 184–185.
- ^ Rommel 1982, p. 137.
- ^ a b Playfair et al. 2004, p. 163.
- ^ Maughan 1966, p. 275.
- ^ Playfair et al. 2004, pp. 162–163.
- ^ Hinsley 1994, pp. 78–79.
- ^ a b c Harrison 1999, p. 135.
- ^ Lyman 2009, p. 185.
- ^ Playfair et al. 2004, p. 118–119.
- ^ Pitt 2001, p. 294.
- ^ a b c Playfair et al. 2004, p. 164.
- ^ Playfair et al. 1957, pp. 1–2, 32, 163–164.
- ^ a b Pitt 2001, p. 277.
- ^ Lewin 1979, p. 69.
- ^ Playfair et al. 2004, pp. 162, 164.
- ^ Pitt 2001, p. 295.
- ^ Hinsley 1994, p. 79.
- ^ Playfair et al. 2004, p. 168.
- ^ Playfair et al. 2004, pp. 171, 316.
References
- Harrison, F. (1999) [1996]. Tobruk: The Great Siege Reassessed (Brockhampton Press ed.). London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-1-86019-986-8.
- Hinsley, F. H. (1994) [1993]. British Intelligence in the Second World War. Its influence on Strategy and Operations. History of the Second World War (2nd rev. abr. ed.). London: ISBN 978-0-11-630961-7.
- Howard, M.; Sparrow, J. (1951). The Coldstream Guards, 1920–1946. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 9151069.
- ISBN 978-0-552-10921-5.
- Lyman, R. (2009). The Longest Siege: Tobruk, the Battle that Saved North Africa. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-71024-5.
- Maughan, B. (1966). Tobruk and El Alamein. Official History of Australia in the Second World War Series 1 (Army). Vol. III (online scan ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 954993.
- Pitt, B. (2001) [1980]. The Crucible of War: Wavell's Command. Vol. I (Cassell ed.). London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-304-35950-9– via Archive Foundation.
- ISBN 978-1-84574-065-8.
- Playfair, I. S. O.; et al. (2004) [1956]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Germans come to the help of their Ally (1941). History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. II (facs. pbk. repr. Naval & Military Press ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-1-84574-066-5.
- ISBN 978-0-306-80157-0.
Further reading
- Dando, N. (2014). The Impact of Terrain on British Operations and Doctrine in North Africa 1940–1943 (PhD). Plymouth University. OCLC 885436735. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- Jentz, T. L. (1998). Tank Combat in North Africa: The Opening Rounds, Operations Sonnenblume, Brevity, Skorpion and Battleaxe, February 1941 – June 1941. Atglen, PN: Schiffer. LCCN 97-80326.