On 22 December 1941, men of The Royal Tank Regiment pose on and around a Matilda tank, southwest of Gazala in Libya.

The men are said to have been fighting continuously in the desert for more than a month, but are still in a cheerful mood.

During the British Eighth Army's Operation Crusader, lack of supplies forced Rommel to shorten his lines of communication and on 7 December 1941, the Axis forces withdrew to the Gazala position and on 15 December began a withdrawal to El Agheila.

For ten days, the Axis forces withdrew to a line between Ajedabia and El Haseia, maintaining their lines of communication and avoiding being cut off, unlike the Italians in 1940–1941.

The mere presence of the British armour had prompted Rommel to withdraw from Gazala, but the opportunity for the British to gain a big victory had been missed.

Up to early 1942, in the war in North Africa, the Matilda proved highly effective against Italian and German tanks, although vulnerable to the larger calibre and medium calibre anti-tank guns.

Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Comments

Meet The Man Who Broke World Record By Sleeping With 57 Women In 24 Hrs But Later Rushed To Hospital

Meet The Man Who Broke World Record By Sleeping With 57 Women In 24 Hrs But Later Rushed To Hospital Meet a man who managed to make it to the Guinness book of records after breaking a long standing world record of sleeping with 57 women in a span of 24 hours. The 34 year old man hailed from Singapore and broke the record in Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, in an annual event run by a local brothel. According to reports, the unnamed man disclosed that he had been training hard for months to break the previous record which stood at 55 and he was delighted that he broke it. Quoting him, he said, “I've always been a bit of a sex addict, and when I learned that the brothel was having a world record attempt I knew I had to come and give it a go. I take it really seriously and train for it just like an athlete would prepare for a marathon. In some ways, it's actually much harder than a lot of professional sports.`` The Singapore man was very focused on his goal in that by mid...

Honoring Leo Henry Schweiter: Veteran of World War II, The Korean War and The Vietnam War

Honoring Leo Henry Schweiter: Veteran of World War II, The Korean War and The Vietnam War Leo Henry Schweiter was born in Wichita Kansas on April 16, 1917. Leo enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. He then transferred to the 101st Airborne Division. While serving as Captain and Assistant Chief of Staff G-2 Intelligence Officer Schweiter took part in the Normandy airborne landings on June 6, 1944. During this time he was knocked unconscious by a grenade blast. Captain Schweiter was subsequently captured by the Germans but released a day later upon their retreat. A veteran of Operation Market Garden, the Siege of Bastogne and the counter attack at Haguenau, Schweiter remained in service with the US Army after World War II. Leo Henry Schweiter would go on to serve with the 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War. In 1959 he was named Chief of Staff of the 8th Infantry Division and later became Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, Headquarters, in the XVIII Airborne Corps. During...

The Holocaust: 18. War Crimes

**The Holocaust: 18. War Crimes** G.M. Gilbert was one of the prison psychologists during the Nuremberg war crimes trial. On April 9, 1946 he had a brief conversation with Colonel Rudolph Hoess, who had been the commandant of Auschwitz. The following is an excerpt of his book *Nurember Diary*: We discussed briefly his activity as the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp from May, 1940, to December, 1943, which camp was the central extermination camp for Jews. He readily confirmed that approximately 2 1/2 million Jews had been exterminated under his direction. The exterminations began in the summer of 1941. In compliance with [Hermann] Goering's skepticism, I asked Hoess how it was technically possible to exterminate 2 1/2 million people. "Technicall?" he asked. "That wasn't so hard -- it would not have been hard to exterminate even greater numbers." In answer to my rather naive questions as to how many people could be done away with in an hour, et...

WORLD OF ALL

Search This Blog