70th Anniversary of the Battle of Sidi Rezegh
Seventy years ago on 18th November 1941, British,
Indian, New Zealand and other Commonwealth Troops advanced from their positions
on the Egyptian-Libyan border into Cyrenaica to life the siege of Tobruk and
drive the Axis forces back towards Benghazi and beyond, as part of Operation
Crusader. The Vanguard of this force were the three Armoured Brigades of the
Desert Rats and what happened over the next few days on and around the airfield at
Sidi Rezegh south of Tobruk, between 20th and 22nd November 1941, is an epic story of the desert war, during which the
Desert Rats earned three Victoria Crosses,
a firm place in the history books and almost annihilation following the first
major tank battle of the desert war, involving three British Armoured Brigades
and supporting troops.
The actions at Sidi Rezegh in which the Division had been engaged can be summed up in the words of the Divisional Support Group’s War Diary written on 30th November 1941: "Thus the month ended. On more than one occasion it had seemed that the battle was lost, and fortune had visited both sides, but not to stay. This constant change of fortune was the chief feature of the whole battle. Indeed, even as the battle appeared, on the last day of November, to be favouring the Support Group, the New Zealand Division was being over-run on the littered, smoky field of Sidi Rezegh where the Support Group had experienced its most savage struggle of the war and had given as good as it got - as witness the German graves at the foot of "de Salis Ridge".
Following the bloody battles at Sidi Rezegh the Division continued to fight until relieved at the end of December 1941. To read the story of Sidi Rezegh and the rest of Operation Crusader please click here.