A note on brevity

[ckissick]

Keep posts short.

[Gogar]

+1

[DARISC]

...

[trekkor]

I almost always do...


KT

[sc_rufctr]

succinctness

[Steve Carlton]

Y?

[DARISC]

Always abreviate........

Why is abreviate such a long...fkng...word?

[Sapporo Guy]

K


lo2, loks Im win'g

[HHI944]

Originally Posted by DARISC

Always abreviate........

Why is abreviate such a long...fkng...word?

Even longer when spelled correctly.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by Sapporo Guy

K

lo2, loks Im win'g

No - c thrd kllr - u b tied.

Bgls+loks? chkn win'g?

..

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by HHI944

Even longer when spelled correctly.

Mispelt 4 brevity.

[Sapporo Guy]

Bgls+loks? chkn win'g?

Just ate a bagel today

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by Sapporo Guy

Just ate a bagel today

8 (b brief...pls)

[Gogar]

I am so frickin' subscribing to this thread you can't frickin believe it.

[9dreizig]

so size matters ??

[Dave L]

Lolwtfbbq!!!!!!!!

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Gogar

I am so frickin' subscribing to this thread you can't frickin believe it.

f'ing would have been more brevious than frickin'...

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

f'ing would have been more brevious than frickin'...

F'n b breviouser even more yet.

[stealthn]

O k
Y?

[sammyg2]

roger wilko.

Operation Brevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, General Archibald Wavell, Brevity was intended to be a rapid blow against weak Axis front-line forces in the Sollum–Capuzzo–Bardia area of the border between Egypt and Libya. Although the operation got off to a promising start, throwing the Axis high command into confusion, most of its early gains were lost to local counterattacks, and with German reinforcements being rushed to the front the operation was called off after a day.

Egypt had been invaded by Libyan-based Italian forces in September 1940, but by February of the following year a British counter-offensive had advanced well into Libya, destroying the Italian Tenth Army in the process. British attention then shifted to Greece, which was under the threat of Axis invasion; while Allied divisions were being diverted from North Africa, the Italians were being reinforced with the German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel. Rapidly taking the offensive against his distracted and over-stretched opponent, by April 1941 Rommel had driven the British and Commonwealth forces in Cyrenaica back across the Egyptian border. Although the battlefront now lay in the border area, the port city of Tobruk—100 miles (160 km) inside Libya—had resisted the Axis advance, and its substantial Australian and British garrison constituted a significant threat to Rommel's lengthy supply chain. He therefore committed his main strength to besieging the city, leaving the front line only thinly held.

Wavell defined Operation Brevity's main objectives as the acquisition of territory from which to launch a further planned offensive towards Tobruk, and the depletion of German and Italian forces in the region. With limited battle-ready units to draw on in the wake of Rommel's recent successes, on 15 May Brigadier William Gott attacked in three columns with a mixed infantry and armoured force. The strategically important Halfaya Pass was taken against stiff Italian opposition, and deeper inside Libya Fort Capuzzo was captured, but German counterattacks regained the fort during the afternoon causing heavy casualties amongst its defenders. Gott, concerned that his forces were in danger of being caught by German armour in open ground, conducted a staged withdrawal to the Halfaya Pass during 16 May, and Brevity was closed down. The importance of the Halfaya Pass as a safe supply route was highlighted to Rommel, and eleven days later it was recaptured by a German unit.

[edit] Background

In early September 1940, Italian forces based in Libya invaded Egypt, and three months later the British and Commonwealth troops of the Western Desert Force began a counter-offensive, codenamed Operation Compass. In two months the Allies advanced 500 miles (800 km), occupying the Italian province of Cyrenaica and destroying the Italian Tenth Army, but the operation was halted in February 1941 to give priority to the Battle of Greece.[4] Renamed XIII Corps[5] and reorganised under HQ Cyrenaica Command, the troops of the former Western Desert Force adopted a defensive posture. Over the next few months HQ Cyrenaica lost its commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, and the New Zealand 2nd and Australian 6th infantry divisions when they were redeployed to Greece. The British 7th Armoured Division, with virtually no serviceable tanks left after Compass, was also withdrawn and sent to the Nile Delta for rest and refitting.[6][7] In recompense, Wilson was replaced by Lieutenant-General Philip Neame and the British 2nd Armoured and Australian 9th Infantry divisions were deployed to Cyrenaica, but both formations were inexperienced, ill-equipped, and in the case of the 2nd Armoured, under strength.[8][9]
A four-wheeled armoured car, faces to the right, on a stony-desert backdrop.
British Marmon-Herrington Mk II armoured car, as operated by the 11th Hussars

The Italians responded by despatching their Ariete and Trento divisions to North Africa,[10] and beginning in February 1941 and continuing until early May, Operation Sonnenblume saw the German Afrika Korps arrive in Tripoli to reinforce their Italian allies. Commanded by General Erwin Rommel and consisting of the 5th Light and 15th Panzer divisions, the Afrika Korp's mission was to block Allied attempts to drive the Italians out of the region. However, Rommel seized on the weakness of his opponents and, without waiting for his forces to fully assemble, rapidly went on the offensive.[11][12] During March and April he destroyed the 2nd Armoured Division and forced the British and Commonwealth forces into retreat.[nb 1][14] Adding to the Allied discomfiture, Neame and the General Officer Commanding British Troops Egypt, Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor, were captured, and the British and Commonwealth command structure had to be reorganised. HQ Cyrenaica was dissolved on 14 April and its command functions taken over by the reactivated HQ Western Desert Force under Lieutenant-General Noel Beresford-Peirse. The Australian 9th Infantry Division fell back to the fortress port of Tobruk,[15] and the remaining British and Commonwealth forces withdrew a further 100 miles (160 km) east to Sollum on the Libyan–Egyptian border.[16] With Tobruk under siege from the main German-Italian force, a small battlegroup (Kampfgruppe) commanded by Maximilian von Herff continued to press eastwards. Capturing Fort Capuzzo and Bardia in passing, it then advanced into Egypt, and by the end of April had taken Sollum and the tactically important Halfaya Pass. Rommel garrisoned these positions, reinforcing the battlegroup and ordering it onto the defensive.[1][17]

Tobruk's garrison, although isolated by land, continued to receive supplies and support from the Royal Navy, and Rommel was unable to take the port. This failure was significant; his front line positions at Sollum were at the end of an extended supply chain that stretched back to Tripoli and was threatened by the Tobruk garrison,[18] and the substantial commitment required to invest Tobruk prevented him from building up his forces at Sollum, making further advances into Egypt impractical.[nb 2][20][21] By maintaining possession of Tobruk, the Allies had regained the initiative.[21]
[edit] Preparations for battle
Further information: Operation Brevity order of battle
A coloured map showing the immediate area where the battle was fought; black dots represent key towns and villages, several white lines represent the main roads while dotted lines represent the desert tracks.
The battlefield over which Operation Brevity was fought

General Archibald Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, conceived Operation Brevity as a rapid blow in the Sollum area. Wavell intended to create advantageous conditions from which to launch Operation Battleaxe, the main offensive that he was planning for June. Operation Brevity's primary objectives were to recapture the Halfaya Pass, to drive the enemy from the Sollum and Capuzzo areas, and to deplete Rommel's forces. A secondary objective was to advance towards Tobruk, although only as far as supplies would allow, and without risking the force committed to the operation.[22][23]
[edit] Allied force

Operation Brevity would be carried out by the 22nd Guards Brigade and elements of the 7th Armoured Division. Its armoured component consisted of 29 cruiser tanks of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR) and 24 infantry tanks of the 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4RTR).[nb 3] The Royal Air Force (RAF) allocated all available fighters and a small force of bombers to the operation.[25][26]

Brigadier William Gott, in command of all Allied front-line forces since the retreat, was to lead the operation in the field, and his plan was to advance in three parallel columns.[1] On the desert flank to the south, the 7th Armoured Brigade group was to move 30 miles (48 km) from Bir el Khireigat to Sidi Azeiz destroying any opposition encountered en route. This group included three small mobile forces ("Jock columns") of the 7th Support Group, the cruiser tanks of 2RTR, and the armoured cars of the 11th Hussars, whose task was to patrol the open desert on the left flank and monitor the Sidi Azeiz–Bardia road.[27] In the centre, the 22nd Guards Brigade group was to clear the top of the Halfaya Pass, secure Bir Wair, Musaid, and Fort Capuzzo, and conduct a company-sized probe towards Bardia. The group included the infantry battalions of the 1st Durham Light Infantry and 2nd Scots Guards, and the infantry tanks of 4RTR.[1][28] In the north, the "coast group" was to advance along the coast road, capturing the lower Halfaya Pass, Sollum barracks, and the town of Sollum. The group included elements of the 2nd Battalion The Rifle Brigade, and the 8th Field Regiment Royal Artillery.[1]
[edit] Axis force

The principle Axis opposition was Kampfgruppe von Herff, positioned on the desert plateau. It included 30–50 tanks of the 2nd Battalion Panzer Regiment 5, an Italian motorised infantry battalion of the Trento division, and supporting arms. The frontline area around Halfaya Pass was defended by two companies of Bersaglieri—well trained Italian motorised infantry—with artillery support.[1][29]