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(April 23, 2021) This week, 80 years ago, the Siege of Tobruk was entering its third week. Before it was lifted, 241 days would pass. The garrison consisted of soldiers of the 9th Australian Division, together with an Indian cavalry brigade, commanded by Maj. Gen. Leslie Morshead, nicknamed, by his troops, âMing the Merciless.â Soon, the defenders would earn the sobriquet âRats of Tobruk,â courtesy of the traitorous Nazi radio announcer William Joyce, a/k/a âLord Haw-Haw.â Tobruk is in Libya, on the Mediterranean Sea, less than 80 miles from the Egyptian border. It is 288 miles east of Benghazi, 388 miles east of Agedabia and 630 miles east of Tripoli, by air. It probably has the best natural harbor in North Africa, which made it important for any Axis invasion of Egypt from Libya. The city currently has a population of 120,000. ....
(Feb. 5, 2021) This week, 80 years ago, Commonwealth Forces completed the destruction of the remnants of the Italian Tenth Army at Beda Fomm in Libya. Beda Fomm, is in the province of Cyrenaica, which is the eastern most of the three Libyan provinces, and borders on Egypt in the east. Beda Fomm was near the coast in the west of the province, east of the Gulf of Sirte and south of Jebel Akhdar, which was a raised area with plenty of water and vegetation. By this time, the Tenth Army had been driven out of Egypt and out of most of Cyrenaica. The Governor-Gen. of Libya, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, on Feb. 1, 1941, decided to abandon Cyrenaica and concentrate his forces for the defense of the western-most Libyan province of Tripolitania, and the colonyâs capital of Tripoli. ....
The next stop was Derna, a small port 90 miles west of Tobruk on the Mediterranean. The commander of Dernaâs defenses was Lt.-Gen. Annibale Bergonzoli who had escaped, first from Sidi Barrani to Bardia, then to Tobruk, and now to Derna. Because of his beard, Gen. Bergonzoli was known as âBarba Elettricaâ (âElectric Beardâ). Barba Elettrica had commanded the Littorio Division in the Spanish Civil War, and in the recent invasion of Egypt, was commander of the XXIII Corps. At the time, Derna had a population of about 10,000. Today, its population tops 100,000. The city is located at the eastern end of Jebel Akhdar (âGreen Mountainâ), making it the rare forested area in Libya. There has been a city at that site for more than 2,000 years. ....