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#OTD in 1941 Eighth Army crossed the 'Wire' that marked the border between Egypt and Libya. It was the largest tank force the British Empire had ever assembled. 1/ @CedricMas @KarlJames_1945 @bermicourt @RoyalTankRegt @BritishArmy @robert_lyman https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/commonwealth-tank-numbers-for-operation-crusader/
But rather than smashing the Axis, over whom it had more than 2:1 tank superiority, tanks were dissipated and lost in many smaller and larger engagements over the next week. 2/ @Hutch_and_Sons @davne @DrBenWheatley @GeorgeMCR01 @militaryhistori @MrMirth https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/order-of-battle-of-7th-armoured-brigade-for-operation-crusader/
Brigades turned into regiments, regiments into squadrons. The brutal nature of attrition warfare asserted itself. 12 days later, only 84, or 20% of the tanks present on 17 Nov in 30 Corps remained operational - a nadir had been reached 3/ @ITM_archives https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/diary-of-composite-squadron-2-rtr-nemo-from-date-of-joining-4-armd-bde/
The Army was rescued by the naval/air interdiction campaign, which deprived the Axis forces of the means to continue the battle, and the @RoyalAirForce's success in the air battle, where it dominated over the fuel-/bomb-deprived Axis air forces 4/ @mike_bechthold @AlexFitzBlack
The cruiser tanks and armour theorists were rescued by the poor bloody infantry from New Zealand and India and the slow, slugging Matilda and Valentine tanks of 1 Army Tank Brigade. 5/ @StephenClarkeNZ https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/setting-the-record-straight-the-first-night-attack-by-tanks/
But it was the equally brutal campaign in the skies and waters of the Mediterranean that threw a lifeline to the Empire land forces, and forced the Axis to withdraw from the siege of #Tobruk on 4/5 Dec 6/ @ajcboyd @rjhammond215 @GershomG @SilenceInPolish https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2019/12/04/the-end-outside-tobruk-4-december-1941/
Operation CRUSADER was a multinational battle. Empire radio traffic was conducted at times in Afrikaans and Urdu, to confuse the Axis. German-speaking Poles infiltraded Axis lines, pretending to be the enemy. 7/ @SilenceInPolish @lukas_visek @KresySiberia https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/the-multinational-battle/
It was, by the standards of #WW2, a battle with few casualties, given the numbers involved and time it took. But nevertheless, over 9,000 men would meet their death, including the first US soldier killed in ground combat, Sgt. Delmer Parks. 8/ @pptsapper https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/the-first-us-army-soldier-to-die-in-ground-combat-in-ww2/
Despite losses and missed opportunities, Operation CRUSADER was an Empire victory. The first one in the war, and much needed. It showed the Axis, most importantly the Germans, could be beaten. 9/ @sommecourt https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/so-how-many-men-were-lost-in-the-battle/
CRUSADER marked, by a few days, the first check to German ambition on land. It would be dwarfed by what was to unfold in Russia while it was still underway, but nevertheless, a marker had been set. The extent of strategic overextension of Germany was now clear. 10/ @NavalHistWar
Despite what was to happen in the Far East, and certainly without knowing it at the time, CRUSADER was the end of the beginning. A relentless chain of seemingly easy victories had been broken. The seemingly undefeatable German war machine had been defeated. @smooreBofB1940 11/
The start of 1942 would see the fortunes of the Empire wane again, but this was temporary. In reality the Axis was not in a position to recover from the losses in infrastructure and shipping it had suffered in the campaign in late 1941. @garius @ReassessHistory @AeroGremlin 12/
The foundation for Germany's defeat had thus been laid onto the grounds of the desert outside Tobruk by the 118,000 men of Eighth Army, and marked in the waters and skies of the Mediterranean by the sailors and airmen of the Empire forces @FPozzar @FPComd @NavalAirHistory 11/ends
