Battle of Bir Hakeim: Difference between revisions

The Battle of Bir Hakeim (May 26, 1942 - June 11, 1942) is a World War II battle following the Afrika Korps' 1942 campaign. It was fought between the German/Italian Panzer Army Africa and the 1st Free French Brigade. The German commander was Generaloberst Erwin Rommel and the French commander was General Marie Pierre Koenig. The Free French Brigade's 16 days resistance delayed the offensive (but see below) and gave the then retreating British Eighth Army enough time to escape from Rommel and regroup at El Alamein.

Bir Hakeim is located in eastern Libya around 90 kilometres south of Tobruk. The fort was blocking the advance of the Afrika Korps on its way to El Alamein.

The Germans attacked Bir Hakeim on May 26 1942. Over the next two weeks, the Luftwaffe flew 1,400 sorties against the defenses, whilst 4 German/Italian divisions attacked. On June 2, June 3, and June 5, the German forces requested that Koenig surrender; he refused and launched counterattacks with his Bren gun carriers. Despite the explosion of the defence's ammunition dump, the French continued to fight using ammunition brought in by British armored cars during the night. Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force dropped water and other supplies.

On June 9, the Eighth Army authorized a retreat and during the night of June 10/June 11 the defenders of Bir Hakeim split into small groups and escaped east after leaving the badly wounded to hold the lines.

Axis losses were heavy compared to the Free French. Despite 35,000 British surrendering in Tobruk to Navarinni's 30,000 troops on June 21, Rommel was delayed in his pursuit of the Eighth Army. He caught up at El Alamein, where the British had been reinforced with five fresh divisions (one of them armoured).

Rommel needed to eliminate this pocket of resistance. If Bir Hakeim had not held out, the routed Allied forces might not have regrouped to prevent Germany from seizing Egypt, and the strategically vital Suez Canal. The resistance at Bir Hakeim let the Allies bolster their defenses for the First Battle of El Alamein, and provided a much-needed boost to the morale of the Free French movement.

Units involved in the defending 1st Free French Brigade were:

• 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 13th Half- ('Demi-') Brigade (13 DBLE) of the Légion Étrangère (French Foreign Legion)
• 1st battalion of Fusiliers marins (naval fusiliers)
• 1st battalion of Infanterie de marine (marine infantry)

 Note: the Fusiliers marins, and the Infanterie de marine, execute separate and defined roles - 
held under a common command within the U.S. Marines 

• the Pacific battalion
• 2nd march battalion of Oubangui-Chari
• 1st Artillery Regiment
• 22nd North African company (6 sections)
• 1st company (engineers)
• signals company
• 101st transport company (mechanized unit of "Le Train": the distinct logistics Service of the French Land Army / 'Armee de terre')
• a light medical ambulance

• André Lalande
• Marie Pierre Koenig
• Pierre Messmer
• Erwin Rommel
• Susan Travers
• Walter Cowan
• Dimitri Amilakhvari
• Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné
• Major Felix Liebman

• Bir-Hakeim (Paris Métro)

• Article about the battle (in French)
• Fall of the Gazala Line
• Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons Official Report July 2, 1942

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