Tobruk, 21 November 1941: the besieged garrison's sortie

Since April 1941, the fortress of Tobruk, on the Cyrenaican coast, has held out against the siege by German-Italian forces. Cut off from the rest of Egypt, supplied with great difficulty by the Royal Navy during night runs harassed by the Luftwaffe, the garrison lives in a maze of trenches, concrete strongpoints, and anti-tank galleries. General Ronald Scobie's British 70th Division, supported by Polish and Indian elements, has relieved the Australian veterans who held the first months. Morale remains solid, but the men are exhausted by seven months of confinement, raids, and bombardment.

On the morning of 21 November, the distant rumble of artillery changes everything: the British Eighth Army has just launched Operation Crusader, an armoured thrust setting out from the Egyptian frontier to break the stranglehold. The theoretical objective is a link-up to the south-east of the perimeter, around the ridges of Sidi Rezegh, where a furious tank battle is already raging. For Scobie, the moment is decisive and uncertain: no one yet knows whether Rommel's corps will be pinned to the south or whether it will turn against one adversary or the other.

Three lines of reasoning clash in the commander's mind. Should he throw weakened troops forward to reach out to the liberators, at the risk of seeing them isolated if the offensive fails? Should he instead preserve the defensive cohesion so hard-won within the fortified perimeter? Or should he anticipate the worst and consider a withdrawal? The order awaits a reply.