BA TTLES FOR TOBRUK

Rules and Reference

CONTENTS
Introduction ................... .............. 3
The Course of Play ...................... 3
Lea rning to Play ........................... 3
Starting ............................... .. .. .. 3
The Strat egic Maps ...................... 3
The Tactical Map ....................... .4
Moving The Cursor. .................... .4
Giving Orders ... ......... .... ... ......... .4
Other Keys ........... ........... ........ 5
Ending the Turn.. . ............. 5
The Allied Turn... . ............. 5
Resolution... . ................... 5
Tum Review ........... ... ............... 5
Options ................. .................... 5
Necessary Information .................. 6
Game Cont ents ............. ...... . .... 6
Warranty .... .. ........................ ..... 6
Pre-Game Options .. .. .... ....... .. .. .. ... . 6
Maps and Tables ........ 7
The Strategic Maps ....................... 8
The Terrain Map ......................... 8
The Both Sides Map ..................... 8
One Side Maps ........................... 8
Changing Maps ........................... 8
The Tactical Map .......................... 8
Unit s ........ .......... ..... .. .. .. .. .. ... . . 9
Terrain ............ . ... .. ................. 9
The Cursor ........................... .... 9
The Informational Displays ............ 9
The Corps Tables ...... .................. 10
The Cursor ............................... IO
Units ...................................... 10
The Unit Di splay ..................... .. 11
The Mode Li ne .. ............... .. .... 11
Cursor Monmen! & Pkking Up Units ... 11
Order-s ................... ................. ... 12
Movement ................................ 12
Defend .................................... 13
Regroup ...................... 13
Canceling Orders.... ... 14
Reviewing Orders........... .. 14
Finding Unit s With No Orders ...... 14
Other Keys ...... ........................ 14
Quilting The Turn ........... 14
Rcsolving t he Tur n ..................... 14
Movement. ............... . 14
Combat. .................................. 15
Anti Tank and Conventional Firc ... 16
Defend .................................... 17
Regroup...... ......... ............ 17
Turn Review.................. . .... 17
Visibility ...... .................... ........ 18
Terrain . ............... .18
fortifications .............................. 18
Minefields ................................. 18
Cllsualti es ....... ............................ 19
l\1orale ..................................... 19
Fati gue .................................... 19
Night ............... ........ . ......... 20
Supply ....... ... ........... . ..... 20
Headquarters.... ........ . ..... 20
Supply Transfer. ............. . ..... 20
Supply Distribution ..................... 22
Suppl y Consumption............ .22
Supply Condi tion ..................... 23
Airplanes ... ................. .23
Squadrons 23
Sorties... .... ..... ....... . ... 23
Bombing ..... ............... . ....... 25
Aircraft Losses .......................... 25
f ree Setup ...... ........................... 25
ReinfoN:ementsilnaetive Units ........ 26
Victory .................................... 26
After the Game............... . .. 27
Mid-Game Options .................. ..27
Disk Operations ......................... 27
Changing Options ....................... 27
Returning to the Currenl Game ...... 27
The Joystick ............................... 28
The Computer as Player ............... 28
Program Messages ..................... 28
Rommel: Battles for Tobruk
Copyright 1986 by Game Designers' Workshop. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
Credits
Research and Design: Frank Chadwick.
Programming and Anificiallntelligence: Worlds to Conquer, Inc. (Sleven Hokanson
and Bemard K. DehmeJt).
Development: John Harshman and Worlds 10 Conquer.
Playtesling: Stephen Ambruzs, Jerry Barker, Alan Chiras, Louis Desy, Ari on Harris,
Gordon Larsen. Chris Many William Neumann, Frank Snead.
Art Director: Barbie Pratt.
Box COl'er Illustrator: David Deitrick.
Introduction
This game is a detailed simulation of
four World War II batt les, fought between
the German Pall zerarmee Afrika and the
Bri tish 8th Army over control of the
strategic North African port of Tobru k.
Each player takes the role of one of the
two sides' commanding generals and. wit h
thc same forces and limitations of the
hi storical general s. tries 10 defeat thc op-
posing army.
TUE COURSE 0.' PLA Y
Each battlc scenario in Rommel consists
of a series of turns, each representing onc
day; each turn is funher dividcd inlO 12 im-
pul ses. The game is played on a map of
North Africa. divi ded into hexagonal cells
(hexes). Each hex represents an area about
5 mil es across. The armies consist of a
number of military unit s (battalions.
regiment s. and brigades), each wi th up to
2000 men or 70 tanks. The game may be
played with two players or solitaire. with
the computer tak ing ei ther side .
The turn has four pans:
I . The Axi s playe r gives orders to hi s
uni ts. one unit at a time. ordering them to
move. assault. regroup. and so on.
2. The Allied player gives orders to his
units.
3. The computer executes both sides'
orders. movi ng all uni ts simultaneously and
resol vi ng battl es as they occur.
4 . The computer displays a review of
the tu rn. showing both players what hap.
pened during the turn.
After the tum review. the next tum stuns.
rMPORTANT: HOW TO LEARN THE GAME
You don't have to read this entire rules book in order to play the game. First. read
and follow the instructions in the section below enti tled Leaming to Pia),. You should
then be able to play by referring to the player reference card. The main body of the
rul es should be needed onl y for occasional reference.
Learning to Play
This section is a shon. hands-on in-
troduction 10 Rommel. guiding you through
one turn of Ihe game.
STARTING
Fi rst. load the program as described on
the sheet of loading instructions . Duri ng
loading. you will see the pre-game options
screen. This screen all ows you to change
several featu res of the game. For this
demonstration. however. we won't change
anything. Just follow the
instructions on the loading sheet to continue
loadi ng the game. When the game is load-
ed, turn I is ready to be played.
STRATEGIC MAPS
As you can see at the top of the screen.
it is now May 15 and the Axi s first turn.
You are looki ng at one of the strategic
maps. of which there are four. The strategic
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maps are reduced verSions of the tactical
map. which is too big to fit on a single
screen. Each hex of the map is represented
as a small rectangle of color. This is the
terrain map. showi ng clear terrain (dark
brown). rough terrain and hill s (light
brown). the coastal road (yellow). and sea
and impassable terrai n (blue). (You may
want to adjust your set' s color. ) The white
box is the cursor.
The various lines of text will be di scussed
later.
Other Strategic Maps: Press @ once
to gel to anOlher map. This is the Allied
forces map. showing all Allied unit s (in
blue) plus the map's terrain features (but
nOI the roads). Pressing @ once more
gives the both sides map. showing All ied
and Axi s (i n gray) units. One more @
gives the Axis f orces map. and one more
@ returns to the tumin map.
You can use the strategic maps to look
at units and gain information. but not to
give o rders.
THE TACTICAL MAP
Now change to the tactical map with (!l
(You can get back to the strategic maps with
0 .) What you now see is only a small part
of the map. You can scroll the map by try-
ing to move the cursor off the edge (see
below).
The map shows several types of terrain:
clear, rough, hill s, roads, tracks , sea, im-
passable, fortifications, escarpments. and
cli ffs . Axis units are gray symbols; Allied
units are blue symbols . The white cross is
the cursor. See the reference card for the
various terrain and unit type symbols.
On the top of the map (just below the tum
information) is a line giving the side cur-
rent ly winning (Axis) and the score (0),
your side's "runners" (operational ar-
mored vehicles; you have 170), and the
cursor's location (Sidi Azeiz); the cu rsor
location is given by place name for import-
ant locations; otherwise it is given by col-
umn and row number.
Below the map are several lines which
give information on all units in the cursor's
hex. There is space for information on four
units. although there is only one unit in this
hex. the H/5 Panzer Battalion. From left to
right, the informat ion given is the unit's
identification: corps HQ (GH for this par-
ticular unit). division (5L), and unit (lI/5);
its unit type (pnz); its current number of
men or (for armored units) armored
vehicles and the casualties it has lost (40/0);
its number of artillery pieces (0); its number
of anti-tank guns (0): and its morale (E).
fatigue, and supply levels. (There is no in-
formation under fatigue and supply levels;
these options are turned off.)
Below that is a line showi ng the terrain
of the hex (clear) and a line for error
messages and prompts (now blank).
MOVING THE CURSOR
You can move the cursor with either of
the di rectional rosettes. one around CD and
one See the reference card. For
example. U moves the cursor up (due
west). and I moves it northwest. Try
moving the cursor around for a while and
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explore the map. The hex location in the
upper right changes as you move. When
you move the cursor within one hex of the
edge of the screen. the map scrolls.
GIVING ORDERS
To give a unit orders. you first have to
pick it up. You pick'!. the top unit in a
hex by pressing () Pressing the key
again drops the unit and picks up the next
unit in the hex (if any). Move the cursor
to a hex. with an Axis unit and try this.
When a unit is picked up, its information
line changes to reverse video, the cursor
changes to the unit's symbol . and two new
messages appear: the unit' s current mode
and the time (number of impulses) remain-
ing in its turn.
There are 5 modes. or types of orders;
to putlhe unit into a particular mode, press
a key from 4 to 8. See the reference card
for a list of modes. Pl acing a unit in de-
fe nd or regroup mode const itutes an order;
in other modes, you have to move the unit
to make an order. Each order subt racts I
or more impulses from the unit"s remain-
ing time.
Movement: There are three modes used
in movement: adl'ance (@) , march (@),
and assault <@) . March mode is fast. but
will get you into trouble if you run into
enemy units. Advance mode is slower but
safer; if you bump into enemy units. you
automatically auack them. Assaull mode is
used to make prepared attacks on an enemy
position; units move slowly in assault mode
but make determined attacks. To give a
moveme nt order. place the unit in one of
the modes and move the cursor in the
desired direction. Try it: pick up an Axis
uni t (0 ). put it in march mode <@ . and
move it west (@ ). Not ice that some time
has been removed from its time left: the ex-
act amount depends on the terrain entered.
Defend and Regroup: Putting a unit in
defend mode, (0 ). takes I impulse. It
gives the unit an all-around defense abi lity
and is helpful for holding fortifications.
minefields. and airfields. Putting a unit in
regroup mode. (@ ). takes 6 impulses. It
allows the unit 10 recover some of its
casualties aod to improve its morale.
Derault Modes: To save you time in
changing modes, uni ts stan the turn in ad-
vance mode. During resolution. however,
any time remaining without orders is spent
in defend mode; for example, if after orders
a unit has a time remaining of3, it spends
the last 3 impulses of the turn in defend
mode. If you want a unit to defeod for the
entire !Urn. don' t give it any orders at all.
OTHER KEYS
There are several keys to hel p make it
easier to give orders.
Canceling Orders: Pressing cancels
the last order of the unit which is picked
up. ( SPACE) cancels all the orders of the
unit picked up. I CTRL} cancel s all
orders for all units; because this is so
drastic. the computer asks you to confirm
your intentions.
Go Back: Pressi ng @ drops the unit
currently picked up (if any) and returns the
cursor to the hex in which a unit was last
picked up. Thi s is especiall y useful when
moving stacks of units.
Next Unit: Pressing drops the unit
currently picked up and picks up the next
unit (in the sequence listed in the order of
battle). If no unit is picked up. ill picks
up the first unit in the list. This key is useful
for givi ng your units orders in se ueoce.
Review: If a uoit is picked up, RETURN
.""d,"'. l fno unit is picked up.
reviews the orders of al l units on
screen. {SHIFT} (RETURN) reviews the
orders of all your uni ts.
ENDING THE TURN
Now experiment with givi ng orders;
move as many uni ts as you like. have them
march. assault. regroup, and in general
practice using the keyboard. When you are
done, end the turn.
To end, press @; the computer protects
you from quitting accidentally by asking
you to confi rm your decision.
THE ALLrED TURN
Now it's the Allied half of the first turn.
If you were playing a two-player game. the
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Allied player would now go through the
same procedure as you just did. Since the
computer is playing the Allies. it doesn't
need the screen to plan its moves, so it takes
the opponunity to tell you what it is think-
ing about and how much time it spends (in
seconds).
RESOLUTION
Once both sides have given their orders.
the computer resolves all movement and
combat, moving both s ides' unit s
simultaneously.
TURN REVIEW
After resolUlion, the computer displays
a strategic map and shows what happened
during the tum. Like the both sides map,
the review map shows both si des' uni lS.
The events of the tum are displayed one im-
pulse at a time. A unit flashes white when
it moves; it flashes in various colors if il
takes casualties (red for infantry or annored
vehicle losses, orange for anillery losses,
lavender for anti-tank gun losses). New
units enteri ng the map flash green. Routing
o r withdrawing uni ts flash yellow.
Eliminated units flash black. A message
with the same information also appears on
the bottom of the screen, and the unit' s
identity is shown above the message. Both
players (i f there are two) should watch the
di splay together. When the turn review is
over, you can start the next tum with @
or repeat the review with (RETURN) . (There
are many other Ihings you can do to con-
trol tlle review; see Tum Rel'iew, page 17.)
OPTIONS
There are four battle scenarios you can
play. Brevity has the smallest number of
tums and units per side; it' s a good scenario
to use when learning how 10 play. Once
you're fami liar with play, pick any of the
scenarios. Battleaxe has more units and
turns than Brevity. Crusader and Gazala
have the most unit s and !Urns.
Visibility, supply. fatigue . and airplanes
are options that can be turned on or off with
the p re-game options screen. These op-
tions, particularly visibililY and suppl y, are
important for recreating the banle condi-
tions but increase the complexity of the
game. While learni ng the game, you should
leave these options at their default settings.
Once comfortable with play of the game ,
you should consult the rules on these op-
tions and add them to the game.
NECESSARY INFORMATION
The following information will help you
make proper decisions during play.
Morale: A unit's morale can be ex-
cellent. good, fai r, poor. or awful. It af-
fec ts a unit's ability 10 anack and defend.
Morale is worsened by taking casualties.
It may be improved by regrouping.
Unit Types: There are a variety of unit
types, each of which has different
capabilities. Annored cars, reconnaissance.
motorized units , and most tanks move
quickly. Tanks and armored cars are ar-
mored: they are vulnerable to fire only from
anitlery. anti-tank guns, and armored units.
Terrain: The time needed to enter a hex
varies wilh its terrain (as well as unit type
and mode). Experiment. The combat value
varies too. Being behind friendly fortifica-
tions or on the up side of escarpmems
reduces enemy firepower, whi le firing
down an escarpment or hill increases your
firepower. A minefield occupied by a
friendly unit causes high casualties to at-
tacking enemy units.
Stacking: You can order as many as 12
units to enter the same hex, but only 4 bat-
talions will actually gct there ; the rest will
wait until the hex has room again to con-
tinue moving. For stacki ng purposes, any
uni t that has ma rc than 640 men counts as
two batt alions (and 1280 count s as three,
etc.).
Facing: A unit in a movement mode has
a frollt and a flank. It s front consists of the
hexside in the di rcction it is attempting 10
move plus the two adjacent hexsides. Its
flank consists of the other three hexsidcs.
Units are at a great disadvantage when at-
tacked in the fl ank. A unit in defend or
regroup mode has all-around facing: all six
hcxsides are its front.
You now have enough infannation to play Rommel. Use the rest of the rules
booklet for reference when you want to look up a specific point during a game.
There are also a great many options and capabilities of the program that have
not been described in this short section.
Game Contents
Rommel contains the following:
I. This rules booklet.
2. Loading/saving instructions.
3. An 81h x II" map of the battlefield
(duplicating the map on the computer
sc reen).
4. A playcr reference card. summariz-
ing all keyboard and joystick commands.
5. A double-sided. si ngle-density pro-
gram disk.
6. A historical and players' notes
booklet.
WARRANTY
If your disk fail s, simpl y return it for
replacement to Game Designers' Work-
shop. If you have owned the disk for less
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than 90 days, there will be no charge.
(Please enclose a copy of the sales sl ip as
proof of purchase date.) Otherwise, there
is a charge of $5.00. Outside the United
States (U.S. includes APO and FPO), add
$2.00 for shipping and handling.
If any other game component is damaged
or mi ssing when you buy the game, we will
replace it free of charge.
Pre-Game Options
When the game is ori ginally loaded. a
screen of game options appears. There are
nine opt ions. with their default val ues
displayed. Any value may be changed by
pressing the key shown in parentheses
before it. For example. to change the
fatigue actil'e option from no to yes (or back
again), press F. Most options are yes/no.
Three are different. as ellplained below.
When ail options are set to your satisfac-
tion, you may begin the game by pressing
m) .
Many options may be changed during the
game. See Mid-Game Options. page 27.
Number of Players (P) : There are three
options: 2 pl ayers , I player with you com-
mandi ng the Axis, and I player with you
commandi ng the All ies. (In the latter two
cases the computer commands the other
side.) Press P until you get the setting you
want.
Comput er Skill Level (L): This option
only matters in a I-player game. L is low,
M is medium, and H is high. Adjust the
value to your own experience. Press (!) un-
til you get the val ue you want.
All Enemy Units Visible (V): If yes, all
units of both players are always displayed
on the screen. If no, only those enemy units
adjacent to your units (see Visibility, page
18) are displayed. This creates realistic
uncenai nty; you won't know what's hap-
pening behind the enemy front line and he
won' t know about you.
Fatigue Active (F) : If yes, fatigue
changes and has an effect on the game. If
no, it has no effect, and is not displayed.
Communications Active (C): If yes,
headquaners units appear in the game and
supply becomes a major element of play:
units consume supply when movi ng and
fighting and headquaners function as sup-
ply depots. If 110, headquarters do not ap-
pear and supply has no effect.
Airplanes Act ive (A): If yes, both sides
have ai rpl ane squadrons avai lable for
bombing missions. If no. there are no
airplanes.
Note: The previous four options let you
change the game rules to make the game
simpler or more complex. You should leave
them all at thei r default values while you
are learni ng to play. Then change the op-
tions one by one until you reach the com-
plexity you want . Visibili ty and com-
munications are very importanl to historical
accuracy. Fatigue is less important but easy
to deal with. Airplanes are of [ow impor-
tance and add much complelli ty. so save
them for last.
Historical Setup (11): If yes, all the units
start in their historical positions. If no,
players are allowed to freely reposition
their units anywhere within friendly ter-
ritory before the game begi ns: supply may
also be transferred between headquarters.
Sound Active (S) : If yes. sound is used
to provide feedback during the game. If 110.
there is no sound, except during the tum
review.
Battl e Scenario (8): You may choose to
play any of the four battles for Tobruk.
Press @ until you get the one you want.
Brevity: 8th Army's first attempt to
probe Rommel' s position. with the main
objective of capturing jumpoff points for
later operations. Four turns. about 30
(small-sized) units per side.
Bartlea:ce: The followup to Brevity,
trying to relieve the Allis siege ofTobruk.
Eight turns. about 40 units per side.
Crusader: Just as Rommel has ac-
cumulated the supply for a major assault on
the surrounded port, the British launch their
second. and eventually successful. relief at-
tempt. 18 turns, aboll! 50 units per side.
Go.ZiJla: The spring after Crusader, the
British have heavily fortified the line west
of Tobruk. from Gazala 10 Bir Hachiem.
Rommel launches a sweeping end run
which finally carries him into the pon. 28
turns, about 50 units per side.
Maps and Tables
There are three separate types of infor-
mation displays in Rommel: the tacti cal
map, the strategic maps, and the corps
tables. They all supply different informa-
tion to help you in your role as command-
ing general. Two additional displays. the
supply table and the airplane table. are used
if the supply and airplane options are set
at yes.
The Tactical Map: This is the main
display, showing terrain and combat units
in fu ll detail. Its limitation is that only pan
of it will fit on the screen at a time. You
use t11is map when giving orders to your
units. To gel to the tact ical map. press the
down arrow (!:)).
The Strategic Maps: There are four
strategic maps showing various combina-
tions of terrain and combat uni ts.
Everything is in less detail than the tactical
map. but the entire map fits on the screen
at once. To gel 10 the strategic maps. press
the up arrow (0 ). To swit ch between dif-
ferent strategic maps, press @ . ,or (Y) .
The Corps Tables: There are several
corps tables . one for each friendly or enemy
headquarters (usually a corps). They are
useful for reviewing the status of friendly
and enemy units. (h's a good idea to ex-
amine the corps tables al the start of each
turn; you can check your army' s general
condition at a glance. ) When the visibility
opti on is sel at no. the enemy corps tables
are very useful for keeping track of enemy
units. To get to the friendly corps tables.
press the left arrow (8 ). To get to the
enemy corps tables. press the left arrow
while on a friendly corps table. To switch
between different friendly or enemy corps
tables . press a right direct ional key ffi
@' @' or @) to go one way or a left
directional key (@' . , or @ ) togo
the other.
The Supply Tabl e: This table is
available if the communications option is
set at yes. You use the table to transfer
suppl y between your headquarters, and it
lets you keep track of your supply situation.
To get to the friendly supply table, press
the right arrow (G ).
The Air plane Table: This table is
available if the airplane option is set at yes .
You use it to assign missions to your
bomber squadrons. T2...ftet to the friendly
airplane table. press (f) .
The Strategic Maps
All four of the strategic maps show the
enti re playi ng area (22 x 32 hexes) to help
you review the overall situat ion. Each hex
is represented as a small colored rectangle.
You can move the cursor (the white box),
look at units, even pi ck them up. but you
can' t give them orders.
There are several lines of information
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above and below each map; thi s informa-
tion is the same as on the tactical map, and
is explai ned in the next rules sect ion.
THE TERRAIN MAP
The first display to appear at the begin-
ning of each player' s turn is the terrain
map. It shows the coastal road in yellow
and rough/ hillterrain in orange; clear ter-
rain is dark brown and sea or impassable
hexes are blue. Units are not displayed on
this map, but information is still displayed
on units in the hex the cursor occupies.
THE BOTH SIDES MAP
This map shows the units of both sides:
Allies in blue and Axis in gray. The map
always shows all your units. If the visibi li
ty option is sct at yes, it shows all the enemy
units too. If the option is set at 110. it shows
only those enemy units adjacent to at least
one of your units. (This is true of the one
side maps too. )
ONE SIDE MAPS
There are two of these. Both show hill
and rough hexes in orange . The Axis map
shows all Axis units, and the All ied map
shows all Allied units.
CHANGING MAPS
You can get to the strategic maps by
pressi ng the up arrow (0 ) key.
You can get from one strategic map to
another by using @' (D, and 0.
The cursor will remai n in the same hex
when changing maps: however, a unit
which is picked up is automati call y
dropped.
The Tactical Map
The tactical map is a detailed map of the
area around Tobruk. divided into hexes.
Unl ike the printed map, no actual hexes ap-
pear on the screen, just thei r contents: the
hexes are still easy to see, and the screen
is less cluttered that way.
The screen shows onl y part of the tac-
tical map at a time: a window, ten hexes
wide by seven hexes high, which can be
Side Wiinni",
Score
Tactical
Map
Window
Player Moving
Number
Unit 's Remaining Time
Unit Display:
(HQ, Division,
Unit ID, Type,
Force/Casualties,
Artillery, AT
Guns, Morale,
Fatigue, Supply)
scrolled over the entire map by moving the
cursor close to the edge of the screen.
Each unoccupied hell displ ays its terrain
type: if there is a uni t in a hell, its terrain
type is not visible (but see below). Some
terrain is also placed between the helles (on
the hell -sides).
UNITS
The eight basic types of units (tanks. ar-
mored cars. reconnaissance. motorized in-
fantry, machine gun, infantry. fla k. and
headquaners) are shown on the map usi ng
different symbols: see the reference card.
Minefields are also displayed as if they
were units. Axis units are gray, All ied units
blue. Only the symbol for the top unit in
the hex (or the unit currently pi cked up) is
shown on the map.
TERRAIN
There are seven possible terrai n types in
a hex: clear. town. airfield. hill. rough. sea,
and impassable. Some terrain features are
found on hexsides: road, track. escarpment .
cli ff. fonification. and inlet. Clear hexes
are solid brown; sea and impassable hexes
are blue. The symbols for the other types
are shown on the player reference card.
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THE CURSOR
The cursor is the white symbol on the
screen. !fno uni t is pi cked up. it' s a cross:
if a unit is picked up. it 's the uni t 's sym-
bol. The cursor is used to give orders to
units and to move the players attention
around the map.
THE INFORMATION DISPLAYS
There are several lines of information
above and below the map. The top line
gives the current turn: date. player whose
move it is. and turn number. The second
line gives the side currentl y ahead and the
score (sec Victory. page 26). the side's
number of runners (operat ional armored
vehicles). and the number- col umn (C) and
row ( R)-of the hex the cursor is in.
The hex number is important when con-
sulting the pri nted map. Each hell on the
printed map has a four-digit number COT-
responding to the hex numbers on the
screen (the first two digi ts are the column
and the second tWO are the row).
For some hexes. the screen displays a
name instead of a number. These are loca-
tions of particular importance to the battle.
to help you relate the map to historical ac-
counts. These hexes are also named on the
primed map.
The fi rst five lines under the map (only
three lines on the strategic maps) are the
unit display, showi ng information about the
top four units in the hex the cursor is in.
This infonnation is explained under Units.
The bottom line shows. on the left. the
terrain in the cursor's hex. If a unit is
picked up. it shows additional infonnal ion
about that unit (see Units). The line is also
used for error messages and prompts :
messages from the computer to you.
The Corps Tables
The corps tables list every unit in the
game including eliminated units. rein-
forcements which have not yet entered, and
minefields. There is one corps table for
each fri endl y and enemy headquaners unit
(usuall y a corps): units which belong to no
headquaners are listed under the army
headquaners. as are minefields. Occa-
sionall y. there are more units in a corps
than will fit on a si ngle screen: in such
cases. the corps is split into two screens (as
if it were two separate corps).
For each unit, the corps table displays the
same information that appears on the unit
display below the tact ical and st rategic
maps (see Units below). Information is also
displayed about the hex occupied by the
unit the cursor is on.
To get to the friendly corps tables. press
(!); to get to the enemy corps tables, press
o while on a friendly corps table. To
switch between different friendly or enemy
corps tables. press a right di rectional key
ill . @. or 0 ) or a left direct ional
key <(ffi . @. . or @).
Information about Enemy Units: If
visibi lity is set to yes. all information about
enemy units displayed on the enemy corps
table is updated continuously. If visi bility
is set to no. then thi s information refers to
each enemy unit' s condition the last time
it was adjacent to one of your units. The
enemy corps table is most useful when the
visibility option is set at no; in effect. it acts
as your intelligence staff. keeping track of
everything you know about enemy uni ts.
See Units below.
THE CURSOR
The line shown in reverse video is the
cursor. You can move the cursor up by
p r e s s i n ~ .. Jill or 0 . and down by pressing
~ or (). If the cursor moves off the bot-
tom, it returns to the top. and vice versa.
If you go to lhe tactical or strategic map.
the cursor appears in the hex of the unit it
was on.
Units
Troops are organized into units: you give
them orders one unit at a time.
There are eight basic types of units:
tanks. armored cars. reconnaissance, mot-
orized infantry, machinegun. infantry, flak: .
and headquarters. Each type is represented
on the map by a different symbol. as shown
on the reference card. In addition to the
basic types. there are several models of
tanks with differing characterist ics, and
Italian Bersaglieri are a special type of
motorized infamry.
Tanks. and annored cars are impervious 10
infantry fire, but other tanks, anti-lank guns.
minefields, and anillery can ki ll them.
Reconnaissance, mOiorized, Bersaglieri,
machine gun, and infantry are all different
Iypes of infantry. Anti -tank guns don't af-
fect them but all other weapons do.
Flak uni ts are armed with 88-mill imeter
heavy anti-aircraft guns (treated as very ef-
fect ive anti -tank guns) and 20-millimeter
light aneiaircraft guns (treated as infantry).
Headquaners are nOi combat units. (They
aren't really uni ts at all , merely an abstract
representation of suppl y depots and supply
vehicles.) They only appear when the com-
munications option is set at yes. They pro-
vide no benefi t whalsoever in combal and
are eliminated whenever an enemy unit
moves into thei r hex. Unl ike combat units,
which are not replaced if elimi nated, an
el imi nated headquaners is replaced two
turns after its eli mination.
Almost every combat unit includes ar-
tillery. and most non-armored units have
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ant i-tank guns. These are mostly division-
level assets attached for the period of the
batt le. These attached guns travel with the
unit at all times.
THE UNIT DlSPLA Y
On the tactical map, the unit display
shows information about the top four units
in the hex the cursor is in. Further units in
(he hex (up 10 a tOlal of 12) can be seen by
picking up the top units . On the strategic
map. the display shows the top two units.
The corps tables show an entire corps at a
ti me. Units are listed in me order in which
they appear in the order of banl e in the
historical notes booklet.
The text line at the top of the unit display
shows the display's headi ngs.
Friendly Units: For friendly units. the
headings translate as: me unit's immediate-
ly superior headquarters (HQ), its division.
unit identi fication, unit type, current unit
strengt h in men or armored vehicl es
(Force), tou! casualties, number of anillery
pieces (Gn), number of anti-tank guns
(AT). and mree unit effecti veness factors:
morale, fatigue. and suppl y state,
Enemy Units : For ene my uni ts,
casualties, morale , fatigue, and suppl y are
missi ng: in the ir pl ace appear " Tm",
"Co"', and " Ro"'. These are the tum and
hex (column and row) in which the unit was
last adjacent to one of your units; of course,
the unit's location may have changed
drasticall y since it was last seen. This in-
formation appears onl y on the corps table
(see above): it 's most useful when the
visibility option is set at no. Enemy
strengths are onl y approximate: strength is
rounded off to the nearest \0 tanks or 100
men. Artill ery and anti -tank guns are
rounded off to the nearest 5.
Headquarters: The headquarters from
which the unit receives its supply. If this
is bl ank, me unit may draw supply from any
friendly HQ.
Division: The division to which the uni t
belongs, if any. When units of different
divisions attack togemer meir effectiveness
is reduced.
Unit Identification: The unit's in-
dividual identification: see the hi storical
notes booklet for an explanati on of
abbreviati ons.
Type: The uni t' s type. Abbreviations arc
expl ained in the table below.
Tanks Other Units
Pnz ..... Panzer AC ......... armored car
Mat .... Matilda Rcn ..... reconnaissance
Val ... Valent ine Inf. .............. infantry
Cru ... Crusader MOL .. motorized infantry
Siu .... .. . St uart Ber ........... Bcrsaglieri
Mk6. .. Mark VIb MG ......... machi negun
Grt ..... .. Grant Flk ............... . .. . flak
HQ ... headquarters
Force: This is unit's current strength. in
men (for most uni ts) or armored vehides
(for tanks and armored cars). Starting
strengths are given in the order of battle and
are as close a count of historical strengths
as the records provide.
Casualties: This is the number of men
or tanks lost in battle. Some of these may
be recovered by regrouping.
Artillery: Thi s is the number of artillery
pieces now in the uni L These may be lost
in battle and can never be recovered.
Anti-lank Guns: This is the number of
anti-tank guns now in the unit. Like ar-
tillery. they may be lost in battle and can
never be recovered.
Morale, Faligue, Supply: These are
three fluctuating values important 10 a unit' s
effecliveness. They each have one of five
poss ible values: E (excellent). G (good). F
(fai r). P (poor). and A (awful). To the left
of the suppl y value, there may also be a
number indicating the uni t' s fuel supply.
THE MODE LINE
The mode line is the line below the uni t
display which shows the terrain of the cur-
sor's hex. If a unit is picked up. this line
also shows me unit' s current orders and Ihe
ti me remaining in its lurn.
Cursor Movement and
Picking Up Units
Diretional Keys: The most commonl y
used keys are the cursor movement or
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directional keys: keys used to indicate the
six possible directions. There are two direc-
tional rosettes: the six keys surrounding I)
and the six surrounding ill. See the
reference card. When no unit is picked up.
these keys move the cursor. t-:or example.
pressing @ or (!) moves it one hex due
west (up on the screen): pressing @ or C!)
moves it one hex northwest. and so on. If
the cursor moves to within one hex of the
edge of the screen. the map scrolls.
The directional keys are used 10 indicate
directions when giving movement orders 10
uni ts or to complete defend and regroup
orders.
Picking Up and Dropping: Pressing Q)
or will pick up a unit or. if a unit is
already picked up. drop it and pick up the
next unit in the hex (if any). When a unit
is picked up. it is shown on top of the unit
display. its line changes to reverse video.
and its orders and time left appear on the
mode line. A unit may be given orders on-
ly if it is picked up.
Go Back: Pressing drops the unit
currently picked up (if any) and returns the
cursor to the last hex in which a unit was
picked up. This key is particularly useful
when giving movement orders to a stack of
uni ts.
Next Unit: Pressing 00 drops the unit
currently picked up and picks up the next
friendly unit li sted in the order of battle .
A message appears when you reach the tast
unit. If no unit is picked up. pressing 00
picks up the first unit li sted in the order of
battle. This key may be used to cycle
through all friendly units. giving them
orders as you go.
Orders
During your turn. you give orders to
your units. It is imponant to remember that
this is all you are doing: when you move
a unit. you are merely telling it to move.
and whether it actually moves is detennined
during turn resolution. Enemy (or friend-
ly) units may get in the way and prevent
it from carrying out its orders.
To give a unit orders you must fi rst pick
it up. Then set the unit's mode to the type
of order you wani it to perform by press-
ing the COrTect key. from G) to @ (see the
reference card). The unit 's mode is shown
on the mode line. Each mode is used for
a different order. Putting a unit inio defend
or regroup mode gives it an order: for
march. advance. and assault mode. orders
are ente red by moving the cursor.
Orders take time. Every unit starts the
tum with 12 impulses. Each impulse
represents I Ih hours during the day or 41h
hours al ni ghl. The first ten impulses of
each !Urn are day impulses: the last two im-
pulses are night impul ses (see Night. page
20). When you give a unit an order. the
time the order takes is subtracted from the
unit's remai ning time. If you cancel the
order. the unit gets its time back.
When you pick up a uni t . its mode is the
same as the last order entered for il and its
remai ni ng time is the same as it was when
you last dropped it. If no order has been
entered. its mode is advance and its remain-
ing time is 12 impul ses.
Note: If a unit has any unused time after
all its orders are entered. it will spend those
impulses in defend mode. If you want a unit
just to defend for (he entire !Urn. you don't
have to give it any orders.
MOVEMENT
There are three movemenl modes: ad-
mnce (@). march (@ ). and assallil (@)).
Units in march mode can use roads and
tracks to speed Iheir movement. but they
arc vulnerable to attack. so march is beSt
avoided when close to the enemy. Advance
mode should be used most of the ti me: units
in advance mode attack any enemy units
they encounter. Assault mode is used for
prepared assaults: it takes a long lime but
increases artillery firepower. and units will
take higher losses before giving up the
attack.
How to Move: Movement is handled the
same way in all three modes. Put the unit
in the desired mode and move it using Ihe
directional keys. MOving requires various
amounts of time. depending on the unit' s
mode and the terrain of the hex entered or
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hexside crossed. as shown in the movement
costs portion of the unit characteristics
table.
Stacking: When giving movement orders
you can move your units through enemy
units and can stack up 10 12 friendly units
in a si ngle hex. When movement is reo
solved. however. a unit can' t move into an
enemy hex until all enemy units have
retreated from it and any minefield has been
destroyed. In addition, no more than four
friendl y baualions may be in the same hex
at the same time. (Thus. up 10 12 units may
be ordered to move to a single hex, but only
four battalions will actually enter and stack
in the hex.) Each armored unit (tank or ar-
mored car unil) counts as one battalion:
each other unit count s as one battalion for
each 640 men (or fraction thereof) in il. For
example. a unit wi th a strength of900 men
has 2 battal ions: only two such units will
fit inlO a hex.
Headquarters and mine fields do not count
toward stacking. and terrain has no effect.
Stacking has no effect on combat: up to 24
battalions could attack a si ngle hex (4 each
from the six surrounding hexes), although
only four of these unils could advance int o
the hex if victorious.
If your units get in each other's way. ex-
tra units wait until there is room in the hex.
Watch out for traffic jams. For further
details. see Resoll,ing the Tllm, below.
If you drop a unit in an enemy-occupied
hex. only the enemy unit will be visible on
the tactical map and on the unit display, so
remember where you dropped them.
However. the message "Friendly and
enemy units in hex." wi ll bri efl y appear
whenever you move the cursor to that hex:
you can also pick up your units in enemy-
occupied hexes . and, if you do so. your
units in the hex will appear on the unit
display.
Note: If both sides have units in a hex,
the strategic map will show only your units.
You can actually order more than 12
uni ts to a hex. If you do so. however, you
won't be able to see them on the di spl ay.
Units are listed on the unit display in the
order in which they appear on the order of
battle. To find the 13th or higher unit in
a hex. you must move some of the other
units OUI of the hex.
Facing: Units in a movement mode are
always faced in the direction they are at-
tempting to move. A moving unit's front
is its facing hexside plus the two adjacent
hexsides. The OIher three hexsides are its
flank. Units in defend or regroup mode
have all-round facing; all hexsides are their
fronts. All sides of a unit in disordered
mode are flanks. If a unit is attacked from
its flank, ils casualties arc increased and its
return fire is less effective. However. a
flanked unit's casualties are not increased
if it is stacked with another friendly unit in
defend mode: this allows you to withdraw
some of your troops from combat without
their being attacked in the flank. by leav-
ing a rear guard.
DEFEND
Putting a unit in defend mode (0 ) com-
pletes a defend order. Further defeod orders
may be entered by pressi ng any directional
key (or ill agai n). A defend order takes I
impulse. When attacked. a unit in defend
mode takes fewer casualties than if it was
in any OIher mode. Funher defend mode
uses are to give the unit all-around facing,
to hold certain positions (see below). to
synchronize movement between units and
avoid traffic jams. If a unit spends an im
pulse in defend mode and is not attacked.
it recovers some of its fatigue. especiall y
at night (the last two impulses of each tum).
Units in defend mode in a fonification.
minefield, or airfield will accepl higher
casualties than usual before disengaging.
Remember that a unit automatically
assumes defend mode if il has no other
orders.
REGROUP
Putting a unit in regroup mode (@)
completes a regroup order. Further regroup
orders may be entered by pressing any
directional key. A regroup order takes 6
impulses. If a unit spends 6 impulses in
regroup mode and is not attacked, it
recovers some of its casualties. fatigue. and
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morale.
CANCELING ORDERS
You can cancel a unit's orders at any
time. When a unit is picked up, pressing
cancels its last order. By repeatedly
pressing 00. you can cancel all of a unil' s
orders. To cancel all of a unil' s orders at
once. press ' SPACE 1
Occasionally you may want to cancel all
the orders for all of your units . This is the
same as restaning your ponion of the turn.
This can be done easily by pressing ( CTRl)
and 00 at the same time. Since this can
have drastic effects. to guard against ac-
cidentally pressing this key the computer
gives you a chance 10 change your mind;
press {CTRl} again to restan the turn.
Note that doing this cancels all orders for
all of your ground units; it does not cancel
any bombing missions (if you are using the
airplanes option) that you may have as-
signed to your squadrons.
REVIEWING ORDERS
Reviewing orders works on the tactical
map only. If a unit is currently picked up.
you can review its orders by pressing
{RETURN} . The computer will quickly run
backward through the unit's orders (to
show you where il came from) and will then
run more slowly forwa rd through its
orders. If no uni t is currently picked up,
{RETURN} reviews the orders of all units
currently on the screen. Pressing (SHIFT)
and (RETURN) at the same time reviews the
orders of all friendly unit s. A review can
be SlOPped al any time by pressing @.
(The computer will fi nish the unit current -
ly being reviewed.) You c'an pause the
review (or resume il ) by pressi ng! SPACE)
FINDING UNITS WITH NO ORDERS
At the end of your turn, you may
sometimes be uncenain whether you have
given orders to all of your units. This can
be checked easily. Go to the tactical map
or the both sides strategic map and press
0 . The cursor will move to the first
friendly unit without orders (as listed on the
order of banle). If al l units have orders, the
message "All units have orders" will
appear.
To locate all the uni ts without orders. go
to the tactical jP or l) both sides strategic
map and press SHIF and CD at the same
ti me. The cursor will jump from unit to
unit , flashing the message "No order
entered" for each unit without orders, and
skipping uni ts which have orders. This can
be stopped at any time by pressing 00.
(The computer will fini sh the uni t current-
ly bei ng examined.) You can pause by
pressing ( SPACE )
OTHER KEYS
Pressing @ or @ cycles the uni t
through the various modes in order. Note
that entering defend or regroup mode wi th
@ does not complete an order; you must
press a directional key for that.
Pressi ng (!) cycles through the modes in
reverse order.
Pressing (!) (zero) drops a unit without
picking up the next one in the hex.
QUl1TING THE TURN
After you are finished wilh all your
orders, quit the turn by pressing @. To
prevent doing this by accident . the com-
puter asks you 10 confirm your intentions.
Press @ again to qu it.
After the Axis player quits, it's the Allied
player's tum. After the Allied player quits,
the computer resolves the turn's action.
Resolving the Turn
After both players have issued orders, the
compute r resolves them all si multaneous-
ly, one impulse at a time. Ifan order takes
more than one impulse to execute, it takes
effect in the last impulse; for example, if
il takes 4 impulses for a unit to move into
a hex, the unit spends 3 impulses in its stan-
ing hex and moves in the 4th impul se. If
there are enemy units in !he destination hex,
however. both sides begin firing as soon as
the unit begins execut ing the order.
MOVEMENT
During lum resolution, a unit may not
-14-
eOler the same hex as an enemy uni t, and
at most four friendly battalions may be in
a hex at one t ime. If movemeOl is not
carefull y thought out, this may result in
considerable delay as units get in each
others' way.
Enemy Units: If units of both sides try
to enter the same empty hex duri ng the
same impul se, only one will actuall y enter:
the one which has spent the longest time
trying to enter. Thus if it takes one unit 2
impulses to eOler a hex and it takes another
unit 3 impulses, the second unit gets in. (Of
course , it must have started one impul se
earlier.) If both units have spent an equal
amount of ti me. precedence goes in order
of type with faster unit s winning the hex;
for example. antlored cars before other ar-
mor, motorized infantry ahead of other in-
fantry. If the two units are of the same type,
the computer chooses alternate sides each
time throughout the game. The uni t which
doesn' t make it in tries again in the next
impulse.
If a unit tries to enter a hex already oc-
cupied by an enemy unit, combat occurs.
See Combat below.
Friendly Units: If two units of the same
side try to enter the same hex and this
would result in more than four battal ions
in the hex, only one will actually ent er.
Again, it 's the one which spent the most
t ime entering. If both have spent the same
amount of time. precedence goes in order
of type. If both are of the same type, the
computer chooses the one listed fi rst on the
order of bailie. The unit which doesn't
make it tries again in the next impul se.
COMBAT
Whenever a unit begi ns to move into an
enemy-occupied hex, combat occurs. Units
anack and defend in groups; all units attack-
ing the same hex are combined into a single
attack. For maximum effect, you should
have as many units as possible attack
together. since the defending units then
have their defensive fire spread out among
the multipl e attackers.
Combat within a single impulse is re-
solved in a compl ex sequence, with the at-
tacker and defender firing andlor disengag-
ing at different times. The general outline
for combat resolution is as follows:
1. Attacker fires artillery.
2. Defender fires all weapons.
3. Defender takes casualties from at-
tacker' s artillery fire.
4. Attacker takes casual ti es from
defender's fire and fires all weapons except
artillery.
5. Defender takes casualties from at-
tacker's fire (except artillery).
Within this sequence, both sides check
for disengaging, as explained below. If the
defender disengages and the attacker does
not. the attacker advances into the
defender's hex if the required time for
movement has elapsed.
Disengagement and Morale Checks:
When a unit takes 100 many casualties, it
disengages from battle, ignoring the rest of
its orders for the tum and assuming defend
mode. A unit which di sengages takes a
reduced number of casualties in the impulse
it disengages. Recon and annored car uni ts
in advance mode take fewer casualties when
disengagi ng than other units (they are
specially trained to scout the enemy). If a
unit disengages. the uni ts it was attacking
take reduced casualties. The number of
casualties a uni t will accept before
disengaging depends on its modified morale
level (see below); the better a unit's morale,
the more casualties it will accept before
disengaging. In addition, units in defend
mode in fonifications, minefields. and air-
fields, as well as all units in assault mode .
will accept extra casualties before disengag-
ing. An attacker which disengages remains
in its original hex. A defender which
disengages must check moraJe. If it passes.
it withdraws one hex; ifit fails. it routs two
hexes, assumes disordered mode for the
rest of the tum, and suffers a drop in
morale. The beller a unit's modified
morale, the beller its chance of passing the
mora.le check. If a uni t is unable to
wi thdraw (because of enemy units or im-
passable terrain) il stays in place and suf-
fers double casualties.
Modified Morale: A un it's effective
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morale is improved ifit is in a fortification
or minefield hex. (When a hex contains
both- like the Tobruk perimeter-it is ex-
tremel y difficult to dislodge a defender.) A
unit's morale is impaired if il is in march
or disordered mode. is being attacked from
its flank. has poor or awful fat igue, or has
suffered a large number of casualties since
the start of the turn.
[ ffeds of Mode on Combat: March
mode is unsuited to combat : if a unit in
mar('h mode atlacks or is attacked, it
automatically forgets its orders and follows
this sequence, remaining in place: it spends
one impulse in march mode. three impulses
in disordered mode, and the remainder of
the tum in defend mode. In march mode,
onl y armored vehicles and recon troops
may fire, and at reduced effectiveness:
enemy fire effectiveness is increased. In
di sordered mode. all weapons fire at re-
duced effectiveness and enemy fire effect-
iveness is increased.
Advance mode is the most generally
useful mode for combining movement and
combat. All weapons may fire, although ar-
tillery and anti-tank guns fire at reduced ef-
fectiveness. The unit continues attacking
until one side di sengages or is destroyed.
Assault mode is useful for attacking fixed
positions, especially if the attacker has a lot
of artillery. Assaulting units spend one im-
pulse organizing for the attack (in defend
mode). one impulse in preparatory bom-
bardment (only the anacker's artillery fires.
al full strength), and following impulses tir-
ing (with all weapons al full strength) until
one side disengages or is destroyed.
Firepower : The firepower of a uni t
depends primarily on ils number of men or
vehicles, artillery pieces, and ami-tank guns
and their types. However, other factors also
affect firepower. as listed below.
Firin8 Unit's Mode: In march mode.
only armored vehicles and recon troops
may fire. and at reduced effectiveness. In
advance mode, artillery and anti -tank guns
fire at reduced effectiveness. In disordered
mode, all weapons fire at reduced
effectiveness.
Tar8et Unit's Mode: Firepower is in-
creased when firing at uni ts in march or
disordered mode , and decreased when fir-
ing at units in defend mode.
Morale: The beuer a unit' s morale. the
greater its firepower .
FaIi8ue: The belleT a unit's fatigue, the
greater its firepower (if the fatigue option
is set at yes).
Supply: Uni ts which run out of am-
munition stop firing. Uni ts which run low
on ammunition stop firing their artillery (if
the supply opt ion is set at yes).
Terrain: Units fi ring up escarpments
or into enemy fortificat ions have their
firepower reduced. Units in defend mode
fi ring down escarpments or down hill s
(from a hill hex to a non-hill hex) have their
firepower increased.
Flanks: A unit' s firepower is reduced
if it is firing toward its flank. A unit' s
firepower is increased if it is firing at its
target' s nank and there is no unit in the
target hex in defend mode.
Divisional Inte8rity: When two or
more units with different division IDs at-
tack together (the same target hex). their
firepower is slightl y reduced. The more
divisions firing, the greater the reduction.
Uni ts defending in the same hex are not af-
fected. A unit with no division ID may at-
tack together with any unit without reduc-
ing firepower.
Mu.ltiple Tar8ets: A unit's firepower is
split equally among all the hexes it is fir-
ing into. Within a single target hex, a unit' s
firepower is divided among targets in pro-
portion to their strengths (in men or ar-
mored vehicles). For example. if a unit is
attacking one hex and being att acked from
twO other hexes, one third of its fi repower
fires into each hex: if one of those hexes
contai rts two units, one with 30 Matildas
and one with 20 armored cars, 60% of the
firepower committed to that hex attacks the
Matildas and 40% anacks the annored can.
ANTI -TANK AND
CONVENTIONAL FIRE
There are two types of fire. Ant i-tank
guns perfonn anti -tank fi re: men perform
conventional fire: armored vehicles and ar-
-16-
tillery do both, and fire both separatel y.
Ant i-tank fire inflicts losses on armored
vehicles: conventional fire inflicts tosses on
men. (Arti ll ery and anti-tank guns take
losses proportional to those of the men or
vehicles in their units). Thus men have no
effect on annored vehicles, and anti-lank
guns have no effect on men. The discus-
sion of combat above applies to both types
of fire .
Conventional fire losses are applied as a
percentage of Ihe target unit's st rength.
However, when there are fewer than 100
men in a hex. Ihe percentage lost increases.
and when there are more than 640 men in
a hex, the percentage lost decreases.
Ant i-tank fire losses are applied as
numbers of vehicles lost: a hex containing
100 tanks loses the same number as a hex
containing 50 tanks.
If an armored vehicle is destroyed dur-
ing an impulse. it doesn't fire conventional
fire in thaI impulse.
DEFEND
Defend is the default mode: if you dont
give a unit any orders, or if it runs out of
orders. it spends the rest of the turn in de-
fend mode. Defend mode decreases the
casualties a unit takes when attacked. Units
in defend mode fi re all their weapons at full
effectiveness in all directions; they have in-
creased firepower when firing down hill s
or escarpments; they are willing to take
higher losses before di sengaging if in forti-
fications, minefields. or airfields; and they
recover some of their fatigue if not attacked.
Each defend order takes only one im-
pulse. and may be used to help synchronize
attacks . avoid traffic jams. etc.
REGROUP
By regrouping. a unit can recover some
of its casualties. morale. and fatigue. A
unit' s regrouping is interrupted (and it gets
no benefit) if it receives any casualties dur-
ing the six impulses it spends regrouping.
A successful regroup order recovers a full
fatigue level, half a moral e level, and can
recover 10% of the men or 50% of the ar-
mored vehicles the unit has lost. However.
there is an absolute limit to the number of
annorcd vehicles a unit may reCOver in one
regroup order: 2 for Italians and 6 for
British and Gennans. Artillery and anti-
tank guns are never recovered.
Turn Review
After the turn has been resolved. the
computer displays a review of Ihe turn's
evenlS on a strategic map. Both players
should watch thi s display together.
The map shows Axis and Allied units.
The turn is displayed one impulse at a time.
showing all movement and combat. When
a unit moves. its unit symbol flashes white
to draw your attention. When it takes
casualties it flashes in various colors,
depending on the type of casualties: red for
infantry or armor losses, orange for ar-
tillery losses, lavender for antitank gun
losses. Units entering the map flash green.
Routing or disengaging units flash yellow.
Eliminated units flash black. A message
with the same infonna(ion appears on the
message line. A text description also ap-
pears, giving the unit" s estimated strengths
al the end of the game (Urn.
If the visibility option is sel at 110, only
those units visible 10 both si des will be
shown on the map. Units which move away
from the enemy will disappear from the
map. and units which move adjacent to
enemy units will suddenly appear. Depend-
ing on Ihe degree to whi ch the forces are
engaged, moSt of the units present (or even
all of them) may be invisible-which should
make the players very nervous indeed.
There are a number of keys
which give you control of the turn review.
P,ressing skips to the end of the turn
review.
At the end of the turn review. pressing
@ ends the review and starts the next
(Axis) tum.
AI the end of the turn review. pressi ng
(!) stops the game. allowing you to modify
options save the game.
Pressing (RETURN) start s the review
over.
o or 0 stops the review; each further
press of 0 or Q) moves the review one
slep forward. showing one event happen-
ing to one unit (moving a hex. taking one
type of casualties. routing. etc.).
@ stops the review and moves it one
step backwards. so you can back up to
rerat sonthing you missed.
SPACE cOnlinues the review if it has
been stopped by any other key.
E) increases the delay of the rev iew
(making it go slower); G decreases the
delay (making it go faster). Each press of
the key changes the delay by a small
amount: it takes several presses to have a
major effect.
Any other key stops the review.
Visibility
If the visibility option is set at yes, all
units of both sides are always visible to both
players. Jf the option is set at no. only those
enemy units can be seen which are adjacent
to at least one friendly unit. Note that new
enemy units do not appear while you are
giving orders- since your units haven't
really moved yet, they can' t see anything
new either. When the visibility option is set
at no, you should pay especially close at-
tention to the tum review: enemy units may
move completely through your line during
the tum, and the tum review may be your
onl y gl impse of them.
The enemy corps tables are most useful
when visibility is set at no, The corps tables
keep track of all enemy units. telli ng you
the last rum in which they were seen. where
they were. and what thei r strengths were
at Ihallime (in rou nd numbers). NOle that
the table informat ion for an enemy unil is
updated even if the unit was gl impsed only
briefly during tum review.
Terrain
Each hex contains a single type of ter-
rain, represented by a symbol, as shown on
the printed map. 1be terrain of the hex con-
taini ng the cursor is also shown at the left
of the mode line. Roads, tracks, cliffs,
escarpments. inlets. and fonifications are
between hexes. on hex-sides. Terrain af-
fects movemenl and combat. (It also affects
supply; see Supply. page 20.)
Movement: The length of time it takes
to enler a given hex is shown on the unit
characteristics table.
Roads and Tracks: The value for road
or track is only used if the uni t is in march
mode and is entering the hex or crossing
the hex-side on a road or track.
Escarpments: The cost for crossing an
escarpmenl applies whether movi ng up or
down and is in addition to the cost of enter-
ing the hex . Roads and tracks negate
escarpment costs for units in march mode .
Combat : Units firing up escarpments or
into enemy fon ifications have their
firepower reduced. Units in defend mode
fi ring down escarpments or down hill s
(from a hill hex to a non-hill hex) have their
firepower increased.
Fortifications
Fortifications represent substantial efforts
made by the Allies around Tobruk and by
Ihe Axis around Bardia, to form a strong
perimeter posi tion to hold an imponant har-
bor. They were composed of bunkers, anti-
tank obstacles. barbed wire, etc. Units in
fonifications receive considerable protec-
tion from enemy fire whether they arc at-
tacking or defending. Foni fications are in-
destructible and may be used by either sKle.
Minefields
Bot h players have minefields in all four
battles (except that there are no Axis mine-
fields in Brevity). In some respects they act
as terrain feat ures. in others as units .
They are terrain features in that they
never move, you can't give them orders,
and they don't affect stacki ng. They are
units in that they belong 10 one side and are
shown on the uni t display. In combat.
minefields act as artillery in defend mode.
with the number of guns shown. A
mi nefield's effect is vastly reduced if no
friendly unit is in its hex. Armored vehicles
may never enter an enemy minefield: other
- 18-
units may enter enemy mi nefields (after en-
during their fire, of course) , and the
minefield is eliminated as soon as the unit
enters its hex. Entering the minefield's hex
is the only way to kill it; firing has no ef-
fect. Units may freely enter and leave
friendly minefields without taking losses.
Minefields improve the morale of friend-
ly uni ts stacked with them; units in defend
mode will also accept more casuallies
before disengagi ng.
Casualties
A unit's casualty total is the number of
men or armored vehicles il has lost in com-
bat. The unit's current strengt h is its initial
strength minus its casualties. Heavy
casualties can lower morale: for every 10%
of its initial strength a unit loses. it drops
half a morale level. Casualties (and thus
morale) can be recovered by regrouping.
This represents the return to the unit of
stragglers who became separated in battle;
for armored units it also represents repair
and replacement of vehicles.
If a unit' s current strength ever drops to
zero or its morale ever fall s below awful.
it is eliminated and immediately di sappears
from play.
Morale
Morale represents a unit's fighting spiri t,
training, and experience. There are five
levels of morale: excellent (E). good (G),
fai r (F), poor (P), and awful (A). Morale
affects the ability of a unit to hold its
ground, anack enemy posi tions, fire effec-
tively, avoid panic, and remain a coherent
combat force.
Every unit starts at irs maximum morale
level, ranging from fai r to excellent. Units
that begin the game with a low morale level
can't improve it to a higher one. However,
unirs whose morale has deteriorated in play
can gradually recover and return to their
starting level by regrouping.
Changes in Morale: A unit's moral e is
reduced by one level if it routs, by half a
level for every 10% casualties it suffers,
and, if the supply option is set at yes, by
one level if it has no ammunition left at the
end of the turn. However, no uni t' s morale
may drop by more than one level in a single
turn. Each peaceful regroup order raises
morale half a level.
A unit's effective morale (for determina-
tion of di sengagement or rout) can be
drastically modified by the local situation.
See Combat, page 15.
Fatigue
Fatigue represents temporary loss of ef-
fectiveness through exertion and stress. It
is easily gained and easily lost. Fatigue
changes and affects the game only if the
fatigue opti on is set at yes. The levels of
fatigue are the same as those of morale.
Fatigue affects combat and movement.
Movement : Units which travel on foot
(infantry and machinegun units) take two
extra impulses to enter each hex if they
have awful fatigue.
Combat: The worse a unit' s fatigue
level. the lower its firepower. Units in
assaul t mode are greatly affected: units in
advance, march, or disorganized mode are
less affected: units in defend or regroup
mode are not affected by fati gue at al l. In
addition. a unit' s effective morale is re-
duced if it has poor or awful fatigue.
Changes in FSligue: Fatigue increases
each turn based on the most tiring activity
the unit performed that tum. Routing is the
most tiring. and the unit jumps two levels.
Attacking is almost as tiring, defending (if
attacked) is less so, and moving is least ti r-
ing. U ni ts which do not move or fight suf-
fer no increase in fatigue at all.
Both defending and regrouping recover
fatigue if the unit is not engaged in com-
bat. A unit recovers one level of fatigue per
regroup order or half a level per four suc-
cessive defend orders. Each night impulse
spent defending counts triple. For example.
a unit Ihat defends (without being anacked)
for the last four impulses of a tum recovers
one full fatigue level .
~ 1 9 -
Night
The last two impul ses in each tum are
night. Each night impulse represents 4ifz
hours instead of the usual llh hours.
However, because darkness slows down
movement and combat. they are resolved
in the same way as in a day impulse. One
activity can lake adv3mage of the extra
time: rest. Defendi ng is three times as ef-
fec tive al removing fa tigue duri ng a night
impulse.
Supply
If the supply option is set al yes, units
must consume suppli es in order to move
and fight. and a complex system to move
those supplies. featuri ng headquaners and
the supply table. is added to the game. If
the supply option is set at no, none of these
compl ications are included.
Supply is measured in supply poi nt s.
each representing several tons of fuel . am-
muni tion, or food. BOIh si des receive sup-
ply points each turn in off-map depots,
from which they are transferred first to
headquarters and then to combat units,
where they are consumed. Suppl y points
begin as generic poims; when Iransferred
to units they become fuel or ammunition.
(As a game abstraction, ammunition also
doubles as food.) Players transfer suppl y
between headquarters using the suppl y
table; distribution to combat uni ts is per-
fonned by the computer.
HEADQUARTERS
Headquarters (HQs) are not reall y com-
bat units. Although they act like combat
units in some ways, they are just an abstract
way of represent ing suppl y depots, con-
voys, and rear echelon support troops. HOs
may be given onl y march and defend
orders, and have no manpower slrength or
weapons. HQs receive supply poi nt s from
OIher HQs, store them, and distribute them
to units under thei r command. A HQ's cur-
rent tOlal of suppl y points is shown on its
unit display.
Types of "Qs: There are three types of
HQ: off-map supply depots. army HQs,
and corps HQs . Each si de has one off-map
supply depot. one anny HQ, and either two
or three corps HQs, depending on the
scenario. (NOli!: In Brevity and Battleaxe.
because of their small numbers of units.
some of the "corps" HQs are actually divi-
sion o r kampfgruppe HQs. In Brevity,
neither side has army HQs.)
Attacking HOs: HQs may be attacked
by conventional fire. Instead of casuahies.
enemy fire destroys suppl y poims. If there
is no fri endl y combat unit in the HQ's hex.
an enemy unit may enter. eliminating the
HQ. Nearly half its supply points are cap-
tured. and are added immedi ately to the
closest enemy HQ. Of the remainder, some
are destroyed and some appear along with
the HQ when it is replaced.
Replacement of HQs: A destroyed HQ
is replaced on the second tum following its
destruction; for example. a HQ eli mi nated
on tum I re-appears at the beginning of tum
3. A corps HQ appears stacked with its ar-
my HO. An anny HQ (or a corps HQ if
its army HQ has been destroyed) appears
on a friendly depot hex (see Supply Transfer
lines. page 2 1).
SUPPLY TRANSFER
You can Iransfer suppl y points between
HQs using the suppl y table, either to move
them from the depot to the front or to move
supply from an idle corps to a busy one.
Orr-map Depots: Each side has an off-
map suppl y depot . which works just like
a HQ except that it never enters the map
and supplies may be transferred onl y out,
never in. Each side receives new supply
points every !Urn at its depot. as shown on
the table on the next page. Suppli es may
be transferred out or left to accumulate.
Tobruk: The port of Tobruk. if in Allied
hands, also receives supplies each tum. The
Allied Tobruk HQ receives the points if a
suppl y transfer li ne (see the next page) can
be traced from it to Tobruk itself (hex
1711). Each turn's supplies are lost if not
received.
- 20-
Scellario
Brevity
Battleaxe
Crusader
Gazala
Supply Availability
Axis
ISO
ISO
100
250
Allied
Off-map Tobruk
125 25
150 25
225 125
250 125
The Supply Table: You can gct to the
friendly suppl y table by pressing the right
arrow <@>. You can' t get to the enemy
suppl y table. The table has the standard
headings giving the date , player movi ng,
and turn number. The rest is a matrix 10
let you keep track of supply transfer. The
left column is a list of supply sources, HQs
which can give away supplies: all HQs in-
cluding the off-map depot. The next col-
umn gives the number of points each HQ
currently has available for transfer: if the
HQ hasn' t given any supplies away yet. thi s
is equal 10 half its total poi nts at the begin-
ning of the turn. (Exceptioll : The off-map
depot has all its points avai lable for
transfer.) The next several columns list the
suppl y destinations, HQs which can receive
supplies: all HQs except the off-map depot.
The numbers in these columns give the
number of points currently being trans-
ferred from each source HQ to each
destination HQ. If the notation "NP" ap-
pears. that source is currentl y incapable of
transferring suppl y to that destinat ion.
(Note the diagonal line of NPs. showing
that a HQ can't transfer supply to itself. )
The last column is the number of supply
points in each HQ after it has given and
received supplies.
The white box is the cursor.
Moving t he Cursor : You can move the
cursor right with CI), 00, @. @ .or left
with @ . @ . @ ."@:ifyoudothiswhen
the cursor is brown, it changes back to
white. When the cursor is white , you can
move it up with @ or (!). down with ~
or @) : when the cursor is brown, these
keys are reserved for other uses.
How to Transfer Supply: First move the
cursor to a chosen intersection of source
and destination. Then press 0 or 0 :
when you do thi s, the cursor changes from
white to brown and supply is transferred
from tile source to the destination. You can
change the cursor from brown to white
(ending suppl y transfer) by pressing Q) or
ill again or by moving it left or right.
Transferri ng Supply: When you press
ill or 0 , all the source HQ's avai lable
suppl y is transferred to the destination. If
you want to change the amount transferred,
pressing @ or ill will increase the
amount. whi le @ or @ will decrease the
amount. The size of the change is large the
first time you press @ , (1). 8 . or .
decreases !hereafter until it reaches one,
and then becomes large again. This ap-
parently bizarre behavior lets you adjust the
suppl y transferred to any amount in a few
keystrokes. When the amount is set to..r.our
satisfaction, stop by pressing 0 or W or
by moving the cursor left or right. You can
return to the supply table and change the
supply transferred at any time until you quit
your tum. Transfer takes effect at the
beginning of turn resolution. before any
units move or fight.
Suppl y Transfer Li nes: In order for
supply transfer between two HQs to be
possible. they must be connected by a sup-
pl y transfer Hne. The supply dest ination
columns of the mat rix on the supply tabl e
shows if supply transfer lines exist between
HQs: "0" (before any supply is trans-
ferred) is shown if there is a line between
the two HQs, "NP" if there isn't a line be-
tween the two HQs. A supply transfer line
consists of a path 40 hexes or less long, en-
tirely along roads or tracks, and not enter-
ing a hex with an enemy unit or minefield.
(Note that this means a HQ must be on a
road or track to transfer supply.) Each hex
of track or rough terrain counts as two
hexes, as does each hex adjacent to an
enemy unit: a hex with two of these condi-
tions counts as four hexes, and a hex with
all three conditions counts as eight hexes.
For example, a supply transfer line enti re-
ly along a track, through rough hexes ad-
jacent to enemy units, could be only five
hexes long. Supply transfer lines are deter-
mined at the beginning of the turn; mov-
ing your HQs will have no effect until the
-21 -
next tum.
Depot Hexes: Supply transfer lines to the
off-map depots are traced to a number of
road and track hexes on the edges of the
map. For the Axis, these depot hexes are
hexes2iOl. l 50L 1301. and 0901. For the
Allies, they arc hexes 0932, 0532, 0432,
0132,0127,0122,0121, and 0114; also,
hex 1711 is the depot hex for the All ied
Tobruk HQ (only).
Hidden Units: If the visibili ty option is
set at no, you may sometimes find your
HQs without suppl y transfer lines for no
reason that you can tell. If you have counted
hexes righl. this means that there is an un-
seen enemy unil (or more than one)
somewhere along your supply line.
SUPPLY DISTRIBUTION
Supply is distributed from HQs to com-
bat units automatically, as it is needed.
Command Structure: A unit can' t
receive supply from just any HQ: it must
be the right HQ. A unit with a corps ident-
ification gets supply from its corps HQ; if
that is not possible, it gets supply from its
army HQ. A unit wi th an army identifica-
tion gets supply from its army only. A unit
with no HQ identification gets supply from
any friendly HQ. whichever is closest. No
unit can get suppl y directly from the off-
map depot.
Supply Distribution Lines: In order to
receive supply, a unit must be connected
to the correct HQ by a line no more than
seven hexes long, which does not pass
through an enemy unit or impassable ter-
rain. There are no other restrictions on this
supply line.
When Supply is Distributed: Each time
a unit uses supply points. it receives poi nts
to replace them immediately from its HQ,
unless the HQ doesn', have enough pointS
left or no supply line exists. In the latter
twO cases, the unit draws suppl y from its
internal capacity (see below). lIS suppl y will
be replenished at the beginning of any im-
pulse in which it recovers its supply line.
(Either the unit . its HQ. or a blocking
enemy unit must move for thi s to happen.)
Axis Fuel Restriction: The Axis con-
sistently suffered from fuel shortages in the
desert. This is simulated abstractly: only \4
of the supply points in each HQ at the
beginning of each tum (after supply
transfer) are available for use as fuel . When
the HQ has distributed that many points to
units as fuel, it may not distribute any more
points as fuel for the rest of the tum. When
a HQ runs out of fuel during the tum. this
faci is shown on its unit display in the next
turn by the notation "FUEL".
SUPPLY CONSUMPTION
Each unit has internal suppl y storage
capacity. Most of the time. a unit"s inter-
nal storage remains full, and it draws sup-
ply from its HQ; the internal capacity is
used only when the unit can', gel supply
from its HQ. Each unit has two separate
suppl y capacities: one for fuel and one for
ammunition. Capacities and consumption
are per battalion: a twobattalion unit has
twice the stated capacity and consumpt ion.
Fuel:
Capacity: A battalions fuel capaci ty
depends on its type, as given in the unit
characteristics tabl e. The capacity is given
in hexes: to determine the capacit y in
points, multiply by the number of points ex-
pended per hex. which also depends on unit
type and is found on the same table.
Use: Whenever a battalion enters a
new hex, it spends a number of fuel points
depending on its type. The fuel spent does
not depend on hex terrain or mode.
Ammunition:
Capacity: Each tank, armored car. and
flak battal ion carries 14 ammuni tion points.
All others carry 10 ammunit ion points each.
Use: Ammunition points are consumed
each impulse in which a uni t fires. Each
tank, armored car. and flak battalion con-
sumes 2 ammunit ion points; each other bat-
talion consumes 1 point. Artillery con-
sumes addit ional ammunition: one point per
16 guns if in advance or disordered mode .
or one point per 8 guns if in assault. de-
fe nd, or regroup mode.
Food: At the end of each turn. each bat-
talion consumes one ammunit ion point as
food.
-22-
SUPPLY CONDITION
As a unit consumes ils interior supply
reserves (which happens only i f it can't gel
supply from its HQ) . its supply condition
changes. as shown on Ihc unit display.
How Supply Condition is Displayed: A
unirs ammunition supply condition is
displayed using the same terms used for
morale and fatigue. E (excellent) means that
it is receiving supply from its HQ.
Anything else means that il is relying on
internal siores, and Ihc exact condition
depends on Ihc number of points il has left:
9 or more points is G (good); 7 or 8 is F
(fair); 4-6 is P (poor): less than 4 is A
(awful).
Fuel supply is given just 10 thc left of am-
munition supply. If the unit has fewe r than
iO hexes of movement remaining and is
below its maltimum fuel capacity (some
units have a capaci ty tess than 10), its re-
maining capacity is displayed. Otherwise,
nothing is displayed.
Effects: A unit without ammunit ion can't
fi re at all; a unit with 8 or fewer ammuni -
tion points (condi tions fair or worse) can't
fire its anillery. A uni t without fuel can't
move : if it routs, it remains in place and
takes increased casualties. (Exception: in-
fantry and machine gun uni ts can sti ll
disengage if they have no fueL) If a unit
has no food at the end of the day, its morale
drops by one level.
Airplanes
If the airplane option is set al yes, both
players receive airplane squadrons which
C!ln be used to bomb enemy units. If the 0p-
tion is set at 110, airplanes do not appear.
British airplanes are organized into
squadrons. whi le Axis air units are greatly
understrength Groppen (German) or Grop-
pi (Italian); they are all approximately the
same size and for convenience wi ll all be
referred to as squadrons. Each squadron
contai ns a part icular model of airplane. On-
ly bomber squadrons appear in the game:
fighte rs are taken care of abstractl y, in the
resolution of bomber losses. Bombers are
based off the map, and only appear on the
map when bombing target s. All air opera-
tions are handled using the airplane table
(one for each side) which can be reached
by pressi ng 0 .
SQUADRONS
The upper ponion of the airplane table
lists all the fr iendly bomber squadrons and
their characteristics: nationality (Na), unit
identification (unit), aircraft type. number
of operational planes (Up), number of
damaged planes (Down), and the impulse
of arri val on the map of three sonies (Sri.
Sr2. and Sr3). Nationality and unit ID are
for historical information only. Aircraft
type determines a squadron' s bombing
strengt h and its hang and turnaround times
(see below). Operational planes are all
those available for sorties: damaged planes
do not fly but may be repaired (made opera-
tional ) later . Sorties are explained below.
The lower pan of the airplane table is
used lO assign sorties (missions) to in-
dividual squadrons. Which squadron the
lower pan of the table refers to depends on
which squadron the upper pan' s cursor is
on; this squadron is shown in reverse video.
The upper cursor can be moved l! by
pressing @ or (I). or down with ~ or

SORTIES
A sortie is a single bombing mission of
a single squadron. A squadron can con-
ceivably (depending on time constrai nts)
perform up to three sonies in a tum. In each
sortie. the squadron reaches its target hex
or hex.es in a part icular impulse . wai ts a
specified amount of time for a larget (any
uni t) to appear. suffers losses from fighters
and anti-aircraft fi re. drops its bombs. and
returns to base. The number of impulses a
squadron wi ll spend over its target area
waili ng for a target unit is called its hang
lime. and is determined by the pl ayer when
the sonie is assigned. After a squadron flies
a sonie. there is a delay of several impulses
before it can fly another sort ie (time spent
returning to base. reloading wi th fuel and
bombs. and flying back to the battlefield):
- 23-
this is called the squadron's turnaround
time.
Squadrons can Oy sort ies during any of
the first ten impulses of the tum; no sor
ties are allowed during the last two im-
pulses (night).
To assign a sonie, first move the upper
cursor to the squadron you want . Then pick
a sonie by pressing Q) or (f). On the lower
part of the table , the lower cursor will ap-
pear on the first sortie; 10 pick the second
and third sorties press Q) or ill again.
Whi le a sort ie is picked. you can', move
the upper cursor. Pressing Q) or I) when
the third sonie is picked will drop all sor-
ties and leiS you move the upper cursor
again. A sortie has three characterist ics. all
defined by the player: impulse of arrival
(Interval), hang lime. and target area.
Impulse of Arri val: This is the impulse
in which the squadron reaches its target
area and, if there is a target in the area,
drops its bombs. When you fi rst pick a
squadron's first sonie, its arrival impulse
is set at 1. You can delay a sonie's arrival
number of the impulse) by
pressing u or 00, or speed its arrival by
pressing or @. (Note that these same
keys are used to move the upper cursor
when no sonie is picked.)
Ha ng Time: This is the number of im-
pulses a squadron will wai t over its target
area for a target to appear. Hang time stans
at I; that is, the squadron spends only its
impul se of arrival over its target area. You
can increase a sonie's hang time by press-
ing @ , @ , OO, @ ordecreaseit with(D.
00. @' (i) . Each airplane type has a
maximum hang ti me which can' t be exceed
ed; see the airplane characteristics table.
Note: A squadron drops its bombs only
once per sonie. If there is a target in its
target area when it arrives. the squadron
immediately drops its bombs and returns
home; otherwise it wailS until either a target
unit enters the area (in which case it drops
its bombs and depans) or its hang time runs
out (in which case it returns to base without
droppi ng its bombs).
Target Area: Every sonie has a target
area of from one to six contiguous hexes.
Target hexes are designated usi ng the air
tactical map. a marginally modified version
of the tactical map. To get to the air tac-
tical map. press 0 when a sonie is
picked. (If no sonie is picked, you will end
up on the regular tactical map.) The air tac-
tical map' s cursor is an airpiane symbol and
can be moved around the map the
directional keys. Press ill or (J to
designate the cursor's hex as a target hex;
if the hex is already a target hex, Q) or
cance ls the target hex. All the target hexes
of a single sonie must form a single. con-
tiguous group. If you try to add or cancel
a target hex so as to make the target area
no longer contiguous. the computer won' t
let you.
After you have defined the target area to
your satisfaction, return to the airplane
table with 0 . NOle that all the hexes of the
son ie's target area are now listed on the
lower pan of the table.
Changes: You can change any features
of a sonic at any time. up 10 the point when
you qui t the tu rn. However. see below.
Canceling a Sortie: Pressing I SPACE)
on the airplane table when a sort ie is picked
wi ll cancel that sortie and all higher-
numbered sort ies.
Limits: A squadron can fly at most three
sorties during the ten impulses per lurn
available for air operations. A squadron can
only do one thi ng al a ti me, so when you
define a sonie, limilS are placed on laler
(and earlier) sonies. For example. if you
schedule a sortie to arrive on impulse I and
hang for three impulses. and the squadron's
tu rnaround ti me is four impulses. the nexl
sonie can't be scheduled for any earlier
than impulse 8. Conversely, if you have a
sonie scheduled for impulse 6 (with the
same turnaround time), you can't schedule
a sonie for impulse 1 with a hang time
greater than one; if you wanted 10 schedule
a sortie for impulse 1 with a hang time of
IWO, you would first have to change the
next son ie' s arrival time to impulse 7 or
later.
Sometimes the liming of sonies may
mean that a squadron is only allowed two
sonies (or even only one) in alum.
-24-
especially if you give your sorties high hang
times. NOle Ihal no sort ie may extend pasl
impulse 10.
BOMBING
When a squadron perfonns a sortie, it
nies 10 its target area and bombs all unil s
it finds there, splitting its attack evenly
among all uni ts in the area . Important : a
squadron makes no dist inction between
friendly and enemy units: it will bomb any
friendly units in the target area. )fthere are
no units in the area, the squadron will bomb
the first unit that enters the area before its
hang time is exhausted.
Bombing causes losses to men and ar-
mored vehicles just like combat: the losses
happen before any ground combat in that
impulse. A squadron' s bombing power (and
the losses it inflicts) depends on ils number
of planes and thei r type.
AIRCRAFf LOSSES
Before they drop their bombs, squadrons
may take losses from enemy fighters and
anI i-aircraft guns. There are two types of
losses: damaged pl anes and destroyed
planes. Damaged planes are unserviceable
(""down" ) but may be repaired: destroyed
planes are eliminated permanentl y. Planes
which are damaged or destroyed do nOI
bomb their targets: sometimes, if a
squadron takes particularly heavy losses,
surviving planes will also fail to bomb (the
mission was aborted).
Airfields: There are four airfields on the
map. The more of these airfields owned by
a side, the more planes the enemy will lose.
This represent s the shorl -range fighters
which can be based there. A side owns an
airfield if its units were the last 10 enter the
hex (or il was friendly territory at the begin-
ning oflhe gl!me) and no enemy unit is ad-
jacent to the hex. (If enemy units are adja-
cent, neither side owns the airfield.)
Headquarters: If a HQ is bombed, it
loses suppl y points. Squadrons lake higher
losses when bombing HQs. because of Ihe
substantial anti -aircraft defenses at supply
depots. Note: German flak units do not af-
fect aircraft losses-they're busy looking
for tanks to shoot.
Repair: Roughly 1fl of ai rplane losses
will be onl y damaged. Every turn, if the
squadron flies any sorties, \4 of its starting
total of damaged planes are repaired at Ihe
end of the turn. If the squadron doesn'l fly
any sorties, Yz of its damaged planes are
repaired. Repairing a plane changes it from
" down" to "up".
Free Setup
When the hi storical setup option is set at
yes, all unit s start Ihe game in their
hi storical positions and all HQs in play are
given their hi storical suppl y levels.
When the option is set at 110, both pl ayers
have an opportunit y to change their units'
posi tions and suppl y allocations before the
game begins. Units may be moved
anywhere wi thin friendl y terri tory except
into an impassable hex: stacki ng limits may
not be exceeded .
Setup works in the same manner as a
turn. The Axi s p l ~ e r sets up first: when
he quits (presses (g)twice), it' s the Allied
player 's turn 10 set up: when he quits, the
game begins with the Axis first tum.
When your setup lurn begins, all your
units are in their hi stori cal positions. If the
visibil ity option is sel at 110, no enemy units
are visi bl e. You move your units to other
positions by picking them up and using the
directional keys. You can move them as far
as you want, drop them, pick them up
again, and move them again until you are
sati sfied with all your unils' positions. The
map is divided into enemy terri tory and
friendly terri tory. You can move your units
anywhere in friendl y territory; if you Iry
to move a unit into enemy territory, the
computer won't let you and Ihe message
"impassable hex" will appear.
Minefields can't be moved.
In all scenarios except Gazala, Allied
fri endl y territory is divided into IwO parts:
inside the Tobruk perimeter and outside it.
Unit s can'l be moved from one part to Ihe
other.
In Crusader, the Italian Trieste divi sion
begi ns the game outside the Axis player' s
- 25-
command. The three units of Trieste may
not be moved.
If the supply option is set at yes, all sup
ply can be freely distri buted (using the sup-
pl y table) among all HQs with suppl y lines
to each other.
Once you have positioned your army to
your satisfaction, press @ twice to end
your setup. If you have overstacked any
units, the computer will move the cursor
to the overstacked hex and give you an er
ror message. You must move units out of
the hex until it is no longer overstacked.
The computer will not let you end your
setup with units overstacked.
If you are playing a one player game, the
computer will also move its units during
free setup.
Reinforcements/Inactive Units
Some scenarios have rei nforcements
andl or inactive units .
The only inacti ve units are the Ital ian
Trieste division (lhree units) in Crusader.
Historicall y, these units were not under
Rommel's command at the start of the bat-
tle but were controlled directly by the
It alian high command. They were trans
ferred to Rommel duri ng the banle. In game
terms. they are in defend mode and may
not be given orders until turn 6. However.
they are all released if any Allied unit
comes to withi n three hexes of any uni t of
the division. Once released. they function
just like other Axis units.
Reinforcements arrive in road/t rack
hexes on the edge of the map, sometimes
with one or more of their impulses al ready
spent. During tum resolut ion and review,
they arrive in mid turn. If there is an enemy
unit in the arrival hex, they arrive in a dif
fe rent road/ track on the map edge. If there
is no such hex free of enemy units, they
wait unt il a hex is free (unt il a later turn
if necessary).
Reinforcements are in march mode when
they arri ve: in the next impulse they assume
defend mode if no orders are entered.
Allied reinforcements arri ve in hexes
0932, 0532, 0432. or 0132 in order of
preference. Axis reinforcements arrive in
hexes 2101, 1501, 1301, or 1901.
Victory
Victory in Rommel is based on the poi nt
score at the end of the game. The current
score is displ ayed during the game to keep
you posted on how well you are doing. The
score is based on both si des' unit strength
(compared to their origi nal strengths) and
on territorial objectives. The score display
shows the side that is currently winning
(Axis or All ied) followed by a number.
High numbers mean the player is winning
with a large advantage; low numbers mean
the player is winning but the game is close.
At the start of the game. the score is always
Axis O. At the end of the game, a player' s
level of victory can be determined from the
following table:
Poillls Level
0-400 . .. .. .. . ... . ..... . ... . ..... Marginal
401 -800 .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. ... . .. .. Moderate
80 1- 1200. . .. .......... . . Substantial
1201-1600 ... .... .. .. .. ..... . ... Decisive
over 1600 .... . ... . .. .. .. Overwhelming
Note: use Ih these totals for Brevity.
Poi nlS scored for unit strength are based
on current total of men or vehicles,
weighted for conventional and anti-tank
fi repower. Fatigue and morale don't count,
but supply status does, so loss of a HQ can
cause an abrupt change in the score. Air-
craft are counted too, by bomb rating, with
unserviceable ai rcraft counting somewhat
less.
Whenever control of a terrain objective
changes. points are gai ned or lost.
In Brevi ty and Batlleaxe , Halfaya Pass
(hex 0725) is worth 100 points and Bardia
(hex 1224) is worth 50 points; in Crusader
and Gazala they have no val ue. Whichever
player was the last to have a uni t in the hex
connols the objecti ve .
In all scenarios except GazaJa. Tobruk
(hex 1711 ) is worth 500 points. In Gazala,
Tobruk is worth 300 points. The Axis
pl aye r controls Tobruk if he was the last
-26-
to have a unit in the hex; the All ied player
controls Tobruk if he was the last to have
a unit in the hex and Tobruk is not isolated.
Tobruk is not isolated if a supply transfer
path can be traced from Tobruk to any
Allied off-map suppl y depot.
In Gazala, each airfield is wonh 50
points. (There are ai rfields at hexes 1904.
1213. 13 18, and 1122.) A player control s
an ai rfield if he was the last to have a unit
in the hex and no enemy uni t is adjacent
to the hex.
Usually. if one player loses control of an
objective. the other player gains control at
the same time; the score thus changes by
twice the objective's value (one player loses
points and the other player gains them).
Thus. if Halfaya Pass changes hands. the
total change in the score is 200 points. In
the case of Tobruk and the airfields it is
possible for an objective to be under neither
player'S control; if one player loses con-
trol and the other player doesn't gain con-
trol (or if a player gai ns control of an un-
controlled objective) the score changes by
the value of the objective.
Most objectives begin the game con-
trolled by one side. The exceptions are
Tobruk in all scenarios except Gazala (it's
isolated) and Gazala airfield in Gazala (the
British were the last to have uni ts there but
a German unit is adjacent).
After the Game
When the last turn has been resolved and
reviewed. press @ to advance to the tac-
tical map. The final score is di splayed, and
all units of both sides are visible wi th all
information displayed. Both sides' corps
tables have complete information. You can
get to bOlh sides' supply and airplane
tables. too. Press @ or once to get
the Axis table: press it again to get the
Allied table.
Mid-Game Options
There are a number of options available
during the game. You can save the game
or enler a previously saved one from disk.
save or enter a tum' s orders for either side.
or change various features of the game.
To do any of these, 'i.5!u must first stop
the game by pressing l!l twice. The disk
drive works for a while and the game
stopped menu appears. The various options
are covered below.
DISK OPERA TlONS
You can save or restore a game position,
save or enter a player's move. or play by
mail. using options I through 6. These op-
tions are described in a separate folder in-
cluded wi th the game.
CHANGING OPTIONS
Press ill on the game stopped menu to
display the option menu. You can change
the number of players. computer's side and
skill level. visibility. fat igue and sound.
You can't change suppl y, scenarios,
airplanes. or historical setup. Procedure
and effects of changi ng options are the same
as for the pre-game options.
Everything except number of players and
computer's side changes immediately: the
latter two change at the beginning of the
next player's tum. If, for example. you are
playing the All ies against the computer and
change your side to Axis, you would still
have to complete the current Allied move.
If you change fati gue from yes to 110. it
wi ll have no effect on the game thereafter.
You may also change the length of the
game. Press () to increase the length of
the game; press 8 to decrease the
length of Ihe-game. Each press of a key
changes the length of the game by one tum.
The maximum length is 99 IUrns; the
minimum is the current tum number (which
ends the game immediately). You can also
use this option to continue the game after
it has ended.
When all options are set to your -sat isfac-
tion. press @Jlo return to the game
stopped menu.
RETURNING TO THE
CURRENT GAME
You can leave the game stopped menu
and return to the game in progress by press-
- 27-
ing (ID (zero).
The Joystick
Most game functions can be handled us-
ing the joystick (in port 1) instead of the
keyboard. if desired. Using the joysti ck
doesn't disable the keyboard. and you can
freely mix both types of control. Since the
majority of players find keyboard input
easier for most functions, elsewhere in this
book refers to the keyboard only. and
joystick input is described by referring to
the keys of the keyboard.
Pick Up and Drop: To pick up or drop
a unit (or any other functions ofthe0 and
Q) keys). press the joystick fire button
briefly and release it.
Dirt.'Ctions: To enter one of the six direc-
tions (cursor movement. increase and
decrease suppl y quantities. etc.), move the
joystick with the fire butt on up, as shown
on the reference card. Note that moving the
joystick directly left or right has no effect.
This is to make it easier to enter the four
diagonal directions. For example, it is easy
to enter the upper right direction by first
movi ng the joystick right and then up.
Other Commands: To enter other com-
mands, press the fire button and hold it
down while moving the joystick. The cor-
respondence between jOyStick movements
and their equivalent keystrokes is shown on
the reference card. Note that though you
can't enter the various modes directly by
using the joystick, you can cycle through
them (equivalent to pressing @ )by mov-
ing the joystick up.
Joystick Sensitivity: The program delays
after each joystick command is entered.
You can control the length of this delay.
Making the delay shorter means the com-
puter responds faster. You can increase the
length of the delay by pressing CTRL @
or decrease it by pressing CTRL
The Computer as Player
The computer can play fairly well, but
it still isn't as flexible as a human player.
It does provide a good opponent, especial-
Iy when all options are in effect (visibi lit y
in panicular should be set at 110), and
especially at the high skill level. Because
of the complexity of its artificial in-
telligence routi nes. the computer player can
take a fairly long lime to make its move.
The time ranges from under 3 minUies
(Brevity with all options off, low skill level,
and a simple game position) to over 15
minutes (Oa1.3la or Crusader with all op-
tions on, high skill level, and a complex
position) .
Unlike many other computer games, the
computer player does not cheat when mak-
ing its move. The same information-no
more and no less- that is available to a
player is available to the computer player
when it is making it s move. For example,
when visibility is sel at /10, the only enemy
units whose locations the computer player
knows are those adjacent to its units. Also
unlike many other games_ the only dif-
ference between skill levels (and between
one-player and two-player games) is in the
"inlell igence'- of the computer player;
there arc no rules or unit strength changes.
The game itself uses a pseudo-random
number generator to resolve eventS; all
games between two human players will
have identical results if the players choose
identical options and enter identical orders.
However. the computer player uses a
"real" random number generator in mak-
ing some of its decisions. (If it didnt. il
would be too predictable.)
When the computer is taking its turn, a
list of the things it thinks about is displayed,
along with counters showi ng how much
time (in seconds and tenths of seconds) it
spends on each item. The counter that 's
currently increasing is what the computer
is "thinking" about.
Program ~ e s s a g e s
The bottom line on the screen is used for
messages from the computer [0 you. The
various messages are given below.
Put game disk (side B) in 01. Press
(RETURN) when ready: You are either
in the midst of slaning a game or return-
-28-
ing to one in progress from saving or enter-
ing a position or lurn. Insert the game disk
wi th side B up and press (RETURN) .
Insert side A and press any key: You
are restaning the game and Ihe computer
needs 10 read from side A of the game disk.
To continue. insert the game disk with side
A up and then press any key.
Unknown key, (ESC) exits: You.are in
the midst of saving or entering a position
or turn. The compUier didn't understand
your lasl keystroke. You could try to pn:ss
key or simply stan over with
U!J
Problem with disk/disk drive. Correct
disk and side? (ESC) exits, space bar
retries: You are in the midst of staning a
game or saving/enteri ng a position/tum.
For any of a number of possible reasons.
the computer is unable to read/ write to a
disk. Check the drive and disk to make sure
everything is working correctly (the right
disk is in the drive, the door is closed, etc.)
and then press! SPACE lto have the com-
puter try it again or press.C!Jto return
to the mid-game menu. There is very little
danger to the game in progress or the game
disk. The computer will try over and over
again until it succeeds or you give up.
Target added: You have j ust added a
target hex to an airplane squadron sonie.
Target deleted: You have just deleted a
target hex from an airplane squadron sonic.
Targets unconneded: You are trying to
add or delete a target hex for a sonie and
the hex you have chosen is not allowed
because it would result in unconnected
target hexes.
Maximum Exceeded: There are two
pt>ssible reasons for this message. If you
are trying to add an airplane sonic target
hex. the message means that you already
have the maximum number of target hexes
(six). If you are trying to move a unit into
a hex. it means that you are trying to move
a unit into a hex already containing 12
friendly units. You can pm more than 12
unit s into a hex. but the computer can only
di splay 12. If there are 13 or more units
in a hex. you can only pick up the 13th one
(t he one li sted 13th on the order of baltic)
if you first move another unit out of the
hex.
Earlier arrival not possible: You have
tried to change the arrival of an airplane
sonie to an earlier time and either the ar-
ri val time is already I or there has not been
enough turnaround time since the previous
sonie.
Later arrival not possible: You have
tried to change the arrival of an airplane
sonie to a later time and ei ther the arri val
time plus the hang time already add up to
impulse IOor there will not be enough rurn-
around time for a later sonie which has
already been defined.
Hang time at maximum: You have tried
to increase a sonie's hang time beyond the
aircraft type's maximum.
All available supply transferred: You
have tried to increase the amount of sup-
ply transferred from a headquarters beyond
the maximum.
Transfer amount zero: You have tried
to reduce the amount of supply transferred
below zero.
Friendly and enemy units in hex: Units
from both sides are stacked in the hex. This
message is to help you not ice when your
units have been moved to an enemy-
occupied hex. Usually. only the enemy
units will be visible on the screen and the
unit di splay. However. you can pick up
your units in enemy-occupied hexes . and
then your units in the hex will be displayed.
Not enough time left: You are tryi ng to
enter an order which takes more time to
complete than the unit has left.
Impassable hcx/ hexside: You arc trying
to move a unit into illegal terrain. Usually
thi s is a sea hex. an impassable hex. or a
cliff hexside. This message also appears
duri ng free setup if you try to move a unit
into an enemy-controlled hex.
Map edge: You are trying 10 move the
cursor or a unit off the edge of Ihe map.
Unit immobile: You arc trying 10 move
an inactive unit or pick up a minefield.
Unit 0(1" map: The cursor on the corps
table is on a reinforcement which has nOI
yet entered the game.
No order entered: You are trying to
-29-
cancel the order of a unit with no orders
(t hi s always appears when you cancel all
a unifs orders with I SPACE i) ,or you are
locating units wi thout orders on the
st rategic map.
No unit in hex: You are trying to pick
up a unit in a hex in which there are no
friendly units (although there may be
enemy uni ts there).
Last unit: You have pressed with the
last unit listed in the 08 picked up. To get
to the first unit in the 08, drop the unit and
then press @.
Key undefined: You have pressed a key
that has no meaning in the game.
Key undefined here: You have pressed
a key that is used in the game. but not at
the moment.
HQs cannot: You are trying \0 have a
HQ do something other than march or
defend.
All units have orders: You have just
searched for units without orders and none
were found.
Review paused, press X to end review:
You were in the middle of reviewing units'
orders and pressed 00. You can cancel the
rest of the review by pressing a ain. or
conti nue the review by pressing SPACE
Stacking limit exceeded: You are try-
ing to exi t from free setup and one or more
hexes has too many units in it. The cursor
is positioned on one of the overstacked
hexes. You must correct the overstacking
before you can exit.
End turn with Q: You have pressed @
once. You can quit the tum by pressing @
a ain or cancel the order by pressing
SPACE
End game with Q: You have reached the
end of the game and have pressed @ once.
You can end the game by pressi ng @
cancel the order by pressing
with (CTRL) X: You have
pressed ICTRl) 00 once. You can stan the
tum over (cancelin all units' orders) by
pressi ng (CTRl) X a ain or cancel the
order by pressing SPACE
Stop game with S: You have pressed
once. You can stop the game and go the
stopped game menu by pressi ng S again
or cancel the order by pressi ng SPACE
- 30-
AIRPLANE CHARACTERISTICS TABLE
Bomb Hang Tm
Type
S"
TIme TIme
Ju-87 4 I 3
Ju-88 4 2 5
Br-20 4 5
Well ington 3 4 6
Maryland 3 I 5
Blenhei m 3 2 5
Boston 4 I 5
Hurricane 2 I 3
Ki uyhawk 2 I 3
Baltimore 4 2 5
Bomb Sfr (Bombing Streng/h): Relative
effectiveness of aircraft types. Hang
TIme: Number of impulses over target
area. Tm (Turnaround) Time: Number of
impulses between son ies.
UNIT CHARACTERISTICS TABLE
- Combat Strel1gth- MOI'emel1f Costs - Fuel -
Type ArAtk ArDef COlII' Clear Rough ROlld Track
E"
An'lt Cap
U"
Pnz 15 8 40 3 5 1 2 +3 6 14 2
M\3 10 4 20 4 5 1 2 +4 6 12 2
L3 1 2 10 3 5 2 +3 6 8 2
L6 5 2 10 3 5 2 +3 6 I. 2
Mat 10 16 20 5 5 2 +6 8
I'
3
V,1
10 12 20 4 5 2 +4 6 9 2
A10 10 6 20 4 5 2 +4 6 10 2
A13 10 6 20 3 5 2 +3 6 10 2
Cru 10 8 20 3 5 2 +3 6 14 2
S'"
10 6 20 2

+2 6 8
Mk6 2 20 2

1 +3 6 14 1
Gn 15 12 30 4 5 2 +4 6 12 2
AC 2 10 2 4 I +2 6 I.
Ren(g) 6 2 4 +2 6 14
Ren(a) 4 2 4 +3 6 14
Rcn(i)
3 2 4 1 +3 6 14
Inf(g)
3 5 5 2

+6 8 14
Inf(a)
2 4 5 1 2 +4 6 14
Inf(i) 5 5 2

+6 8 I.
Mot(g) 4 2 4 +3 6 14
Mot(a)
3 2 4 +3 6 14
Mot(i) 1 2 4 1 +3 6 14 1
Be,
3 2 4 I +3 6 14 1
MG 2 5 5 2 4 +6 8 14 1
Flk 4 2 4 +6 8 14 I
HQ 3 5 2 +3 10
AT(g) 15
AT(a) 8
AT(i)
8
AT(Ok) 50
Guns(g) 5 25
Guns(a) 5 18
Guns(i)
5 15
After unit type. (g) means Gennan. (a) means Allied. (i) means Italian. Combat Strel/gths:
Relat ive effectiveness of the unit types. ArAtk: Armor Attack. ArDe/, Armor Defense.
COl/\': Convent ional Attack. MOI'emelll Costs: Number of impul ses to move one hex or
cross one hexside (escarpment) . Clear includes ai rfield. town. and hi ll. Asslr is the time
used when entering any hex in assault mode . (fthe defender disengages before an assaulling
attacker's assaul! time is over. the attacker spends one impulse changing to advance mode
before entering the defender's hex. Fuel Cap: Maxi mum number of fuel supply points
carried by the uni t type. Fll el Use: Suppl y point s used per hex entered.
BATTLES FOR TOBRUK
Historical and Players' Notes
CONTENTS
Orders or Battl e ............................ 2 Gazala ..................................... 19
Brcvity ............ ........ .................. 2 Aftennath ................................ 25
Battleaxe .......... ... . .... ................. 3 Tanks in the Desert ...................... 25
Crusader .................................. 4 British ..................................... 25
Gazala ............... ...................... 5 Italian . .. ................................ 27
Historical Noles. ... .. . ......... 6 Gemlan ................................. 28
Prelude: Rommel Arrives .............. 6 Strategy and Tactics......... . 28
Brcvity ............ .. .. ... ................... 9 Brevity .................................. 29
BauJeaxc .................................. 11 Baulcaxe ................................. 30
Crusader .................................. 14 Crusader .................................. 30
The Benghazi Handicap ............... 18 Gazala .................................... 31
Copyright 1986 by Game Designers' Workshop. All righls reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
Orders of Battle
The following orders of battle li st the
forces available to each side in each of the
four scenarios. Axi s formations are ident-
ified by nationality: It for Italian and Ge,
for German.
Note that in some cases units of one divi -
sion are split between two headquaners.
For example. in Brevity, parts of 5th Light
Division appear in Gruppe Herff and DAK.
Unit types on the orders of battle corres-
pond to the unit types assigned to the units
in the game. In some cases, this differs
from their official designations. For exam-
ple. Gennan machinegun battalions were
used as motorized infantry in Africa and
thus are identified as motorized in the game
and in the orders of battle.
British unit designations are a bit confus-
ing. Regiments are administrative units, Jl()(
field units. A regi ment could have any
number of battalions, all fighti ng in dif-
feren! armies; the Royal Tank Regiment
(RTR), for example. had 24 (numbered
1- 12 and 40-5 1) . Banal ions were referred
to by a banal ion number and the regimen-
tal name. for example 42nd RTR: the 42nd
Battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment. To
further confuse things, some regiments had
strange names: the King's Royal Rifle
Corps was a regiment , and so was the Ri -
fle Brigade (maki ng the 2nd Rifle Brigade
a banalion) . Finall y. some regiments (the
older ones) had numbers and some bat -
talions (mostly former cavalry) were
regiments too; the 7th Hussars were not the
7th battalion of any regimen!, but a com-
plete regiment with one battalion.
BREVITY
Axis
Gruppe Herff
Tren/o lrzfamry Dh'isioll (It)
6 1 Infant ry Regiment
1st. 2nd Battalions
62 Infantry Regiment
1st , 2nd. 3rd Battalions
- 2-
Ariete Armored Divisioll (II )
8th Bersaglieri Regiment
3rd Battalion
51h Light Division (Ger)
3rd Reconnai ssance Banalion
5th Panzer Regiment
II Battalion
15th Panzer Dh'ision (Ger)
33rd Reconnai ssance Battalion
15th Motori zed Battalion
DeUlsches Afrika Korps
4th, 5th. 11th Tank Battalions (It)
Trefllo Infamry Dh';siorz (It)
7th Bersaglieri Regiment
10th. II th Battalions
Ari('/e Annored Division (It)
32nd Armored Regiment
1st. 2nd. 7th Battalions
8th Bersaglieri Regiment
5th. 12th Battalions
Brescia Infantry Division (It)
19th Infantry Regiment
1st , 2nd Batlalions
20th Infantry Regiment
1st. 2nd. 3rd Battalions
5th Light Division (Ger)
200th Motorized Regiment
2nd. 8th Battalions
15th Ponzer Dhjsion (Ger)
8th Panzer Regiment
I Battalion
l04th Motorized Regiment
I. II Battalions
115th Motorized Regiment
I Battalion
Allies
7th Armoured Division
Beamco!. Nirecol ,
Rozecol Motorized Columns
2nd Rifl e Brigade
7th Armoured Brigade
2nd RTR
22nd Guards Infantry Brigade
4th RTR, 2nd Scots Guards.
3rd Coldstream Guards.
151 Durham Light Infantry
Tobruk Garrison
18th Indian Cavalry
3Td Armoured Brigade
King Dragoon's Guards.
3rd Hussars. 1st RTR.
o Squadron 7th RTR
9th Australian Infanlry Dil'ision
18th Australian Infantry Brigade
9th. 10th. 12th Battalions
20th Australian Infantry Brigade
13th. 15th. 17th Battal ions
24th Australian Infantry Brigade
28th 3200. 43rd Baualions
26th Australian Infantry Brigade
23rd. 48th. 1st Pioneer Battalions
BAlTLEAXE
Axis
Pan1.ugruppe Afrika
1118 Flak Battalion (Ger)
300th Infantry Battalion (Ger)
21st Corps
Pavia Infantry Division (/1)
27th Infantry Regiment
1st, 2nd. 3Td Battalions
29th I.nfantry Regiment
1st. 2nd. 3rd Battalions
Brescia Infantry Dil'ision (II)
19th Infantry Regi ment
1st. 2nd Battalions
20th Infantry Regiment
1st. 2nd. 3rd Battalions
22nd Corps
Ariete Armored Division (It)
32nd Armored Regiment
1st. 2nd. 7th Baualions
8th 8ersaglieri Regiment
3rd, 5th, 12th Battalions
Trento Infantry Division (II)
7th Bersaglieri Regiment
10th. 11th . Battalions
61st Infantry Regiment
1st. 2nd Battalions
62nd Infantry Regiment
1st, 2nd. 3rd Battalions
-3-
Deulsches Afrika Korps
51h Light Didsion (Gu)
3rd Reconnai ssance Battalion
5th Panzer Regiment
I. II Battalions
2001:h Motorized Regiment
2nd. 8th Battalions
151h Panzer Division (Ger)
33rd Reconnaissance Battalion
15th MOIorized Battalion
8th Panzer Regiment
I. U Battalions
l04th Motorized Regiment
I. IJ Battalions
I I 5th Motorized Regiment
I. II Battal ions
Allies
Western Desen Force
4th Indian Infantry Dil'isiOlI
Cent ral Indian Horse
4th Armoured Brigade
4th RTR, 7th RTR
11th Indian Infantry Brigade
2nd Cameron Highlanders.
5th Madras Light Infantry,
6th Rajputana RiOes
22nd Guards Infantry Brigade
lSI Buffs. 2nd Scots Guards,
3Td Coldstream Guards
7th Armoured Dilision
7th Armoured Brigade
2nd RTR. 6th RTR
7th Suppa" Group
1st King's Royal RiOe Corps.
2nd Rifl e Brigade
Tobrok Garrison
18th Indian Cavalry
3rd Armoured Brigade
King's Dragoon Guards.
D Squadron 7th RTR. lst RTR,
3rd Hussars
9th Australian Infantry Dil'ision
I st Pioneer Battalion
18th Australian Infantry Brigade
13th, 32nd Battalions
20th Australian Infantry Brigade
9th. 10th. 15th Battalions
24th Australian Infant ry Brigade
17th 28th. 43rd Battalions
26th Australian Infantry Brigade
12th. 23rd, 48th Baualions
CRUSADER
Axis
Pant.erannee Afrika
1118, 1133 Flak Battalions (Ger)
Afrika DiI'ision (Ged
300th. 111/255.
111 /347 Infantry Batlalions
155th Infantry Regi ment
361 st Infanuy Regi ment
501'olla Illfanlry Division (1/)
t 5th Infantry Regi ment
t 6th Infant ry Regi ment
Bardia Garrison (It)
Genova Battalion
280th Infantry Regiment
20th Corps
Ariete Annored Division (It)
132nd Annored Regiment
7th. 8th, 9th Batlalions
32nd Armored Regiment
I st, 2nd Battalions
8th Bersaglieri Regiment
Trieste Motorized Division (It)
9th Bersaglieri Regiment
65th Motorized Regiment
66th Motorized Regiment
RECAM (It)
4th. 5th, 11th Tank Battalions
Gessi Reconnaissance Battalion
21s1 Corps
Trento Infantry Dil'isioll (/I )
61 st Infantry Regi ment
62nd Infantry Regiment
7th Bersaglieri Regiment
Paria Infalllr)' Dil'ision (It)
27th Infant ry Regiment
28th Infantry Regi ment
Brescia Infantry Dil'ision (II )
t 9th Infantry Regiment
20th Infantry Regi ment
-4-
Bologna Infantry Di vision (It)
39th Infantry Regiment
40th Infantry Regiment
Deutsches Afrika Korps
15th Pallur Dil'ision fGer)
33rd Reconnaissance Battalion
8th Panzer Regiment
I. 11 Battalions
I I 5th Motorized Regiment
I, II Baltalions
200th Motorized Regiment
2nd , 15th Battalions
21s1 Panu r DMsion (Ger)
3rd Reconnai ssance Battalion
5th Panzer Regiment
I. 11 Battal ion
t04th Motorized Regi ment
I. n , 8t h Battal ions
Allies
8th Anny
13th Corps
1st Tank Brigade
8th RTR, C Squadron 42nd RTR,
44th RTR
2nd New Zealand Infantry Division
2nd New Zealand
Divisional Cavalry
28th Maori Battalion
4th New Zealand Infant ry Brigade
5t.h New Zealand Infantry Brigade
6th New Zealand Infantry Brigade
4th Indian Infantry Division
Central Indian Horse
5t.h Indian Infantry Brigade
7th Indian Infantry Brigade
11th Indian Infantry Brigade
2nd South African Infantry Di vision
3rd South Afri can Infant ry Brigade
4th South African Infantry Brigade
6th South African Infantry Brigade
30th Corps
4th Annoured Brigade
3rd RTR. 5th RTR. 8th Hussars,
2nd Scots Guards
1st South Africall Infalllry Division
3rd South African Armoured Cars
I st South African Infantry Brigade
5th South African Infantry Brigade
7th Annoured Division
4th South African Armoured Cars,
11th Hussars,
King's Dragoon Guards
7th Support Group
7th Armoured Brigade
2nd RTR, 6th RTR, 7th Hussars
22nd Armoured Brigade
2nd Hussars.
3rd County of London Yeomanry,
4th Coumy of London Yeomanry
Tobruk Garrison
Carpathian Uhlans
2nd Czech Battali on
Carpathi an Brigade
32nd Tank Brigade
1st RTR, 4th RTR,
D Squadron 7t h RTR
70rh Infantry Division
3rd. 15th AUSlfalian
Infamry Baualions
14th Infantry Brigade
16th Infamry Brigade
23rd Infant ry Brigade
GAZALA
Axis
Ponzerarmee Afrilw
UIS, 1133, 1/43 Flak Battalions (Ger)
90th Light Africa Division (Ger)
Sonderverband 288
155th Motorized Regimem
I, II Baltal ions
Gruppe Cruwell
Sabratha Infantry Division (It)
85th Infantry Regi mem
86th Infantry Regi ment
Trento Infalll ry Division (II)
61 st Infantry Regiment
62nd Infantry Regiment
Pavia Infantry Division (It)
27th Infamry Regimem
28th Infantry Regiment
Brescia Infantry Division (It)
19th Infantry Regimem
- 5-
20th Infantry Regiment
90th Light Africa Oh'ision (Ger)
200th Motorized Regimem
I, II Battalions
361 st Motorized Regimen!
I. II Battalions
20rh Corps
Trieste Motorized Dil,ision (It)
8th Bersaglieri Battalion
11th Tank Battalion
9th Bersaglieri Regiment
65th Motorized Regiment
66th MOiorized Regiment
Ariete Armored DiI'ision (It)
Nizza Reconnaissance Battalion
132nd Armored Regiment
8t h. 9th. 10th Battalions
8th Bersaglieri Regiment
LillOrio AmlOred Di l'ision (It)
Lancieri di Novara Tank Batt alion
I 33rd Armored Regiment
12th. 51st Battalions
12th Bersaglieri Regiment
Deutsches Afrilw Korps
15th Ponl,l!r Oil'ision (Ger)
33rd Reconnaissance Ballalion
8t h Panzer Regiment
I, II Battalions
I 15th Motorized Regiment
I. II . III Battalions
21st Panu r Oil'ision (Ger)
3Td Reconnaissance Battalion
5th Panzer Regiment
I. II Battalions
l04th MotoriZed Regi ment
I. II , III Battalions
Alli ed
Bth Army
1st Duke of Cornwall's
Light Infantry,
1st Sherwood Foresters
51h Indian Infantry Oil'ision
9th Indian Infantry Brigade
10th Indian Infantry Brigade
29th Indi an Infantry Brigade
10th Indian Infantry Dil'ision
I I t h Indian Infantry Brigade
20th Indian Infantry Brigade
13th Corps
1st Tank Brigade
8th RTR. 42nd RTR. 44th RTR
32nd Tank Brigade
4th RTR. 7th RTR
50th In/anl ry Dil'ision
69th Infantry Brigade
150th Infantry Brigade
151 SI Infantry Brigade
1st South A/rican Infantry Division
3rd South African Armoured Cars
1st South African Infant ry Brigade
2nd South African Infantry Brigade
3rd Sout h African Infamry Brigade
30th Corps
1st Free French Bri gade
1st Armoured Division
12th Lancers. Royals
20 I st Guards Motor Brigade
2nd Armoured Brigade
Queen's Buffs. 9th Lancers.
10th Hussars. 1st Ri fle Brigade
22nd Armoured Brigade
2nd Hussars,
3rd County of London Yeomanry.
4th County of London Yeomanry.
3rd Sharpshooters
7th Armoured Division
King' s Dragoon Guards.
6th South African Armoured Cars
4th Armoured Brigade
8th Hussars. 3rd RTR. 5th RTR.
1st King's Royal Rifl e Corps
7th Motor Bri gade
3rd Indian MOIor Brigade
Tobruk
2nd SOli/II A/rican In/antI}' Division
4th SoUlh African Infantry Brigade
6th South African Infantry Brigade
Historical Notes
PRELUDE: ROMMEL ARRIVES
In the wi nter of 1940-41 , the British
Western Desert Force had gained near tOlai
supremacy over the desert . In December
-6-
the 71h Armoured and 4th Indian Divisions
had attacked and overwhelmed the Italian
forces guarding the Libyan-Egyptian fron-
tier. destroying four Ital ian divisions. In
late December the 4th Indian Division had
been withdrawn for employment in East
Africa and 6th Australian Division had
taken its place. The divi sion' s first action
had been 10 storm Bardia fon ress , captur-
ing both the harbor and the remnants of four
more Italian divisions. In January Tobruk
fe ll and in the first days of February the 7th
Armoured Division cut off and destroyed
the remnants of the retreating Italian 10th
Army at Beda Fomm. In less than two
months a Commonwealth force never ex-
ceeding two divi si ons had totally an-
nihilated an Italian army over five times its
strength.
Unfortunately, the Commonwealth force
was almost completely spent in the process.
7th Armoured Division, which began the
offensive with over 200 tanks, finished its
work at 8eda Fomm with scarcely 50. In
addition. political and strategic considera-
tions seemed to requite that the British send
a force to assist the Greeks in their war
againsl Italy. Thus, although the British had
received several new divisions, the best
troops would be sent to Greece and Western
Desert Force would go on the defensive for
the ti me being.
Whi.le the veteran 6th Australian Division
was withdrawn for Greece. its place was
taken by the as-yet- untried 9th Australian
Division. 7th Armoured Di vision was
withdrawn to Egypt for badly-needed refit-
ting. while 2nd Armoured D i v i ~ i o n took its
place. However. two of 2nd Armoured' s
six tank battalions had been shipped earl y
and had fought (as pan of 71h Armoured)
throughout the winter offe nsive, and were
thus exhausted. The division's 1st Ar-
moured Brigade, wit h three more tank bat-
talions and most of both divi sions' remai n-
ing operationallanks, was senllO Greece .
The o nly tanks left to the inexperienced
tankers of 2nd Armoured's ot her brigade.
the 3rd, were the surviving worn-out
vehicles of 7th Armoured, supplemented by
a number of captured Italian M- B /4O s. l n
The Desert WaI
an attempt to remedy the weakness in
mobil e troops on the fronlier, the British
reinforced 2nd Armoured with the 3rd In-
dian Motor Brigade. The brigade was made
up of good personnel but had no antitank
guns. a crippling liability in the desen.
Whil e this changi ng of the guard was be
ing accomplished. General Ronunel had ar-
ri ved in Tripoli with the first cont ingent of
German ground troops. While he was
designnted as a corps commander. al first
he possessed only one understrength ar-
mored formation, the 5th Light Division.
This division had as many tanks as a slan-
dard panzer division, but much less anillcry
and infantry.
In addition 10 the one German division,
there were several Italian formations in
Tripolitania available for use. These were
not technicall y under Rommel 's command,
and the It alian high command was
understandably reluctant to ri sk their
destruction considering the catastrophe of
a month earl ier. Nevertheless, some of the
more batt le-worthy elements of these di vi-
sions could be used in a short offensive
against the British.
First, there were the four remaining
Italian infantry divisions in Africa: Savona,
Bologna, Brescia, and Pavia, which had re-
mained near Tripoli to guard against a
- 7-
o "
---
100
1
French invasion from Tuni sia. Now that it
was clear that the Vichy troops in Tunisia
would remain neutral. these divisions could
safely be committed against the British.
Next, there were the newly arrived
elements of the Italian Armored Corps, the
Trento Motorized Di vision and the Ariete
Armored Division. Ariete's medium tanks
had been sem over ahead of the main body.
however, and had been wiped out at Beda
Fomm. The division's remaining armored
force (32.,d Tank Regi ment) was equipped
almost entirely with L3 tankettes-slow,
thinl y armored, and armed only with two
machineguns.
Despite the apparem weakness of his
forces. Rommel sensed even greater
weakness on the British side and decided
to attack. The attacking force would con-
sist of 5th Light and Ariele moving cross-
country, while Brescia would provide a
follow-up force for operations on the coast
road. The effort would be supplied by the
expedient of turning the Trent o into an in-
fantry divi sion and using its trucks as sup-
ply carriers.
The offensive j umped off on March 31 SI
and ran imo some initial difficullies at the
Mersa Brega bott leneck. Howe\'er. the
British commander chose to await further
developments before commi lling his armor
and by April I the vital narrows had been
cleared. Wi th German annor in the open
desert. the 2nd Annoured Di vision began
giving ground and losing tanks at an a1ann-
ing rate from mechanical breakdown. By
April 5th. Brescia had rccapwred Benghazi
and pressed on to Oriana. 5th Li ght's 3rd
Recon Battalion had led the way to
Benghazi and then struck due east to Char-
ruba. 5th Panzer Regiment was at Antclat
and 2nd Machinegun Batlalion was at
Sccleidima. both closing in on Msus. In lIle
south the 8th Machinegun Baualion and the
main body of Ariete made the most im-
pressive gains, having reached Bir
Tengeder by way of Maaten el Grara and
Ben Gania. By the end of the first week of
April Mechili was surrounded, Derna had
fallen, and advanced German detachmcnts
were approaching Tobruk.
On the British side , the si tuation looked
gri m. The forward troops of9th Australian
Division had successfull y disengaged from
Benghazi and delayed the Brescia Di vision
wi th rearguard detachments and demoli-
tions. Howcvcr. 3rd Annoured Brigade had
vi rtuall y ceased to exist, its tanks spread the
Icngth of Cyrcnaica, victim to mechanical
breakdown or lack of fuel. 2nd Armoured
Division's HQ and 3rd Indian Motor
Brigade had been surrounded at Mechili
and forced to surrender. wi th the exception
of onc regiment (the 18th Cavalry) and a
scanering of troops from the othcr
regiment s which had succeeded in break-
ing out. The 18th Cavalry was added to the
Tobruk garrison while the other survivors
were sent back to Egypt to reform.
As Axis troops closed the ring around
Tobruk . the British belatedly began
assembling a small force on the Libyan-
Egyptian front ier under Brigadier GOIl to
hold thc Axis advanced guard at bay. There
were several small clashes in April and the
Germans succeeded in occupying Bardia
and Halfaya Pass. However, with Tobruk
strongly garrisoned in their rear the Ger-
mans could nOi press on until it was taken.
The first attack on Tobruk came on the
night of April 13- 14. It was spearheaded
by the 8th Machinegun battalion and sup-
- 8-
poned by the remai ning lanks of 5th Light
Di vision. (During the frantic drive across
Cyrenaica Rommel' s tank officers had
repeatedly requested hailS for mainlenance.
arld Rommel had repeatedly denied pennis-
sion. The result was a lightni ng advance at
lIle cost of tremendous mechanical attrition.
By the time the division arrived at Tobruk
it had only 38 tanks left of its original
slrength of 150. ) Up until thi s time, Rom-
mel had enjoyed tremendous success with
inadequate forces by striki ng swiftly and
unexpectedly before the enemy was full y
prepared to meet him. On April 14th.
howcver. that run of luck came to a sud-
dcn c nd . The alert and aggressive
Australians gave the panzers a severe maul-
ing (knocking out 17 of the 38 tanks in ac
tion) and virtuall y wiped oul the 8th
Machinegun Battalion.
Over lIle next several weeks new German
troops arrived from the 15th Panzer Divi
sion and took up posi tions around the
perimeter. However, the Australians con
ducted an aggressive defense punclUated
with numerous night commandotype raids
and frequent battalion-scale countcrattacks.
Two attacks by thc 2/48th Auslralian In
fantry (identified in the game as the 48th
Battal ion) overwhelmed and wiped out the
III Battalion, 61 st Infantry Regiment of
Trent o and nearly dcstroyed the 3rd Ber
saglieri Motorcycle Battalion of the Ariete
Division's 8th Bersagl icri Regiment. Also
during thi s time, the British sent a few tanks
from Egypt to Tobruk by sea and they were
added 10 the survivors ofllle 3rd Annoured
Brigade to form a small mobile reserve.
On May I. Rommel launched his second
major assault on Tobruk. Beller planned
and with stronger forces. this attack tested
the defenses of the fortress 10 the limi!.
Ult imately. however, the defenders con-
tained lIle German penetration and regained
part of the lost ground. Again, German ar-
mor suffered punishing casualties . The 5th
Panzer Regiment' s strength had risen to 81
runners before the bailie, due to the untir-
ing efforts of thc regiment' s maintenance
personnel, but by May 2 the regimcnt had
only 35 tanks still fi t for action.
Both belligerent s were now at the point
of exhaustion and an uneasy point of
balance was reached around Tobruk. The
next major action would see the growing
British force on the front ier attempt to seize
the ini tiative from the Axis screening forces
near Bardia.
BREVITY
In early May the British received word
that they would be receivi ng substantial ar-
mored reinforcements by the end of the
month. This would enabl e them to launch
a major attack in earl y June, but it also
meant that they could be somewhat more
aggressive with their forces currently on the
frontier, weak though they mi ght be. With
more tanks due to arrive short ly, a failed
attack would not be the disaster that it
would have been a week earlier. Thus, it
was decided to mount a modest operation
by Brigadier Gott' s mobile force .
Gott' s force on the frontier consisted of
bits and pieces from several formations.
The 7th Annoured Brigade (from 7t h Ar-
moured Di vision) controlled one weak tank
battalion (2nd RTR, about 30 runners) and
three "columns" of the 7th Armoured
Division's support group. Each of these
columns included a company of motorized
infa ntry and about hal f a ballery each of
antitank guns and field guns. The tanks
were the scrapings of the workshops in
Egyp( ; most had either broken down or suf-
fered battle damage in the winter offensive
but were now being returned to servi ce.
The independent 22nd Guards Brigade had
its own three motorized infantry battalions,
a battalion of heavy infant ry tanks (4th
RTR), a battery of antitank guns, and a bat-
talion of field guns. Both of these forces
would attack the open desert flank and at-
tempt to overrun Halfaya , Capuzzo and
Bardia. If this could be accomplished, they
would then continue on toward Tobruk with
an eye toward lift ing the siege.
On the coastal flank below the escarp-
ment was the 2nd Rifle Brigade (a motor-
ized infantry battalion), supported by a full
ballalion of field guns and a ballery of an-
titank guns. 2nd Rifles would press up the
- 9-
coast road toward Halfaya and Sol1um and
evenlually link up with the inland force.
On the Axis side. a few severely depleted
formations were attempti ng to hold a very
large chunk of ground. Brescia and Trento
were the only two infantry divisi ons
available to hold the siege line and various
fronti er strongpoints, and both divisions
were understrength. Brescia had left one of
its six infantry battalions behind in Tripoli .
Trento had detached one of its three Ber-
saglieri battalions to garri son the oases in
the far south and one of its six infantry bat-
talions had been destroyed in mid-April ( a ~
related earlier). Containing the troublesome
Aust ralians consumed much of the Axis
strength: all of Brescia and virtuall y all of
the infant ry from the two panzer divisions
and Ariete. The defense of the fronlier was
entrusted to Trento and a small mixed Ger-
man force called "Gruppc Herff'. after the
commander of the 15th Motorcycle Bat-
talion, which formed the kernel of the
defense. Shortly before the Brevi ty attack
the act ivi ty of the Australians required the
Axis 10 reinforce the Tobruk perimeter and
they did so by recalli ng Trento's Bersaglieri
regiment. However, on May 6 the front ier
force was strengthened by the dispatch of
the newly-arrived recon battalion of the
15th Panzer Division as well as the II B a [ ~
talion of the 5th Panzer Regiment. (This
was. at this time, a composite battal ion con-
taining all 40 surviving tanks of the
regi ment. )
Thus, on the eve of the offensive the Axis
defenders on the frontier consisted of the
five survi ving infantry battalions of Tren-
to. one Bersaglieri battal ion of Aricte, and
four Gennan banal ions (3rd and 33rd
ReCOil , 15th Motorcycle. and II /5th
Panzer) . The rest of the Axi s infantry in-
vested Tobruk while the remainder of their
annor lay southeast ofTobruk, ready to in
tervene in ei ther direct ion as needed.
However, the Axis annored reserve was a
force to reckon with only due to the ex-
treme weakness of Allied annor. The I Bat-
talion of the 8th Panzer Regi ment (all of [he
regiment yet in Africa) had less than 50
tanks . whi le Ariete had a dozen medium
The Frontier
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tanks and 30 more light tanks . In addit ion,
there were about 40 light tanks in three
separate battalions being used to stiffen the
infantry on the siege> lines.
Early on May 15th the British jumped off
from their start line and enjoyed initial suc-
cess. Although the 2nd Rifle Brigade on the
coast bogged down in the face of stiff
' .
....
resistance. the inland forces rolled over
Herffs 15th MOIorcycJe baltalion and
drove the Gennan recon units north. 2nd
Scots Guards look upper Halfaya pass while
the rest of 22nd Guards Brigade took Bir
Wair and Musaid. 1st Durham Light Infan
try. supported by the Matildas of 4th RTR,
took Capuzzo after a sharp fight. but by thi s
- 10-
lime 41h RTR had lost nearl y half its tanks
and the advance stalled. Further inland the
7th Annourcd Brigade Group captured Sidi
Omar and drove north toward Sidi Azeiz .
Rommel reacted quickl y to the Brilish at -
tack. dispatching tank reinforcements 10 the
frontier and ordering Herff to counterattack
with the troops al his disposal. Herff picked
Capuzzo as the likely point to strike back
and U15th Panzer drove the Durham Lights
back to to Musaid badl y depleted. By
nightfall the 2nd Rifle Brigade had cleared
the area up to Sollum and 7th Armoured
Brigade was near Sidi Azeiz, but Axis ar-
mor was approaching from the west and
Herffs mobile forces were thi ck in the Sidi
Azeiz-Capuzzo area.
In the early hours of May 16th, Brigadier
GOII decided that 2200 Guards Brigade was
100 exposed 10 an armored counteraltack
and should be withdrawn. They began do-
ing so earl y on Ihe 16th while 7th Ar-
moured Br igade remained in a covering
posi tion near Sidi Azeiz. IISth Panzer Bat-
talion arrived there later in the day and
when the Germans began a general advance
from Sidi Azeiz , 7th Armoured gave
ground and skillfull y withdrew to the south.
Brevity was a failure for a variety of
reasons. Foremost among these was the
psychological impact of the successful drive
across Libya in the winter and Rommel's
counterthrust in the spring. Both operations
let! to a dangerous preoccupation with tank
strength. While British tank strength was
very low during Brevity, it was backed with
good mobile infantry and very powerful ar-
tillery. However, when the time came 10
decide whether to press on or call off the
attack, tank strength was all that was con-
sidered. Had the British relied more on
their infantry and art illery and less on their
inadequate tank force, larger gains might
have been realized.
As to the Germans, the operat ion alerted
them to the vulnerability of their open flank
and they immediately began making pl ans
to correct thi s deficiency. The British end
ed Brevi ty in possession of Hal faya Pass.
but Herffs strengthened frontier force at
tacked and recaptured that position on May
26th. The Germans then sel about heavily
fortifying Halfaya and a number of posi-
tions o n dominating ground around it. The
British would nOl retake the ground as easi-
ly the next time they altacked.
BATILEAXE
Two days after Halfaya fell 10 the Ger-
mans, General Wavell (Commander in
Chier Middle East Forces) issued his orders
for Operation Battleaxe. The "Tiger" con-
voy with tank reinforcements had arri ved
on May 12th (too late for it s tanks to be
used in Brevit y) and it was felt that by mid-
June the armored forces would be again
bail ie-worthy. The lengthy del ay was
caused mostly by two factors. Firs!. the
vari ety of demands placed on the Middle
East command combined with its limi ted
resou rces had caused the fragmentation of
its armored forces to an alarming extent.
El ements of the two annored divisions (7(h
and 2nd) had been employed in Tobruk, (he
fronti er. the Nile delta , Greece , Crete, and
East Afri ca . Ti me was needed to reassem-
bl e the troops of 7th Armoured Di vision
and reaccustom them to working as a
unified formation. Second. the tanks sent
out from England had been drawn from a
vari ety of acti ve uni ts: they were not
factory-fresh. Many of them needed repairs
or overhauls and all had to be modified for
desert service. The limited maintenance
facilities in Egypt were already heavil y
burdened and thi s would take time.
Nevertheless, by mid-June 7th Annoured
Division was reconstituted and was again
an impressive formation. The ' Tiger" con-
voy had brought 82 medium crui ser tanks.
135 heavy Matildasand 21 Mark Vlb li ght
tanks. Over half of the crui sers were the
new A1 S Crusaders. which were used to
equip the 6th RTR, whil e the older A13s
went to the 2nd RTR. These two battalions
made up the 7th Armoured Brigade. which
was to be the mobile strike force of the divi -
sion. The two previously independent in
fantry tank battalions (4th and 7th RTR)
were brought up to strength with new
Mal ildas and grouped together under 4th
Armoured Brigade headquarters. Slow but
- 11 -
very powerful. this brigade was attached to
the 4th Indian Division for the offensive.
4th Indian Division, it will be
remembered, had been instrumental in the
early successes of the British winter offens-
ive in 1940-41. but had then been sent to
East Africa, As that campaign had now
been successfull y concluded. the division
was returning to Ihe desert. By mid-June,
however. only the division headquarters
and the 11th brigade had arrived, so the
division was also given the superb 22nd
Guards Brigade.
In Tobruk. tank strengt h had also risen
following arrival of the "Tiger" convoy,
and 3rd Armoured Brigade could now field
over fifty operational tanks. includi ng fif-
teen heavy Matildas.
Wavell's plan for Battleaxe was largel y
a repetition of Brevity but on a larger scale.
11th Indian Brigade was responsible for the
coast below the escarpment and would at-
tack first Halfaya and then Sollum. 22nd
Guards Brigade was again responsible for
attacking above the escarpment toward the
Capuzzo-Musaid area, but this time was
supported by nearly one hundred Matildas
in 4th Armoured Brigade instead of only
twenty. Inland. the 7th Armoured Division
was given the rather vague task of cover-
ing 4th Indian Division's open left flank and
cooperating in the destruction of A xis fron-
tier forces. Should Axis armor counterat-
tack in strength. it was planned tha14th Ar-
moured Brigade would join 7th Armoured
Division to defeat it. The Tobruk garrison
was to sit ti ght and await developments: if
the British armor got close to the fort ress,
a sortie of some sort would be organized
to li nk up with it.
On the Axis side the si tuation had also
improved considerably. The siege lines
around Tobruk had been greatly strength-
ened by the arrival of the Pavia Division
from Tripoli . In addition, the rest of 15th
Panzer had now arrived from Germany to
join Trento on the frontier. 5th Light was
wit hdrawn into reserve for a well-deserved
rest.
By mid-June, Trento had its 61st regi -
ment (still minus one battalion) in Bardia
while the three battalions of the 62nd Regi-
ment held defensive st rongpoints in the
Sollum-Capuzzo area. 15th Panzer had its
11104 Rine Battalion at Halfaya and the
300th Oasis Battalion at Point 208 (some-
times called Hafid Ridge: hex 0822). Both
positions were well fortified and fonned the
strong flank anchors of the frontier
defenses. In addition, 88mm antiaircraft
guns of the 1118th Flak Battalion had been
emplaced at Halfaya to stiffen the antitank
defenses. The division's 33rd Recon and
Herffs 15th Motorcycle Battalion held
screening outposts to the south while the
8th Panzer Regi ment , now with nearly one
hundred tanks, lay in reserve at Sidi Azeiz.
Most of the division's infantry, however.
was still in the Tobruk siege lines.
The British attack was launched on June
15th and met with mixed success. On the
inland flank the 7th Armoured Brigade ad-
vanced quickly to Hafid ridge but then were
stalled all day. 300th Oasis Battalion's well-
entrenched defense exacted a stiff price
from the British tanks and by afternoon a
battalion of 5th Panzer Regiment had ar-
rived and joined the defenses. By nightfall
the brigade was down to only 48 runners .
On the coast the 11th Indian Brigade ran
int o a brick wall at Halfaya Pass and was
unable to advance all day. Only in the
cent er did the British enjoy any clear suc-
cess. At about 10:30 in the morning 4th
RTR began driving in the German screen
southwest of Halfaya. A battalion of 8th
Panzer Regiment had begun moving south
in Ihe morning and it was soon involved in
a sharp fight with 4th RTR's Matildas.
Shortly after noon, 7th RTR was commit-
ted on the left of the 4th in an attack toward
Capuzzo and broke Ihe Italian resistance
there. Although Brilish infantry was slow
to follow up, the Germans wilhdrew from
4th RTR' s fronl and launched several un-
successful counterauacks on 71h RTR at
Capuzzo. As night fell. the Germans
withdrew to lick their wounds and British
infantry filtered forward to support Ihe
tanks. Halfaya st ill held out, but was now
surrounded. 4th Armoured Brigade had
fought splendidly, but was down to 40
- 12-
operational Mat ildas.
During the night of June 1516, Rommel
hurried the main body of 5th Light, in com
pany with elements of 15th Panzer's
motorized infantry, toward Sidi Azeiz, and
planned a renewed attack in the morning.
8th Panzer Regiment would again attack
toward Capuzzo to pin the British in place
while 5th Light Di vision swung wide
around the desert flank to launch an attack
against the Allied rear. On Ihe Allied si de,
plans for the 16th included continued ef
forts by 4th Indian Division to capture
Halfaya coupled with moves designed to in
crease its hold on the CapuzzoSollum area.
4th Armoured Brigade was to rejoin 7th Ar
moured Brigade and destroy the German
armor in the Hafid Ridge area.
8th Panzer Regiment' s attack came in
hard al dawn agai nst Capuzzo. but the two
banal ions of Matildas supported by the 1st
Buffs drove the German tanks back with
heavy losses. (8th Panzer Regiment. which
slarted the battle with over 90 tanks. by
nightfall on the 16th was down to 33 run
ners. ) However. this attack succeeded in
convincing 4th Indian Division to hold on
to 4th Armoured Brigade. To the west. 7th
Armoured Brigade and part of 7th Support
Group grappled with 5th Light Division all
day in a running fight from Hafid Ridge to
Sidi Omar. The rest of 7th Support Group
was holding Sidi Omar and formed a sol id
base for stopping the German advance.
Despi te repeated attempts to turn the flank
of the position or break through its center,
the division held for the rest of the day. By
nightfall , however. it was down to about
21 runners in Ihe armoured brigade, whi le
4th Armoured Brigade had 29 operational
Matildas.
Both sides planned a renewal of offens
ive operations on the 17th. The British
again planned to unite their two brigades
of tanks to destroy the German armor.
Rommel also planned to unite hi s armored
forces in the Sidi Omar area for an attack
eastward aimed at cutting off the British
force. Once isolated. he reasoned. it could
be destroyed alleisure. As il happened. the
Germans got off to a quicker start and the
activity of 15th Panzer. even though it
would ult imately be directed further south.
again convinced 4th Indian Division to hang
onto 4th Armoured Brigade. 5th Li ght
drove east from Sidi Omar and soon
reached Sidi Suleiman (hex 0524). Finally
aware of the threat to their communications
this move offered, the British called off
their own att acks and ordered the
withdrawal of their troops to Egypt. As 7th
Armoured Division harassed 5th Light
Division's southern flank. the dwi ndling
force of Matildas in 4th Armoured Brigade
fought a slow rearguard action that enabled
22nd Guards Brigade to withdraw inlact.
In retrospect. Operation Battleaxe was
not the humiliating failure it seemed at the
time. Several times during the battle the
Germans had been in serious trouble.
Halfaya was close to running out of sup
plies, 8th Panzer Regiment was reduced to
a shadow of its original strength, and most
of the infantry and guns of the front ier
defenses were overrun or scattered. Of
greatest concern was the ease with which
the Mati lda infantry tanks turned back the
panzers. Rommel at the time spoke
disparagingly of the Mati lda, but his
tankers, particularly in 8th Panzer Regi
ment . had an enti rely differem opinion.
As to British performance, there was lit
tle at the troop level to fault. 4th Armoured
Brigade fought with dogged determination
throughout the battle. 7th Armoured
Brigade fought wilh considerable dash and
aggression, albeit often without much coor
dination. 7th Support Group demonstrated
the coolheaded competence that would
again be displayed in the Crusader battles.
22nd Guards and II th Indian Brigades both
fought well. although II th Brigade was
committed against a nearly impregnable
posit ion and 22nd Brigade's impressive
achievements ul timately meant nothing due
to the failure of the lank forces. The British
had failed primaril y due to a failure to coor
dinate the use of their tanks with other
arms. British tanks fought in isolation; Ger
man tanks fought as part of an integrated
team of infantry. ant itank and field guns.
Thus. most headlOhead tank battles ended
-13-
up a draw. but with the British armor gut-
ted and the Germans sti ll full of fight for
the next morning.
CRUSADER
By November of 1941 . the nature of the
desert fighti ng had changed considerably.
While the spring and summer fighting had
been conducted by fairly small. improvised
forces, autumn had secn a considerable
build-up by both sides. Past battles had
been division or corps-sized operations,
while the next st ruggle would see two com-
plete armies locked in a battle of major
proportions.
On the British side. Western Desert
Force was now 13th Corps and had been
joined by 30th Corps headquarters. both
under the command of the newl y-organized
8th AmlY. Most of the older uni ts were still
present, but there were many new faces.
7th Armoured Division still command-
ed 7th Armoured Brigade and 7th Support
Group. but now also included the newly-
arrived 2200 Armoured Brigade. complete-
ly equipped with new Al5 Crusaders. 4th
Armoured Brigade now had a full comple-
ment of the new Ameri can M3 Stuart light
tank, immediately nick-named " Honeys"
by their British crews. The Stuart was as
good as any British cruiser in service at thai
time and was faster to boot.
All of the infantry tanks were now con-
cent rated in separate Army Tank Brigades
for direct support of the infantry. 4th and
7th RTR had by now been shi pped to
Tobruk to join the new 32nd Tank Brigade
(formed from the old 3rd Armoured
Brigade) while two new baltalions of
Matildas and one of Valentines made up the
1st Tank Brigade.
For infantry, the British now had the en-
tire 4th Indian Division available as well
as the 2nd New Zealand and I st and 2nd
South African Di visions. However. 2nd
South African Division had arrived only
recently and was not yet considered ready
to take the field. As a result, it was not in-
cluded in the initial offensive force.
In Tobruk. the 9th Australian Division
had been replaced by the British 70th Di vi-
sion. supported by the 32nd Tank Brigade
(as mentioned above). the Polish Car-
pathian infantry brigade. and a battalion of
Czech infantry. As it happens, it proved im-
possible to complete the evacuation of all
of the Australians and one and a half bat-
talions were still in Tobruk when the attack
started.
The British plan was basically a still -
grander version of the one used in Brevity
and Battleaxe. 13 Corps, with the 4th In-
dian and 2nd New Zealand Divisions, sup-
ported by 1st Tank Brigade. would allack
the frontier and grind down the defenses
there. 30 Corps. with 7th Armoured Divi -
sion, 4th Annoured Brigade, and 1st South
African Di vision, would cover the inland
flank in a wide sweeping movement.
engage the Axis armor somewhere between
Tobruk and the frontie r, and destroy it.
Then the two corps would advance together
to Tobruk and lift the siege. The Tobruk
garri son would support the plan with a
strong break-out attack.
On the Axi s side there were many
changes as well. The last two Italian divi-
sions from Tripoli , Savona and Bologna,
had both now arrived. An additional Ital ian
division. the Trieste Motorized Division,
had also been shipped over. and the Italians
now had two eorps headquarters in the
desert. 21st Corps cont rolled the Pavia,
Brescia, Trento and Bologna Divisions
forming the siege lines around Tobruk.
20th Mobile Corps controlled the Trieste
Motorized and Ariete Armored Di visions
in reserve to the south and southwest . plus
an assortment of light tank and recon units
which bore the collective title RECAM
(Ragruppamento Esplorante di Corpo d' Ar-
mata di Manovra. or Recon Group of the
Mobile Army Corps). Ariete had been rein-
forced wi th the 132nd Tank Regiment and
now fielded 150 medium tanks. The divi-
sion's 50 remaining light tanks formed the
32nd Tank Regiment. whi le all other light
tanks were grouped in RECAM.
The Germans had received a number of
miscellaneous infantry and artillery units
which were combined to form the Afrika
Division. There were also more 8S's at the
- 14-
front, as their val ue at Halfaya Pass had
reinforced the German's faith in their use
as powerful antitank weapons. The two
panzer divisions had engaged in some unit
swapping to make both of them about the
same strength, and 5th Light had been
redesignated 21 st Panzer, Both divisions
now had over 100 operational tanks,
The fronti er was now defended by the
Savona Division in the Capuzzo-Sollum-
Sidi Omar area. The I1104th Rifle Battalion
(now part of 21st Panzer) still held Halfaya,
whi ch bristled with mine fields and dug-i n
88's. A collection of Italian border guards
and machinegunners held Bardia. 2 1 st
Panzer rested in reserve between Gambut
and Sidi Azeiz while 15th Panzer was north
of Gambut near the coast. The Afrika Divi-
sion was mostly in the Sidi Rezegh area
backing up the Bologna Division. The stage
was set for a battle of epic proportions.
November 19th: The main British ar-
mored concentration of 30 Corps was posi-
tioned, after its approach march, north of
Gabr Saleh. This concentration was broken
up and sent in three different directions.
22nd Armoured Brigade moved west
toward Bir el Gubi, where it encountered
and was roughly repulsed by Ariete .
Although Ariete lost almost 50 tanks, it
held its ground and knocked out about 25
British Crusaders. 7th Armored Brigade
and 7th Support Group moved northwest
and seized Sidi Rezegh airfi eld. 4th Ar-
moured probed toward Sidi Azeiz. In 13
Corps sector the 4th Indian Di vision began
pressuring the Axis frontier forces while the
New Zeal and Division assembled between
Gabr Saleh and Bir Sheferzen in the vicinity
of hex 0418.
Although at this point Rommel was not
convi nced that thi s was a major British of-
fensive, he nevertheless sanctioned limited
attacks by the Afrika Korps against the in-
truders. As a result, the tanks of 5th Panzer
Regi ment soon ran into pan of 4th Ar-
moured Brigade near Gabr Saleh. 3rd RTR
of the brigade was miles away to the north-
east with the armored cars of the King's
Dragoon Guards, but the rest of the bri gade
stood up against the panzers and took the
worst end of an inconclusive fight, losing
over 20 tanks versus about 8 panzers
knocked out.
November 20th: With the appearance of
German tanks in the Gabr Saleh area, the
British began 10 concentrate thei r armor.
7th Armoured Brigade remained wi th 7th
Support Group at Sidi Rezegh, but 22nd
Armoured moved east to assist the 4th.
However, the brigade did not begin to
move until after noon, and by then 15th and
21st Panzer had united and beaten back 4th
Armoured, k.nocking out 26 more Stuarts.
Meanwhile , 1st Sout h African Division
took over responsibi lity for seizing Bir el
Gubi, but with no more luck than 22nd Ar-
moured had experienced.
On the Axi s side, Pavia Division moved
slightl y southeast and began putting
pressure on the British at Sidi Rezegh. At
the same time troops of the Afrika Division
moved south to contain the breakthrough.
361st Regiment held the upper escarpment
east of the airfield while 155th Regi ment
held the area to the west (hex 1212). 15th
and 2 1 st Panzer had spent much of the
morning probing cautiously to the east in
the mistaken belief that the British armor
had moved en masse toward Sidi Azeiz.
When the divisions reached the area of hex
0821 they realized their mistake and turned
back. toward Gabr Saleh, 15th Panzer ar-
riving in time to give 4th Armoured
Brigade the beating described above.
November 21st: With troops already at
Sidi Rezegh and Gennan pressure mount-
ing. the British decided that the time had
come to launch the sonie by the Tobruk
garrison. The attack was made and hex
1424 taken. At the same time both British
armored brigades in the south attempted to
dose on Sidi Rezegh to suppon 7th Ar-
m o u n ~ d and 7th Support Group. but were
delayed by German blocking forces. 5th
South African Brigade also d osed on Sidi
Rezegh but was stopped at hex 1112.
The Germans. realizing the extent of the
British offensive at last , brought both
panzer divi sions back 10 the Sidi Rezegh
area and hammered 7th Armoured and 7th
Support Group. Although the British
- 15-
defenders on the airfield held on. by
nightfall 7th Armoured was down to only
28 runners.
November 22nd: While British armor
again tried unsuccessfully to close in on Sidi
Rezcgh. their 13 Corps was active in the
frontier region. 7th Indian Brigade drove
the Axis defenders from Sidi Omar and the
New Zealand Division was well into the
Axis rear area. While 6th New Zealand
Brigade began to push along the Trigh
Capuzzo (the road from Capuzzo to EI
Adem). another brigade of the division cap-
tured Capuzzo itself and the remaining
brigade closed up on Bardia. Funher west,
5th South African Brigade anacked the Ger-
man 155th Regimenl but was repulsed.
The Germans. having managed to keep
their armor concenlrated so far, now pur-
posely spl it it to conduct converging attacks
on Sidi Rezegh from several directions.
21 st Panzer swung across the escarpments
and hit Sidi Rezegh from the nonh. 15th
Panzer moved in from the east and then hit
the airfield from the south. With British ar-
mor thick in the area. the result was a large
tank melee with the Axis forces the clear
winners by nightfall . 7th Suppon Group
had been overrun, 7th Armored Brigade
was down to 10 tanks, and 22nd Annoured
could muster onl y 24. 4th Armoured had
taken a similar beati ng and its remaining
tanks were widely scattered. The Axis still
fielded 160 runners.
November 23rd: Thinking the Axis
forces to be as disorganized as their own.
the British pulled back their armor to
regroup. The remaining tanks of 7th and
22nd Armoured Brigades were formed in-
to a composi te brigade which took up posi-
tion (hex 1113) just east of where 5th SoUlh
African Brigade was stationed (hex 1112) .
Meanwhile. 6th New Zealand Brigade.
supported by the infantry tanks of 8th RTR.
ran into the German 361st Regiment west
of Sidi Rezegh and pushed it back.
The Germans decided that the time was
right for a knock-out blow agai nst the re-
maining British mobile forces. All of the
remaini ng Axi s armor was concentrated
and a massive attack was launched a g ~ i n s t
the British forces south of Sidi Rezegh. By
nightfall the Germans had lost a third of
their remaining tanks. but both 5th South
African Brigade and the composite armored
brigade had been destroyed.
November 24th: Havi ng been severely
beaten the previous day, the British
regrouped and attempted to collect what
scattered tanks they had. At this point, the
battle should have been over as only the
Axis sti ll had a mobile striki ng force. As
always in such a battle. however, there re-
mained the question of the best means to
make the victory complete. Cruwel\. the
bri lliant commander of the Afri ka Korps
(now that Rommel held overall command
of all three corps around Tobruk) argued
that the surviving British armored forma-
tions should be systematically hunted down
and extermi nated. Rommel di sagreed.
Now, he felt, was the time to strike deep
into the Allied rear area, cut their supply
lines, and crush 13 Corps on the frontier.
This decision was ult imately to COSt the
Germans the battle.
All three Axis armored divisions were
dispatched at full speed for the frontier on
Rommel's celebrated "'dash to the wire'"
(so-call ed because the Li byan-Egyptian
frontier was marked by a bell of barbed
wi re). By the end of the day elements of
21st Panzer were across the frontier
southeast of Sidi Omar, but 15th Panzer
was still straggling funher to the west and
Ariete had stall ed in the face of British
resistance just east of Bi r el Gubi.
November 25th: Given a temporary
reprieve, the British continued to regroup
their armor and repai r damaged tanks. 6th
New Zealand Brigade kept the pressure up
east of Sidi Rezegh and captured hex 1214.
while 4th New Zealand Brigade came for-
ward and seized hex 1314 to cover 61h
Brigade's nonhern flank. For once, the
defeat of British armor had not caused the
British commanders to forget the remain-
ing combat potential of their infantry, and
the continued aggressive spirit of the infan-
try would ulti mately win them the battle.
For the Axis, the anticipated results of
the raid on the British rear were not
- 16-
;
materializing. No supply dumps had been
overrun and combat was indecisive. 2 1st
Panzer attacked the Indian troops in the Sidi
Omar area while 1 Sth Panzer clashed with
Sth New Zealand Brigade near Sidi Azeiz.
Ariete was sti ll not in the frontier area. and
the panzer attacks were merely using up
supplies the Axis frontier garrisons would
need later.
November 261h: In the Tobruk area the
two New Zealand Brigades pushed for-
ward. 6th New Zealand. with the 8th RTR.
capt ured Sidi Rezegh whil e 4th New
Zealand. with 44th RTR in support, cap-
tured the Belhamed hi gh ground (hex
1313). At the same time. infantry and ar-
mor of the Tobruk garrison pushed forward
and captured the EI Duda hi gh ground (hell
1312). The garrison had been relieved,
although the corridor was too narrow for
absol ute security.
Rommel was finally real izing that his raid
on the frontier was getti ng nowhere and
was all owing the British to regain the up-
per hand in the Tobruk area. One more at-
tempt was made to break the British troops
on the front ier, however. 21st Panzer at-
tacked north from the Halfaya area whi le
I Sth Panzer attacked east from Sidi Azeiz,
intending to li nk up at Capuzzo. Sth New
Zealand Brigade held its ground. however.
and the attacks accomplished little.
November 271h: Havi ng achieved their
initial Objective, the British set about insur-
ing that it would not be lost. While the
Tobr uk garrison troops and New
Zealanders mopped up the corridor and
consolidated their positions, the revi talized
British armor moved north to keep the Ger-
man tanks from anacking their infantry. 4th
Armoured now had almost 80 Stuarts
operational while 22nd Armoured had all
40 remaining cruisers.
Now was clearly the time for the Axis
to concentrate and cut the corridor. I Sth
Panzer raced west from the Sidi Azciz area.
moved past the British armor. and settled
in nort heast of Sidi Rezegh. 2 1st Panzer
worked its way around the New Zealanders
toward Sidi Azeiz. Ariete. which had final-
ly arrived nort hwest of Sidi Omar, turned
back and made for Sidi Rezegh.
November 28th: Very litt le took place
on the 28th due to supply diffi culties on the
Allis side and a reluctance on the British
side to commi t thei r carefully rebuilt armor
to battle. 7th Annoured Division did attack
15th Panzer. but this was little more than
a probe. Meanwhile, 21st Panzer closed in
on the Sidi Rezegh area.
November 29th: The British withdrew
thei r armor and 1st South African Brigade
to the south, wai ting until the German ar-
mor was committed: this probably was a
bad mistake. Meanwhile. the infantry in the
corridor prepared for the inevi table attack.
The attack came from all directions. 21st
Panzer moved north across the escarpment
and then hit the Belhamed-Sidi Rezegh area
from that direction. 15th Panzer swung
wide to the south and then turned north and
capt ured El Duda. Ariete conti nued to
move north.
November 30th: An attack by an
Austral ian battalion and tanks of the Tobruk
garrison retook El Duda and re-opened the
corridor. but attempts to move 1st South
African Brigade nonh imo the corridor
were frustrated by the high density of Axis
armor in the area.
The Axis troops, though weary. were
fairly well concentrated and receivi ng sup-
pl ies again. The Afrika Di vision hit Be1-
harned from the north. 21st Panzer hit the
Belhamed-Sidi Rezegh area from along the
Trigh Capuzzo. Ariete advanced from the
east behind 21st Panzer and held off 1st
Sout.h African Brigade. From the south.
15th Panzer smashed into the 6th New
Zealand Brigade. vinuall y destroying it,
and recaptured Sidi Rezegh.
Ot!cember 1st: The British armor was
agai n strangel y inactive. 4th Armoured
Brigade did attempt to attack east of Sidi
Rezegh but was repulsed. The Axis att ack
maintained its tempo of the previous day.
15th Panzer drove north and pushed 4th
New Zealand Brigade off Belhamed.
assis ted by Ariete from the east and the re-
maining tanks of 21st Panzer nonh of the
Trigh Capuzzo. 21st Panzer' s infant ry kept
1st South African Brigade at arm's length.
- 17-
By the end of the day. the New Zealand
division was finished as an effecti ve force .
December 2nd-3rd: Neither side at
tacked for two days. The Germans had
sealed off the corridor and the British were
uncertain as to their next move. Both sides
. had suffered crippling losses. bUlthe British
still had a sizeable tank force available for
commitment. Axis tank strength was vi r-
tually nil. On these two days the British
gradually closed in on the Axis siege ri ng.
and the Germans experienced severe dif-
ficulties getting supplies through to the
eastern part of the perimeter. Altempts by
the Germans to break through to the fron-
tier garrisons with small motorized columns
led onl y to the loss of the troops involved.
December 4th: The Briti sh continued to
close the ring around the Axis besiegers and
attacked Bir el Gubi with 4th Armoured
Brigade and 1st South African Brigade. Bir
el Gubi was by now defended only by the
survivors of RECAM. Nevertheless, the at-
tack was repulsed.
December 5th: 11 th Indian Brigade
again attacked Bir EI Gubi and again fa iled.
However. the mounting pressure to their
rear caused the Germans to send their re-
maining mobile forces southwest. 11th In-
dian Brigade was badly hurt by the attack,
but there was little strength now left 10 keep
the Bri ti sh from re-opening the corridor to
Tobruk.
De<:ember 6th: The British re-opened the
corridor, mostly because Rommel had
decided to concede it to them. The main im-
pediments were Axis troops withdrawi ng
from the northeast siege lines. By nightfall,
the surviving Axis troops had disengaged
and were on their way west. The siege of
TOOruk had been lifted, although at tremen-
dous cost. In the end, the British annor had
remained "a fleet in being" while the Axis
had been forced to grind themselves down
in assaults agai nst superb infantry in good
positions. The bailIe had been won by the
narrowest of margins .
THE BENGHAZI HANDICAP
Throughout December the shaflered Axis
army withdrew across Cyrenaica in the
hope of finding a good position at which
to make a stand. The British pursued as
well as their tired and depleted forces
could, and by December 23rd were in the
Msus-Soluch-Antelat area, while Rommel' s
troops were strung out from Benghazi
south. The Brescia div ision held the
Benghazi perimeter while demolitions to
the port faci lities were underway. Tri este
held Ghemines to the south , keeping open
Brescia's line of retreat. 15th and 21st
Panzer were in the Beda Fomm-Antelat
area, with Ariete in reserve, to hold off
British mobile forces . The rest of the Axis
infantry (Trento, Pavia, Bologna, and the
Afrika Division. now redesignated 90th
Light Africa Division) defended Agedabia.
All were severely uooerstrength but on the
19th a convoy had arrived at Benghazi with
22 German tanks and 23 more arrived the
same day at Tripol i. A few more had been
repaired and so by December 28th the
Afrika Korps had about 60 operational
tanks (of which sixteen were Panzer II 's
and the rest medium Panzer m 's and IV's),
At this poinl , Rommel decided to stri ke
back to delay the British pursuit. The main
British annored force was by now the 22nd
Armoured Brigade. which fielded 35
Stuarts and 55 Crusaders. The Axis had
falle n back to EI Agheila and the British
were in the Agedabia area. 22nd Armoured
Brigade was somewhat south of there and
had drifted out of supporting range of in-
fantry and artillery. Both panzer divisions
hit the brigade and though the British had
more tanks the Gennans used theirs as part
of an integrated all-arms team. By nightfal l
the British had lost 37 tanks and were fail-
ing back. The Germans lost onl y seven. En-
couraged by this success, Rommel struck
again on December 30th. 22nd Armoured
had repaired a few tanks and received a few
more as replacements , so was up to 62 run-
ners, but lost 23 of them in this action and
agai n ended the day in retreat. The Ger-
mans again lost only seven tanks. 22nd Ar-
moured had now lost almost all of its
Crusaders and many of its Stuarts and was
withdrawn from the front to refit . The Ger-
mans were able to complete the withdrawal
- 18-
of their troops to EI Agheila unmolested by
British pursuit.
Meanwhile, the Axis frontier garrisons
remained surrounded and throughout
December and January were subjected 10
systematic efforts by 2nd SOUlh African
Division to reduce thei r defenses. 3rd South
African Brigade auacked the Bardia
peri meter on December 16th but the Ital ian
defenders, reinforced by a sprinkling of
German infantry, put up a surpri singly stiff
resistance and the attack was called off after
two days of close combat. Instead, a ma-
jor attack was planned for the end of
December, to be carried forward by 3rd
and 4th South African Brigades, supported
by the Matildas and Valenti nes of 8th and
44th RTR and the New Zealand divisional
cavalry battalion. After two days of intense
fighting, the garrison surrendered on
January 2nd.
The Sollum-Halfaya region was next. On
January II th the 6th South African Brigade
took Sollum and plans were begun for a
major assault on the Halfaya fortifications.
As it happened, the assault was not
necessary. Suppli es ran out at Halfaya
before the attack could be launched and the
Savona Division and I1 104th M(){orized In-
fantry were forced to surrender.
By the end of January. the situation in
Cyrenaica was reminiscent of that in the
spring of 1941 when Rommel launched his
first offensive. The British defense force
consisted of one understrength and inex-
perienced armored division and one infan-
try division. Due to supply problems.
neither division could maintain all of its
troops in the forward defensive positions.
The mobile formation was 1st Armoured
Division. The division's organic armored
brigades were the 2nd and 22nd. The 22nd,
however, had come out to the desert early
and fought with 7th Armoured Division
during Crusader. In late December it had
been the last operational armored brigade
avail able and its rough handling by the
Afri ka Korps had caused it to be withdrawn
(as related above). Thus, 1st Armoured
Division had only one armored brigade for-
ward, and it was inexperienced in desen
fighti ng.
The infantry force was provided by 4th
Indian Division. Thi s was a veteran unit by
now, bUI somewhat depleted by the
Crusader battles. One brigade was forward
at Benghazi, one funher to the rear at
Baree. and the remaining brigade was
reforming in Tobruk.
Although still somewhat battered, Rom-
mel's forces had nevenheJess recovered
considerably since the beginning of the
retreat from Tobruk, and on January 5th an
addit io nal convoy arrived with 54 more
tanks . The army was also reinforced with
an additional infantry division (Sabratha)
to replace the Savona, which had been lost
at Halfaya.
With these forces, Rommel launched a
counteroffensive which. by early February.
had driven the 8th Army back to the vicinity
of Gazala. Many opponunities to inflict a
severe check on the Axis columns were ig-
nored and the command structure of 8th Ar-
my proved extremely top-heavy and prone
to lapse into biuer arguments. Never-
theless, the British did manage to withdraw
thei r forces reasonably intact and hold a line
well forward of Tobruk. Thus Rommel' s
wi nter offensive of 1942 inflicted a reverse
on the British, as opposed to hi s first of-
fensive which had precipitated a disaster.
Soth sides now settled down along a line
which ran from Bir Hachiem to Gaz.ala and
began the lengthy process of making good
the many losses suffered in the winter
fighting. It would be late May before the
two armies would again be fit to fight. But
that struggle, when it came. would be the
greatest yet witnessed in Africa.
GAZALA
By May of 1942, the British had bui lt up
a formidable line of defenses between
Gazala and Bir Hachiem. These defenses
consisted of a series of defended localities,
designed for occupation by a brigade of in-
fantry, surrounded by minefields. Each
such locality was called a "brigade box",
and the boxes were linked with additional
minefields to make the defenses continuous.
Most of the line was the responsibi lity of
-19-
13 Corps, 1st South African Division held
the area closest to the coast, from Gazala
south to Alam Hamza. South of Alam Ham-
za were two brigades of the 50th Division,
the 69th and 15 1 st, and in reserve behind
them were the infantry tanks of 32nd Tank
Brigade. There was then something of a gap
followed by the 150th Brigade box
overl ooking the Trigh Capuzzo, with 1st
Tank Brigade in support.
The southern terminus of the line was Bir
Hachiem, the responsibility of the lough 1st
Free French Brigade. This brigade was part
of30 Corps, as it was (rightly) thought that
the southern end of the li ne would be par-
ty to much of the mobile tank fighting of
the coming battle. 30 Corps also controlled
both armored divisions available: I st and
7th, 7th Armoured Division was the mobile
force in the south and nominal ly command-
ed 1st Free French Brigade as well as its
own units. The other brigades of the divi-
sion were the 3rd Indian Motor, 7th Motor,
and 4th Armoured.
3rd Indian Motor had served briefly in
the desert in the spri ng of 1941. it may be
remembered, before being overrun and
nearly destroyed. The brigade had finall y
been reformed and was again in the desert.
again under command of a Briti sh armored
division. and agai n would be committed
virt uall y without any antitank guns. It was
stationed south of Bi r Hachiem to give
warning of any Axis attempt to turn the
flank of the line. Further east. the 71h
Motor Brigade (fonned from the old 7th
Support Group) held the Retma area as a
backstop to the 3rd Indian. 4th Armoured
Brigade was stationed north of 7th Motor
in a general reserve position.
lsI Armoured Division controlled 2nd
and 22nd Armoured Brigades and the 201st
Guards Motor Brigade. l SI Armoured's
support group had been badly mauled in the
retreat to Gazala and so the old 22nd
Guards Brigade had been redesignated
20 I Sl Guards Motor and assigned to the
division. The division was concentrated
loosely around the road junction at Knights-
bridge (hex 1307), Overall. 30 Corps had
about 150 Grants. a simi lar number of
Stuarts, and about 2SO Crusaders. 13 Corps
had about 100 Matildas and ISO Valenti nes.
2nd South African Division defended
Tobruk under the general command of 13
Corps. One brigade of the division had been
switched to 1st South African Division to
replace 5th Brigade, which had been near-
ly destroyed in the Crusader battles. As re-
placement. the 9th Indi an Infantry Brigade
from 5th Indian Di vision was assigned to
the division to hold the southern perimeter
and the EI Adem area, 29th Indian Brigade.
also from 5th Division, was at Bir el Gubi
in the south.
The British defensive plan was si mpl e in
concept and essent ially sound. The Gazala
line was presumed to be strong enough to
either frustrate attempts at a direct assault
or cause sufficient casualties to give British
mobile forces a decisive superiority in the
subsequent mobile phase. Thus. it was
assumed that Rommel would attempt to
turn the line's sout hern flank. Once he did
so, he would have two options: ei ther turn
north and attempt to crumble the line from
the rear or drive directly on Tobruk. If he
chose the first option. the British armored
divisions would be in posi tion to fall on hi s
flank, drive his mobi le forces agai nst the
anvil of the Gazala line to the cast. and
destroy him. If he chose the second option
he would be heading straight into the teeth
of British annor fighting on good defensive
ground of its own choosing, and would be
hampered by an increasingly long and
precarious suppl y line. In either event , the
prospects of a successful battle for the
British seemed good.
On the Axis side. Panzerarmce Afrika
had lost a division (Bologna) disbanded due
to losses, but the other divisions were
stronger than they had ever been. The two
panze r divi sions had between them 330
tanks. of which only 50 were Panzer II 's,
the rest being Panzer III and IV mediums.
90th Light was now fully motorized and
had taken over the 200th Regiment. Each
panzer division had onl y one motorized
regiment. but by German standards it was
a strong one with three battalions, and all
of the Gennan motorized infantry was well-
-20-
supplied with antitank guns.
The Ital ian 20th Mobile Corps was also
much better equipped than it had been for
the Crusader fighting . An additional ar-
mored division. Linorio, was being shipped
over but its tank regiment, sent earlier. had
mostly been used 10 re-equip Ariete and
Trieste. Of the tank battalions which had
fought in Crusader. only the 8th and 9th
Medium Battalions had survived. and all re-
maining tanks had been pooled in these twO
units. Littori o was shipped wi th the 10th,
11th, and 12th Medium Battalions, but the
12th was sunk in transi t. The 10th was
assigned 10 Ariete as its third medium bat-
talion and the 11th was assigned to Trieste
to increase its offensive potential. During
the course of the battle a number of replace-
ment tanks were shipped which allowed the
12th Battalion to reform at Tripoli and the
independent 5 1 st Battalion was sent over
as well . Late in the Gazala fighti ng Linorio
would make it s appearance commanding
these two tank battalions. As a result of the
above unit shuffling. 20th Corps woul d go
into action at Gazala with over 200 medium
tanks. not counti ng those of the Littorio
Division still in Tripoli .
The four surviving Itali an infantry divi -
sions of 10t h and 21st Corps were com-
bined under the German General Cruwell
as "Group Cruwell " and were reinforced
with several battal ions from 90th Li ght
Division.
The Axis plan was for Group Cruwellto
launch pinning attacks against the front of
the Gazala line to hold the British infantry
in place and draw their armored reserve
forward. wh il e the Afrika Korps and 20th
Mobile Corps would swing wide around the
southern flank of the li ne . engage and
destroy the British armor. and then exploit
toward Tobruk.
May 27th: The Axis attack began with
Group Cruwell' s anack. but British aerial
recon had indicated a substantial concen-
trat ion of armor further south. and thus
Cruwell 's attack did little to confuse the
British. When the Axis armor started roIl-
ing. however. the Brit ish still seemed to be
caught off balance.
The first uni t to be hil was 3rd Indian
Motor Brigade. which put up a spirited but
brief resistance before being overrun and
destroyed as an effective unit. Once more.
3rd Indian Brigade had not survi ved its first
majo r encounter with the enemy and again
the survivors were sent back to Egypt to
reform. Next . 90th Light hit 7th Motor
Brigade at Retma and pushed it hack toward
Bir EI Gubi. The remai ni ng brigade of71h
Annoured Division, 4th Armoured, began
moving south to support 7th Motor Brigade
and was hit by the entire 15th Panzer Di vi-
sion. In the confused fighti ng which ensued
both si des suffered heavy losses, but 4th
Armo ured was pushed back toward EI
Adem and was temporarily out of the bal-
tie. while 15th Panzer was still full of fight.
By thi s time. 30 Corps had ordered 1 st
Armoured Division to move south. 22nd
Armo ured was furthe r sout h than 2nd and
encountered the Germans first . Both panzer
divisions hit the bri gade hard and knocked
out about 30 tanks before the brigade gave
ground and fell hack toward Knightsbridge
and tll e 20 l st Guards Brigade box. As the
Germans followed up their initial success,
2nd Armoured Brigade hit them from the
west and 1st Tank Brigade raked rhei r
eastern flank. By the end of the day, the
two panzer divisions had 1051 about a third
of their tanks and had stalled south of
Knightsbridge.
Further east, Ariete and Trieste had been
instructed to move agai nst Bir Hachiem and
overrun it to make the southern suppl y
route safer. Through a series of mistaken
orders and poor navigation. Trieste hit the
line 100 far north, between Bir Hachiem and
the I 50th Brigade box position, and became
bogged down in the minefields. Ariete at-
tacked Bir Hachiem with considerable spirit
but succeeded only in losing a good pro-
portion of its tanks .
May 28th: Rommel continued the attack.
but its scope was limited by worrisome
supply difficulties. The main supply col-
umns intended to follow the Afrika Korps
had nOI advanced into the fierce armor
melee nonheasl of Bir Hachiem. and British
moto rized and recon troops still lay thick
-21-
about the area. 15th and 21 st Panzer were
on their own for the time being. Rommel
nevertheless sent 2 1 st Panzer north to
disrupt the British rear areas and explore
the depth of the posi tion. 15th Panzer re-
mained in place while Ariete drove north
to link up with the Afrika Korps and 90th
Light closed in on El Adem. The British
had anticipated a more general northern
move and positioned themselves to take it
in flank. Whi le 22nd Armoured maintained
contact with the relatively quiet 15th
Panzer. 2nd Armoured and 1st Tank
Brigades repeated their double flank attack
of the previous day, but thi s time against
Ariet e. Ariete was stall ed to the south of
15th Panzer, bUI gave nearly as well as it
got. 90th Light ran into a rested and
regrouped 4th Annoured Brigade al El
Adem and was pushed back 10 the south.
2151 Panzer reached the escarpmenl
overlooki ng the coast road but did little
else.
By the end of the day, events in general
seemed to be going in favor of the British.
Of an initial tank force of about 550, the
Axis had already lost almost 200, and the
remai ni ng force was badly scaUered. The
British, on the other hand, were in a posi-
tion to immediatel y concentrate about 250
cruisers and 100 infantry tanks against
Afrika Korps, not counting 1st Tank
Brigade, which was now moving west to
support 150th Infantry Brigade against
pressure from Group Cruwell and the
Trieste Division.
May 29th: It was obvious that the Axis
offensive was, at least for the moment ,
derailed. The first priority for Rommel was
thus to attempt to regain his balance by con-
centrating the Axis armor and getting sup-
plies through to it. The three Axis annored
divisions began concentrat ing to the west
and southwest of Knightsbridge . 2nd Ar-
moured Brigade auacked in the morning
and soon found itself virtually surrounded:
21st Panzer hit it from the north, 15th from
the west, and Ariete from the south. Two
more battalions of tanks from 22nd Ar-
moured Brigade joined in. but by nightfall
the British had been pushed back again,
badly battered.
Although the three Axis divisions had
also taken heavy casualties, they were now
well concentrated and Rommel had per-
sonally led a resupply convoy around Bir
Hachiem and through 10 the panzers. To the
west, the Sabratha Di vision had put in an
attack north of Alam Hamza agai nst the
South African positions but had lost about
400 men for their trouble. Tri este forced
l50th Brigade to pull in its outposts to the
south, but little else happened of note west
of the mi nefields. One notable loss to the
Axis was the capture of General Cruwell
himself. He was shot down while conduct-
ing a reconnaissance in an observation
plane and crash-landed in the British posi-
tions. Field Marshal Kesselri ng, who was
visiting the front , took over Cruwell' s com-
mand for the remainder of the battle. even
though he was superior to Rommel in rank.
(Rommel was not made field marshal until
shortly after the Gazala battl es.)
May 30th: Since the Axis armor did not
seem strong enough to force an immediate
decision, it was clear thai the battle would
be a protracted one. and that meant that it
was vi tal to open a secure suppl y line. Con-
sequently. strong detachments of the Afrika
Korps began moving west in the early
morning to break through the mine fields
from the east and link up with Group
Crowell. Almost immediately they ran in-
to the posi ti ons occupied by 150th Brigade
and I st Tank Brigade and were halted.
To the east, 1st Armoured Division
renewed its attack on the Axis armor but
ran into a tough antitank screen that stopped
it cold with considerable losses. The Ger-
mans and Ital ians were beginning to defend
in place and were now taki ng a serious toll
of ad .... ancing British armor. By the end of
the day 1st Armoured Di vision was tem-
porarily spent and 7th Armoured was scat-
tered in the south.
May 31st : Rommers situation was now
becoming desperate. Although the British
armor had let up its pressure from the eaSI,
it was slill in possession of strong defens-
i .... e ground and had him hemmed in. To the
west lay the mine fields and their stubborn
- 22-
defenders . Unless the Gennans al\d Italians
could break through soon, Afrika Korps
would perish from lack of supply. Trieste
now began attacking strongly from the west
while 90th Light joined in from the east.
Nevertheless. l50th Brigade and its sup-
porting infantry tanks held.
Fortunately for the Germans, British ar-
mor spent the day regrouping and did not
interfere with Axis efforts.
June 1st: Again the British annOT stood
quietly by while 150th Brigade fought its
epic defense against the five best Axis divi-
sions in Africa. By early afternoon the
uneven contest was over and Rommel had
a direct supply line through the heart of the
Gazala line. The turning point of the battle
had been reached.
June 2nd: Although in a much st ronger
poSition than he had been in since the start
of the battle, Rommel was still not ready
to undertake major offensive action. His
battered annored divisions still needed time
to replenish. Nevertheless, several periph-
eral attacks were launched. 21st Panzer
launched a strong probe toward the north
al\d pushed back 5th RTR (of 4th Armoured
Brigade). which lost 20 tanks in the pro-
cess. At the same time, Trieste and 90th
Light were dispatched south to tighten the
siege of Bir Hachiem. Although one sup-
ply line was now opened, Bir Hachiem
would be a dangerous enemy base to leave
intact in his rear once Rommel began his
advance. By the end of the day the Afrika
Korps reponed 130 operational tanks (out
of a staning strength of over 300), but the
numbers were growing as additional tanks
were repaired.
June 3rd4th: Neither side took any ma-
jor offensive action as both combatants at-
tempted to build up their annored strength
and rearrange their units in preparation for
the next round.
June 5th: In the early morning hours the
British attack on the Axis armor finally
came. The Axi s enclave east of the
minefield was by now referred to as "the
cauldron". The plan was to attack in twO
major waves. The first wave would consist
of 10th Indian Brigade attacking from the
east and 32nd Tank Brigade (with one bat-
tali On of infantry, the 7th Green Howards)
hitting the Axis positions from the south.
After this wave had broken through the
outer defenses the second wave would ex-
ploit through the breach and destroy the
Axis forces in the cauldron. The second
wave consisted of 7th Annoured Division
(commandi ng 22nd Armoured Brigade and
9th Indian Brigade, since its own brigades
were too battered by this time to participate
in the attack). The rest of 1st Armoured
Di vision would guard against a breakout at-
tempt and stand in general reserve.
The attack was a catastrophe. The dawn
attack by 32nd Tank Brigade in the south
ran into intense antitank and anillery fire
and achieved nothing except the loss of 50
of the brigade's staning strength of 70 in-
fantry tanks . The attack from the east did
better initially. but when 22nd Armoured
Brigade was committed it ran into the same
intense antitank fire and was then met by
a counterattack by 15th Panzer that drove
it back to its stan line. By afternoon the
Germans were on the offensive again.
Ariele and 21S! Panzer drove due east while
15th PanzercJosed on Knightsbridge. The
British armor was driven helter-skelter in
all direclions. 22nd Armoured Brigade hav-
ing lost over 60 tanks that day.
June 6th: There now remained in the
cauldron the isolat ed baualions of 9th In-
dian Brigade. While the main British force
licked its wounds further to the east, Afrika
Korps systematicall y destroyed the sur-
vivors of the previous day's infantry attack.
June 7th-10th: While the annored forces
again regrouped, 90th Light and Trieste in-
creased the pressure on Bir Hachiem.
Several auempts were made 10 Slorm the
desert fortress accompanied by strong luft-
waffe suppon, but the French conti nued 10
hold oul. Finally the defenses began to
crack and on the night of June 10th the
French launched a breakout attempt.
assisted by the 7th Motor Brigade and 29th
Indian Brigade, both of which had been
harassing the Axis communication lines.
The majority of the garrison succeeded in
breaking out and moved east to join the
- 23-
frontier defenses.
June 11th: Throughout the struggle for
Bir Hachiem the rest of the 8th Anny had
remained on the defensive. It was the
British hope that Rommel would attack and
thus use up his remaining tank strength.
British annor could then counterattack and
gain a decisive advantage. Rommel.
however, refused to be drawn out so long
as Bir Hachiem remained a thorn in his
side. Once it was reduced. his mobi le
troops were again concentrated and ready
for an attack. The Afrika Korps was by now
back up to 150 runners and there were
about 60 operational Italian medium tanks.
The British had 80 infantry tanks. 77
Grants. 52 Crusaders. and 56 Stuarts fit to
fight. All three Axis annored divisions now
began a cautious advance toward EI Adem.
This had not progres.>ed far by nightfall. but
the British now had a good idea as to the
location of the Axis armor and. thinking it
to be very widely di spersed. they decided
to counterattack the next morning.
June 12th: Due to confusion on the part
of the British (in large part caused by the
capture of one of the division commanders)
a defi nite plan of action was not agreed
upon by morning and 2nd and 4th Ar-
moured Brigades remained on the defen-
sive. The Afrika Korps was now starting
to move again. however. and whi le 15th
Panzer hit the two brigades from the front
21st Panzer swung wide and hit them from
the rear. In a confused running fight, into
which the rest of the British armor was
eventuall y drawn, the British tanks were
pushed back and mauled throughout the
day. The three annored brigades lost lOS
tanks while the 32nd Tank Brigade (com-
manding all 60 remai ning infantry tanks)
lost a further 33.
June 13th: The day dawned agai n with
British annor scattered and Axis armor
concentrated. As the remaining British
tanks fonned a screen to the north of the
Afrika Korps to protect the rear of 13
Corps. 15th and 21 st Panzer renewed their
attack and again inflicted heavy losses on
the British. driving them from position after
position. Kn ightsbridge was now nearly
surrounded and in the evening its garrison
was evacuated.
June 14th: Now it was clear to the
British that their annor could not defend the
open ground between Gazala and Tobruk.
That being the case, I st South African and
50th Di visions, still holding their posit ions
in the Gazala line. were clearly in great
danger. and they were ordered to withdraw
toward Egypt after dark.
Rommel also sensed the growi ng
weakness of the British mobile troops and
drove the Afrika Koeps frant icall y north to
cut off the retreat routes of the divisions st ill
in the Gazala Line. However, the tankers
and infantry of Afrika Koeps were now on
the point of total exhausti on and proved
unable to overcome the Allied resistance at
Acroma and along the escarpment
overlooking the coast road.
That evening 1st South African Di vision
successfully wi thdrew to the east along the
coast road whi le 50th Division attacked
southwest through Ital ian 10th Corps' in-
fantry screen and broke clean through.
Although it would take some time. 50th
Division safely made its way around Bir
Hachi em and back to the Egypt ian frontie r.
June ISth17th: While few major tank
battles took place for several days. low-
intensi ty combat raged across much of the
battlefield. In a series of small successes.
none of them overwhel ming. the Axis
forces graduall y drove the remaining
mobile British forces away from Tobruk
and back to the Egypt ian front ier. The
ciima:o; came on the morning of June 17th
when 15th and 21st Panzer collided with
4th Armoured Brigade, virt ually the only
remaining serviceable British annor. near
the Be1hamed high ground southeast of
Tobruk. By nightfall the Gennans had
broken through and cut the coast road: 4th
Annoured Brigade. now down to 58 run-
ners, withdrew toward the frontier.
June 18th-19th: On the morning of June
18th Rommel reported to his superiors that
Tobruk was again surrounded. This time.
however. there would be no lengthy siege.
Two days would be spent preparing for the
attack and then a strong assault by all three
- 24-
armored divisions woul d be launched to
take the fort ress once and for all. Both the
18th and 19th were spent in preparation.
On the British side, the prospects for a
prolonged defense of Tobrok did not look
good. The garri son consisted of the 4th and
6th South African Brigades, ]I th Indian
Brigade, and the few remnants of 32nd
Tank Brigade. Thus, the garrison was con-
siderably weaker than it had been previous-
Iy, and thi s was compounded by the faci
that many of the mi nefields had been lifted
from the peri meter to build the Gazala line.
Supplies were not as plent iful and the 2nd
Sout h African Division was not as ex-
perienced nor as well trai ned as had been
the previous defenders.
June 20th: The attack was preceded by
a very heavy air bombardment and came
in against the positions of 11th Indian
Brigade , The Afrika Korps (wi th both 15th
and 21st Panzer) fonned Ihe main attack
while 20th Corps (ATiele and Trieste) put
in an additional attack on their left flank.
By ni ghtfall the outer peri meier had been
breached, 11th Jndian Brigade had been
mostl y destroyed. and advanced part ies
from the Afrika Korps overlooked Tobrok
harbor. All that remained was to mop up
the isolated and out fl anked defenders.
Tobrok, the fort ress which had held up
Rommel's plans for an invasion of Egypt
for over a year, had finally fallen. The
gateway 10 the Suez Canal lay open at last.
AFTERMATH
Gazala was a great victory for Rommel
and the Afri ka Korps, and no one at the
time would have believed that il would be
their last. In retrospect. Gazala was a pyr-
rhic victory. one which burned out the
Afri ka Korps and rendered a lightning con-
quest of Egypt nearly an impossi bility.
But that didn't stop Rommel from trying.
He drove his few remaini ng exhauSled in-
fantrymen and worn out tanks merci less-
ly. By the lime they reached Mersa Matruh,
halfway belween the Egyptian frontier and
the Nile delta , Afrika Korps was down to
about 60 tanks and no more Ihan two or
three thousand combat infantrymen. The
Ital ian 20t h Corps, even now rei nforced
wi th the Lillorio Division, totalled only 44
tanks and about the same amount of infan-
try as the Gennans , That they were able to
lever l he British, who by then commanded
over 150 tanks and several reasonably fresh
divisions of infantry, from the Matroh posi-
tions is a measure of the extent 10 which
Rommel' s myst ique now nearly paralyzed
the British high command.
Fortunately for the British. General
Auchinleck, the commander in Ihe Middle
East. did not share this fai th in Rommel' s
infall ibili ty. and quickly built up a defens-
ive line at EI Alamein. When Rommel
reached the Alamein Line, there was much
confused fighting, but the trulh was that
Panzerannee Afrika was exhausted and at
Ihe end of a tenuous supply line. The
Panzerannee never recovcred its old ag-
gressive spi ril and. although it still fought
well throughout its career, its days were
clearly numbered, The Iwi n catastrophes of
November 1942, Montgomery' s massive
offensive at EI Alamein and the Allied land-
ings in Rommel's rear along the French
African coast, were Ihe beginning of the
end for Ihe Afrika Korps. and all Ihal re-
mained was the long delaying action, punc-
tuated by occasionally brilliant counterat-
tacks. that led slowly but inevilably to the
final surrender of all Axis troops in Africa.
Tanks In The Desert
BRITISH
Mark Vlb Light : The Mark
VIb was the standard light lank in
Bri ti sh service al the outbreak of
the war and was the most numerous type
in service in the desen throughoul 1940 and
the Bri tish winter offensive of 1940-41.
However, as production priority concen-
trated on gun-anned cruiser and infantry
tanks, the light tank force quickly dwi ndled
from combat lind mechanical att rition. Still
fairly numerous when Rommel launched
his firsl offensive in March-April of 1941,
by the time he reached Tobruk vinuaJly all
of them had been lost. A handful of Mark
- 25-
Vlb's were manned by the 3rd Hussars in
Tobruk as part of 3rd Annoured Brigade
during Brevity and Battleaxe, bOl all other
remaining vehicles were relegated 10 recon
duty with infantry divisions until their
advanced state of mechanical decrepilUde
caused their wi thdrawal from service.
Weight : 6 tons. Speed: 35 mph. Anna-
mel1t: one .50 machinegun, one .303
machinegun. Thickest Armor: 14mm.
AIO Cruiser: The
mainstays of the Briti sh
medium lank force althe start
of the war were the A9 and A 10 cruisers.
There were 125 A9's and 175 AlO's (a
slower but more heavily annored version
of the A9) produced. Most of these
ultimately saw service in the desert.
However, these tanks were showing their
age by the end of the British wi nter offens-
ive of 1940-41 and their number declined
steadily from then. Most of the cruisers
avai lable for Brevity were AIO's dredged
from the Egyptian workshops and by
November of 1941 the lasl scrapings of old
cruisers were used to equip the 7th Hussars
of 7th Annoured Brigade. After the
Crusader battl es the A 10 disappeared for
good.
Weight: 16 tons. Speed: 16 mph. Arma-
ment: 2 pounder (4Omm) gun, two .303
machineguns . Thickest Annor: 3Omm.
AU Cruiser: The AI3 was
a vast improvement over the
older A9's arld AiO's, com-
bi ning the armored proteclion of the latter
with a very good turn of speed for its day.
About 35 A13' s were available in 4th RTR
for the British winter offensive of 1940-4 I
and proved extremely useful. Later, 5th
RTR was sent to the desert fully equipped
with Al3's but lost most of them in the
retreat to Tobruk in the spring of 1941. A
small A 13 cruiser unit was built up in
Tobruk from tanks repaired in Egypt and
manned by the 1st RTR throughout the
summer of 1941, and the 2nd RTR rode
A 13s during Battleaxe. By then, however,
the heavier AI5 was becomi ng avail able
and the AI3's were beginning to wear out.
By Ihe Crusader battles only 2nd RTR in
7th Annoured Brigade rode A 13's, and by
Gazala the Al3 was gone.
Weight: 17 Ions. Speed: 30 mph. Anna-
mel1t: 2 pounder (40mm) gu n, one .303
machinegun. Thickest AmlOr: 30mm.
AIS Cruiser (Crusader):
The A 15 Crusader made its
combat debut duri ng Opera-
tion Battl eaxe and proved something of a
disappointment. It did not seem as sur-
vivable as had been expected given the
amount of armor it carried, and its power
plant caused some mechanical diffic ulties.
Also, the British tankers wanted a tank with
a bette r gun than the 2 pounder. (Although
the 2 pounder was not really such a bad
weapon; British annor commanders simp-
ly tended to blame their basicall y sound
equipment for their repealed tactical
failures, an excellent exampl e of the poor
carpenter blaming his tool s.) The Crusader
was gradually improved and although never
an outstandi ng tank it served with
wor kmanl ike efficiency throughout the
dese rt fighting.
Weight: 21 Ions. Speed: 27 mph. Anna-
ment: 2 pounder (40mm) gun, Iwo .303
machineguns. Thickest Armor: 49mm.
Matilda Infantry Thnk: The
Matilda was underrated by
almost everyone except Ger-
man tank crews, which is interesting in and
of itself. The Bri tish tended 10 see the diffi-
culty of coordinating attacks between
speedy crui sers and the lumberi ng infantry
tanks. Rommel dismissed the Matilda as an
effect.ive weapon because it was cal led an
infantry tank but was not provided with
high expl osive shell s 10 deal with en-
trenched enemy infantry. But Gennan
tankers had to face Matildas and soon con-
tended that Gennan tanks had only one ad-
vantage over Matildas: they could outrun
them-and that there was only one truly ef-
fecti ve tactical solution to fighting them:
withdraw and hope they broke down soon.
Fort unately for the Gennans, Mat ildas
were not available in signi ficant numbers
until the Axis forces also had numbers of
88mm flak guns sited forward for ant itank
work. Even a Matilda' s heavy annor was
-26-
no defense against an 88, and their slow
speed meant that they were quite often used
to support infantry anacks agai nst just such
positions as these. The Matilda's main
problem (aside from mechanical unreliabi li-
ty) was that it was a complicated, difficult,
and expensive tank to produce, Thus it was
soon superseded by other types on the pro-
duction line and its number graduall y
dwindled,
Weight: 30 Ions. Speed: 15 mph. Anna-
ment: one 2 pounder (4Omm) gun. one ,303
machi negun. Thickest Armor: 78mm.
Valentine Infantry Tank:
Intended as a replacement for
the Matilda. the Valemine was
no better aoned and had thinner armor.
However, it was a much easier tank to pm-
duce and at this stage of the war quamity
production was important to the British.
Valemines were first used during the
Crusader battles and were an increasingly
important component of British infantry
tank strength for the rest of the desert war.
Weight: 20 tons, Speed: 15 mph. Arma-
ment: one 2 pounder (4Omm) gun, one .303
machinegun. Thickest Armor: 6Smm.
Stuart: The M3 Stuart was a
U.S. light tank but served in the
desert as a "cruiser" with the
British. Its armor was as good as any of the
other cruisers except for the AI5 Crusader.
and the high velocity 37mm was the equal
of the British 2 pounder. In addition, it was
an extremely fast tank. a definite plus in the
desert. The British immediately gave the
tank the affectionate nickname " Honey".
1l\e initial consignment of Stuarts was used
to equip the 4th Armoured Brigade for
Operation Crusader; later it was used by
a number of British tank units.
Weight: 14 tons. Speed: 31 mph. Arma-
ment: one 37mm gun, three .30
machineguns. Thickest Annor: 44mm.
Grant: When the Grant
(another American tank) ar-
rived before the Gazala bat-
tles, it was the answer to many
of the prayers of the British tankers. Its
main strength lay in its hull-mounted 75mm
gun. which finally gave the British a large-
caliber antitank weapon capable of hitting
at long range and also capable of firing high
explosive shells. Disadvantages were slow
speed and a high silhouette made more
awkward by the necessity to expose the en-
tire tank to enemy observation before the
hull-mounted gun could be brought to bear.
So needed was the 75mm gun. however.
that the British accepted these limitations
cheerfully. At Gazala, all battalions with
Grants also had a proportion of A1S
Crusaders or M-3 Stuarts as well. For game
purposes, we have made the three battal ions
of a brigade "pure" units of Grants,
Stuarts. or Crusaders to bener showcase the
different characterist ics of the tanks. The
total number of each type is correct.
Weight: 31 tons. Speed: 22 mph. Arma-
ment: one 75mm gun. one 37mm gun. four
.30 machineguns. Thickest Armor: 57mm.
ITALIAN
1..3 Tankette: Originally iOlm-
duced in 1933, the most common
model of the L3 in the desert was the im-
proved 1935 model. Poorly armed and ar-
mored. it was nearly useless in modem
mobile warfare. Several hundred were in
North Africa when the British launched
their winter offensive in 1940, and almost
all were lost. $everal hundred more were
laler shipped over and these were all lost
by the end of 1941.
Weight: 3 tons. Speed: 26 mph. Arma-
ment. two 8mm machineguns. Thickest Ar-
mor: 13.5mm.
L6 Light Tank: The L6 was a
great improvement over the L3,
but by the time it was available
it was already obsolete. In 1940 a light tank
with 30mm of armor and a 20mm gun
would have been a useful addition to either
sides arsenal; by the summer of 1942 it
was anachronistic. The onl y unit to use
L6's at Gazala, the Landeri di Novara, ar-
rived at the front in time to put in one
spiri ted attack which cost the unit virtual-
ly its entire tank st rength.
Weight: 7 tons. Speed: 26 mph. Arma-
ment: one 20mm gun, one 8mm machi ne-
gun. Thickest Armor: 3Omm.
-27-
MI3 Medium Tank: The
M 13 made its first appearance
in the desert in December of
1940. At first avai lable in fairly small
numbers, it had become the primary battle
tank in the Italian armored units by
mid- I94I . Although more than adequate by
the standards of 1940. by mid-'4 1 it was
clearly outmoded. Unfortunately, no
replacement was available. Some of the
M 13 units at Gazala were actually equipped
wi th the M14, but this variant of the MI3
did not differ significantly from it s
predecessor.
Wei ght: 14 IOns . Speed: 20 mph. Anna-
mel/t: one 47mm gun , four 8mm
machineguns. nll'ekest ArolOr: 40mm.
GERMAN
A Note on German Panzer Battalions:
All Italian and British tank units are
presented as equipped with a single type of
tank. Although this was not always the
case. it was by far the most common. The
Germans. on the other hand. relied ex-
clusively on mixed battalions. Each unit
contained a combination of all types of
tanks to enable the battalion to undertake
any task it might be called upon to perform.
Game ratings for a panzer battalion are
based on such a mixed unit. The speci fi c
types used are discussed below.
PZKw I: The Panzer I was a
pre-war trai ning tank which was
forced into combat duty in 1939
by lack of more modem types. It was slow
for a light tank and of very limited combat
val ue. Nevertheless, it made up between 10
and 20% of 5th Light Division's tank
strength upon arrival in Africa. By late
1941 it had been withdrawn from service
with the panzer regiments.
Weight: 6 tons. Speed: 23 mph. Anna-
men!: two 7.92mm machineguns. Thickest
Armor: 25mm.
PZKw II: The Panzer 11 was
another pre-war training tank.
but had considerably bener com-
bat potentiaL Fast and reasonably well-
armored, it was a valuable light lank and
remained in service through the Gazala
fighting (although in diminishing numbers).
Over 30% of 5th Li ght Division's tank
strength upon arrival consisted of Panzer
II 's,
Weight: 10 Ions. Speed: 35 mph. Arma-
mel1l: one 20mm gun, one 7.92mm
machinegun. Thickest Annor: 35mm.
PZKw III : The Panzer 1I1
was the mai n German tank
throughoul the desert war.
It s basic soundness of design
meant that it could be successively upgrad-
ed with more armor and longer guns so that
il tended to keep pace with newer British
equipment.
Weight: 1910ns. Speed: 25 mph. Arma-
ment: one 50mm gun, two 7.92mm
machineguns. Thickest Armor: 50mm.
PZKw IV: The Panzer IV
was, at thi s stage of the war,
considered a support lank. Its
main armament was a short-
barreled, low-velocity 75mm gun intend-
ed to lob high explosive rounds at infanl ry
and anti tank gun emplacements. After the
Gazala batt les, Panzer IV's were increas-
ingly filted with high velocity 75mm guns
and ultimately became the main battle tank
for Gennan forces. That development came
after the period covered by this game ,
however.
Weight: 21 tons . Speed: 25 mph. Anna-
men!: one 75mm gun, two 7.92mm
machineguns. Thickest Annor: 6Omm.
Strategy and Tactics
The most importanl strategi c principle is
that you must have a plan; know, in general
terms, what you want to accomplish and
how you intend to do it. Your enemy's ac-
tions will probabl y force you to modify
your pl an. but you need some focus for
your actions from the beginning. Don't Iry
to do everything at once; you don't have
enough troops for that. One or (at mosl)
two objectives at a time will allow you 10
concenlrate your forces.
The best offense is a good defense. The
best way to win a battle is to force the
enemy 10 attack you on your terms: when
-28-
you have superior numbers and occupy
good terrain in defend mode, There are two
ways to accomplish thi s trick, The fi rst is
to create a strong position he can't bypass
between him and his necessary objective;
for exampl e, if you put a strong force
across the enemy suppl y line, he can', just
ignore it. The second is to guess where he's
going and be there first: let him run into
your units where he doesn't expect them
and before he's ready for combat,
Think twice before abandoning good
defensive terrain, Conversely, if the enemy
fail s to garrison crucial terrain, try to seize
it immediately, Fight to the last man in for-
tifi cations, and attack to regain them.
Escarpment s are good, but they can be
bypassed and often face the wrong way,
Hill s are excellent for the defender- but
remember that a unit gets no benefit if at-
tacked from an adjacent hill, A minefield
will cause lots of enemy casuahies if he's
forced to attack it, even if you onl y put a
weak unit there: but an empty mi nefield is
easy 10 push through, and once it's gone,
it's gone forever.
A void frontal attacks on strong positions
whenever possible, Flank them and put
them out of supply or threaten to surround
them, Try to maneuver the enemy out of
a strong position and force him to defend
a weak posi tion, If attack can' t be avoided
(i f you want to take Tobruk, for instance),
use lots of infantry and art illery, Even bet-
ter is to catch the enemy whi le he's mov-
ing, preferabl y in the flank. Flank attacks
are hard to achieve but very rewarding. The
easiest way is 10 set an ambush: put
reserves on the flanks of your lX>Si tions and
counterattack the enemy when he attacks.
Attack HQs whenever you can; you may
cripple the enemy for several tums. Even
threatening hi s HQ will keep him busy res-
cuing it.
When you concentrate your army in
small areas (which you must if you wanl
to accomplish anything), cover crucial in
tersections on the wide flanks with small
units. Send reeQn and armored car units out
to scout the enemy; they take fewer
casualti es than other units if they bump in-
to anytning.
Don't keep your units fighting until
casualties, fatigue, and morale loss make
them ineffective. Withdraw them while
they' re still in fair shape and regroup. Try
to keep a reserve of fresh troops ready to
continue the attack or defense. (Reserves
are a good idea for many purposes.)
Each type of unit has its own function.
Using them properl y is the essence of com-
bined arms tactics, Assaults call for infan-
try and lOIS of artillery. Attack Gcnnan flak
with infantry, never with tanks, (Germans:
on defense stack your flak with tanks.) If
an infantry unit has no antitank guns or ar-
til lery, any armored unit, even an L3 or ar-
mored car, can attack it with impunity: and
these weak armored units shouldn' t attack
anythi ng else. To prevent such attacks,
stack your poorly-equipped infantry with
minefields, tanks, or weU-equipped infa n-
try. Attack tanks with tanks, preferably bet-
ter tanks in overwhelming numbers; keep
your tanks concentrated, maximum stacks
if possible. (Of course there are never
enough tanks for everything. )
The Italian army varies greatl y in quali -
ty, Itali an infantry isn' t good for much;
neither are L3's. But Bersaglieri are ex-
cell ent troops (many of them very well
equipped with antitank guns), and MI3
units can be quite effective if you kccp them
concentrated.
BREVITY
Since the Tobruk lines will usually be too
strong for either side to achieve very much
there, tne majorit y of the act ion in Brevity
is around Halfaya Pass (0725) and Bardia
(1224). Strategic opt ions are limited by the
small numbers of units and turns. There
reall y is only one option: the Allied player
must attack along a 3-4 hex wide coastal
path while the Axis player throws his units
in the way. Flanking maneuvers are tOO
ti me consuming. Also note that the short-
ness of the scenario renders supply vi rtually
irrelevant, since most units have enough in-
ternal supply to last the entire game.
-29-
BAlTLEAXE
Allied Player: The first imponant item
to notice is that the burden of allack is on
you while the clear numerical superiority
lies with the Axis. The only recompense
you have is that the Axis forces are scat-
tered and di sorganized at the beginning of
the scenario. By immediately advancing.
you have opponunities to win. In this
scenario. Tobruk is better defended than in
Brevity but the Axi s has a sizeable quant i-
ty of panzers to work with. and if left alone
the Axis player can break through to
Tobruk. Even the 8-tum duration of the
scenario is adequate time.
You have three choices available to your
relieving forces : advance to take Halfaya
Pass and Bardia. try to destroy the Axis
forces around Bardia in toto, or make a
nanking allack to relieve Tobruk by way
of Sidi Omar (0521) and Sidi Rezegh
( 1213). The basic task is to create probl ems
for the Axis player so that he has no forces
to spare for an assault on Tobruk. The best
choice is the first one: the Other two are
probably beyond your means, although
feints in those directions can be useful.
Axis Player: You have much more in-
teresting decisions to make. At the begin-
ning of the scenario the three Axi s corps
are spread out all over the map. Organiz-
ing them for battle takes two or three turns .
You need to form a plan early to avoid
wasting time and effort. It is easiest to think
of the Axis forces as two halian infantry
corps and two German panzer divisions.
Though the forces are intermixed at the
stan , roughly one Italian infantry corps and
one German panzer division are encircling
Tobruk, while a separate. simil ar force is
holding off the Allied relief force. If you
join the panzers into a si ngle striking enti -
ty, it can devastate either Tobruk or the
relievi ng Allied units. However. there is
not enough time todo both. In addition. by
stripping the German units from one Italian
corps, you leave that front vulnerable. Both
the Allied relief columns and the Tobruk
garrison are capable of pummelling a single
Italian infantry corps. You must decide
whelher to keep your force evenly divided
(a conservative choice) or concentrate
against one of the Allied groups: " Take a
chance and win a prize!" Supply can be a
problem for you in this scenario, especial-
ly fuel. Try not to move the Axis HQs very
much since each hex moved costs 10 points
of fuel.
CRUSADER
This scenario offers the most alternat ives
for both sides. Where to anack/defend.
when. and with what are all quite undecid-
ed by the staning posi tion.
AJlied player: You have some very nice
infanlry as well as armor units and a hand-
ful of armored cars for scouting. Given the
central position you sIan with, there are
four targets upon which this power can be
brought to bear: Acroma (cut off all the
German forces from supply and relieve
Tobruk). Tobruk (reli eve Ihe ci ty and cut
off all Germans east ofil). Bardia (chop up
the weak frontier units and then push up the
coastal road to Tobruk). or the Axis armor
units themselves (once the Axis armor is
gone. the remaining Axis forces can be
methodical ly crushed) . Whatever the deci-
sion, remember that there is no hUrry. As
opposed to Brevity and Bauleaxe, where
time is of the essence, Crusader offers 18
turns to get the job done and there is am-
ple supply for the full length of the
scenario. In particular. the infantry must
trudge up from the rear and the entire mass
of armor and infantry joined in attack, Run-
ning forward with the armor and having it
stalled on German ant itank guns and
counterattacked by Panzers needlessly en-
dangers the entire operation. There is more
than just sand and rock in th is desen:
beware the German 88's and Rommel' s
Panzers!
Axis Player: You need to decide the
basic nature of your troops' act ions: de-
fend. attack, or counterattack. There are
many good reasons for each, Defend and
the Allied player has to prove his skill by
attacking your solid line. which can make
the most of terrain and use the German in-
fantry's excellent antitank guns ( 00110 men-
- 30-
tion fl ak) agai nst advancing All ied tanks.
As you will discover if you pick this op-
tion, the main problem is to decide where
the Alli ed attack is going to be, so that you
can bui ld a defensive line against it.
Auack (Rommel's choice) and at least
half the momentum of the battle is yours.
Regrettably, the desert is large and running
around in the enemy's rear areas does not
guarantee your abili ty to fi nd and destroy
his HQs and/or other weak uni ts. Also, like
Rommel, you may soon find your units out
of supply and wi thout a secure rear area to
regroup.
Counterattack hedges your bets, keeping
open bOlh the opt ion of posi t ional defense
and the chance to hi t the enemy spearheads
from the flank. In essence, you are keep-
ing most of your army in reserve. This op-
tion requi res you to be ready to move
quickly and decisively when the time
comes.
Both Players: This scenario is the most
wide open of the fou r. and armies can find
themselves fighting almost anywhere on the
map. For this reason, it most rewards the
pl ayer who best scouts out the enemy posi-
tion while conceali ng his own. Knowing
how your opponent has disposed his uni ts
enables you to accomplish your goals much
more readily: to attack weak, exposed
units, build a strong defensive line. launch
a fl ank assault with your armor, prepare a
strong counterattack, or cut off your oppo-
nent's supply lines.
GAZALA
Axis Pl ayer : Like Banleaxe, the Gazala
scenario stans with the numerically inferior
side (here it's you) having a strong posi-
tional advantage that must be immediately
exploited because it is onl y temporary.
You start the scenario wi th the benefit of
Rommel's ni ght march of the enti re DAK
to the southern flank of the Allied line. The
Gennan and Italian annor is full y concen-
trated and must be immediately put to use
on the ill-prepared Allied left flank. Over
the course of the bail ie, you need to decide
how close behind the Allied line your pat h
ofauack will be: toward E1 Adem (1311)
or toward Acroma (1607). As is always the
case in situations of opportunistic exploita-
tion. there is never enough armor to do all
the good things that you want 10 do.
Pushi ng the forward units further offers
both great opportunit ies and great risks; us-
ing the lagging infantry for mopping up
bypassed enemy units is usually superior
10 hurryi ng them forward to support the
tanks. When playing Gazala. you will ex-
perience what Rommel did: continual ten-
sion and decision-making wi th very few
factors known for certain. The original
mandatory push forward cannot be mai n-
tained foreve r and the first major decision
for you will be when to halt the tanks for
regrouping. If you plan for this regroup-
ing, it is likely to be more beneficial.
Remember. the final goal is Tobruk and
cutt ing the coastal road is crucial. You may
also experience supply line problems as you
swing closer to Tobruk. Taking Bir
Hachiem gains you some distance. but
eventually you will have to open a route
through the All ied minefields, for example
around hex 1305.
Allied Player : In Gazala. you have the
strongest forces of either side in any
scenario. However. your units are poorly
positioned 10 meet Rommel's massive
assault from the south. Like the Axis in
Crusader . you can defend, attack. or
counterattack. For defense, you have some
excellent units: the strong infantry brigades
wi th 48 antitank guns each. for example.
By putti ng those units side by side, you can
form a line virtually anywhere. Just sitt ing
the fine All ied armor down in a hex can
make that hex very difficult for the Axis.
This style of play can be quite effective but
it requires you to guess correctly where the
attack wi ll come.
You have some immediate opportuni ties
if you decide to attack. Two Itali an infan-
try brigades start in the front line next to
Rotonda Mleifel (1304 and 1403) and
nei ther of them has any ant itank guns. In
general, the center of the Axis position is
weakl y defended and qui te vulnerable. If
the Axis shifts more troops south to assist
in the massive effort on the Allied left
-31-
flank, the Axis HQs and suppl y lines often
become quite exposed. But don't get c a r ~
ried away in your offensive and ignore the
Axis attacks completely, or you may find
him in Tobruk before you know it.
Historicall y. the Bri tish high command
opted for counterattack. Whil e this is not
in and of itself a bad idea. the British im-
plementation was hopelessly confused.
A void their mi stake of attacking piecemeal
by keeping your armor together and using
it simultaneously on the forward Axis units
(usually the Panzers). Overwhelming odds
are the order of the day. Once the Panzers
have been stopped the counterattack can
continue by either charging around the Axis
southern flank to restore the original Al lied
line a nd cut the Axis off from their HQs
and/or supply. or by pushi ng through to
Rotonda Mteifel and nipping the Axis sup-
ply lines at thei r source.
- 32-
How to Load the Game
MAKING A BACKUP COpy
The game disk is double-sided. Side A
(the side with the label), which starts the
game, is protected and you may not copy
it. However, side B (the side without the
label) , which is needed during the game and
gets most of the wear and tear , is not pro-
tected and you have GDW's permission to
copy it. Use Atari DOS 2.0 option J to
make a backup disk.
You should then use the copy whenever
the computer asks you to insert side B of
the game disk.
LOADING
Written entirely in assembler , Rommel
needs no cartridges and runs on any Atari
computer with at least 48K of memory and
a disk drive. To load the program into the
computer, follow these steps :
I . Turn the computer off and remove
any cartridges from the cartridge slot.
2. Turn on the disk drive.
3. When the busy light goes out, open
the disk drive door and insert the program
disk with the label face-up and toward you.
4. Turn on the computer and TV set.
If you have an Atari 800XL or 130XE, hold
down the option key . The program loads
until the option screen appears.
5. Make your choices on the option
screen and press GID. The computer
enters more information from disk and then
asks you to turn the disk to side B.
6. Insert side B. Remove the disk and
either insert it upside down (with the label
toward you but on the bottom) or insert
your backup disk. Press (RETURN) . The
final part of the program loads and the
game begins .
Note: Leave the disk (side B) in the drive
after loading; the program needs to access
the disk during the game.
Mid-Game Options
The following options begin from the
game stopped menu (see page 27 of the rule
booklet) .
SAVE GAME OR
RESTORE SAVED GAME
Saving the game records all the informa-
tion necessary for the computer to restart
it later at the same point you left off: same
turn, same positions, casualties, morale
values, options , even orders. You can save
the game at any point in either player's tum
or during the turn review. This is useful if
you aren' t done playing but have to leave
for some reason. You can also save the
game if you want to experiment with dif-
ferent strategies; you can see what happens
with one plan, then go back to an earlier
point and try something else instead.
To save a game, you need a disk format-
ted by Atari DOS 2.0.
To Save a Game: Press CD on the game
stopped menu. The computer will ask you
for the number of the disk drive to save the
game on and for the version number. The
version number is used so you can save
more than one game on a disk, using dif-
ferent version numbers. Press (RETURN) to
use the default value (in brackets). If you
make a mistake, pressm).
When the computer tells you, insert the
disk you want to save the game on and press
(RETURN) . (If you have only one disk
drive, you will have to remove the program
disk before inserting the game-save disk.)
The game is saved in three files, labeled
ROMZVR.OXX, ROMMEL.OXX, and
ROMV AR.OXX, where XX is the version
number; together, the files take up 55 sec-
tors. A fourth file, ROMREV.OXX, is
saved if the turn is saved during turn
review; this file uses 25 additional sectors.
Restoring a Saved Game: First, you
must know the version number. If you can' t
remember it, enter Atari DOS (version 2.0)
and look at the disk directory. Then load
the game program, pass through the option
screen (the settings don't matter, since all
options will be changed when you restore
the saved game), and stop the game by
pressing twice. When the game stopped
menu appears, press @.
The computer will ask for disk drive and
version numbers. When it tells you to, in-
sert the disk the game is saved on and press
(RETURN) . The game will load; the
restored game begins at the same point at
which it was saved.
SAVING THE TURN REVIEW
This procedure is just like saving the
game, except you do it during tum review.
Follow the same procedure for saving the
game. You can use the saved tum-review
option to make a home movie of the whole
game. Just save the review every tum.
Then, after the game is over, you can load
the saved turn reviews one by one, in order,
and see what happened. If you played the
game with visibility set to no, you can
change it to yes to see a complete history
of the game.
SA VING AND ENTERING MOVES
This procedure is used mostly when play-
ing by mail. You can save your moves and
send them (or give them) to your opponent.
It can also be used to save you the trouble,
if you have a favorite opening move, of
entering it by hand each time you play.
Saving a Move: An Allied move can be
saved at any time during the Allied tum;
an Axis move can be saved at any time dur-
ing the Axis or following Allied tum. Note
that it is possible to save the computer's
move, if the computer is the Axis player.
Press @ on the game stopped menu to
save an Allied move and @) to save an
Axis move . The procedure is the same as
for saving a game. Allied moves are saved
in three files : ALLIEA YY .OXX,
ALLIEBYY.OXX, and ALLIECYY.OXX,
where YY is the current tum number (sup-
plied by the computer) and XX is the ver-
sion number . Axis moves are saved as
AXISAAYY.OXX, etc. The files take 23
sectors for the Allied move and 19 sectors
for the Axis move.
Entering a Move: You can enter a move
(which you have previously saved) at the
same times given above for saving moves.
Press @) on the game stopped menu to
enter an Allied move and @ to enter an
Axis move. You have to know the version
number; the computer uses the current turn
for the tum number. (If you try to enter a
move on the wrong tum, you will get either
the wrong move or none at all.)
A move should be entered only if the cur-
rent game positions are identical to the posi-
tions when the move was saved. The move
entered includes the starting positions,
strengths, etc., of all units on the side. If
these are the wrong values for the current
game, strange events may happen, like
units suddenly jumping several hexes, start-
ing on top of enemy units, etc.
Note: You can save the computer's move
if it is playing the Axis. Just save the Axi s
move during your (Allied) tum. If you later
enter this move during an Axis tum of
another game, the units' orders will not be
displayed (the computer doesn't have to
look at its orders), but they are entered and
will be resolved.
PLA YING BY MAIL
The procedure for playing by mail is fair-
ly simple, but a limited amount of organiza-
tion is necessary. Both players need a com-
puter and a copy of the game, plus at least
two formatted disks.
Here is the procedure for tum I.
Axis Player:
I. Start the game, pick options (in-
cluding a two-player game), and, before
entering any orders, save the game.
2. Enter your orders and save the Axis
move twice: once on the same disk and
once on a different disk.
3. Give the second disk to the Allied
player.
Allied Player:
1. Start the game, pick the same op-
tions as the Axis player, and save the game.
2. Skip the Axis tum by pressing @
twice.
3. Enter your orders and save the
Allied move twice: once on the same disk
and once on a different disk.