Ancient An
Ancient Greek agricultural colony,
Antipyrgus () was once on the site of modern Tobruk, No longer a residential bishopric, Antipyrgus is today listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see. Later the site became a way station on the
caravan route that ran along the coast.
World War II At the beginning of
World War II,
Libya was an Italian colony and Tobruk became the site of important
battles between the
Allies and
Axis powers. Tobruk was strategically important to the conquest of Eastern Libya, then the
province of Cyrenaica, for several reasons.
Strategic importance in May 1942, which was fought in the vicinity of Tobruk Tobruk had a deep, natural, and protected harbour, which meant that even if the port were bombed, ships would still be able to anchor there and be safe from
squalls, so the port could never be rendered wholly useless regardless of military
bombardment. This was of critical importance, as it made Tobruk an excellent place to supply a
desert warfare campaign. It was also heavily fortified by
the Italians prior to their invasion of Egypt in November 1940. In addition to these prepared fortifications, there were a number of
escarpments and cliffs to the south of Tobruk, providing substantial physical barriers to any advance on the port over land. Tobruk was also on a peninsula, allowing it to be defended by a minimal number of troops, which the Allies used to their advantage when the port was under siege. An attacker could not simply bypass the defenders, for if they did, the besieged would
sally forth and cut off the nearby
supply lines of the attacker, spoiling their advance. But Tobruk was also strategically significant, due to its location with regard to the remainder of Cyrenaica. Attackers from the east who had secured Tobruk could then advance through the desert to
Benghazi, cutting off all enemy troops along the coast, such as those at
Derna. This advance would be protected from
counterattack, due to escarpments that were quite difficult for a military force to climb, running generally from Tobruk to
Suluq. Due to the importance of maintaining
supply in the desert, getting cut off in this area was disastrous. Therefore, whoever held both Suluq and Tobruk controlled the majority of Cyrenaica. Finally, south of the port was the largest airfield in eastern Libya. This was significant due to the importance of
air power in desert warfare.
Italian advance Italian forces (and their native Libyan allies—about two
divisions of the latter)
invaded Egypt in early September 1940 but halted their advance after a week and dug in at
Sidi Barrani. In early December,
British Empire forces—an armoured division and two infantry divisions—launched a counterstrike codenamed
Operation Compass. The Italians had previously
invaded Albania and
occupied part of the south of France, and had now made a military incursion into a British
protectorate.
British capture of Tobruk The counterstrike involved the British pocketing two of the Italian camps against the Mediterranean, forcing their surrender. This led to a general Italian retreat to
El Agheila. Tobruk was captured by British, Australian and Indian forces on 22 January 1941. Italy called on her German ally, which sent an army
corps, under the name
Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK). Italy also sent several more divisions to Libya. These forces, under Lieutenant-General
Erwin Rommel, drove the Allies back across Cyrenaica to the Egyptian border, leaving Tobruk isolated and
under siege. The defenders of the fortress consisted of the
Australian 9th Division, the
Australian 18th Brigade and some British tanks and artillery. They were later reinforced and replaced by the
British 70th Infantry Division,
Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, a
Czechoslovak battalion and a British tank brigade. The siege lasted until December, when
Operation Crusader pushed the DAK and Italians back out of Cyrenaica.
German capture of Tobruk Rommel's second offensive took place in May and June 1942. Tobruk
was taken in an outflanking attack on 21 June 1942, capturing the largest number of
British Commonwealth troops after the
fall of Singapore earlier in the year, where over 80,000 were captured. Rommel was promoted to
Generalfeldmarschall, shortly thereafter and was the youngest in the
Wehrmacht Heer to achieve this rank. The following units were deployed in Tobruk on 20 June 1942, and most of them were captured by the Axis forces: •
2nd South African Infantry Division •
4th Royal Tank Regiment •
7th Royal Tank Regiment • 3rd Battalion,
Coldstream Guards • 1st Battalion,
Sherwood Foresters • 1st Battalion,
Worcestershire Regiment • 2nd Battalion,
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders • 2nd Battalion, 5th
Mahratta Light Infantry • 2nd Battalion,
7th Gurkha Rifles • 67 Medium Regiment,
Royal Artillery • 68 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery • 25th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
British Commando raid A British raid on Tobruk on 13–14 September 1942, codenamed
Operation Agreement, intended to destroy port facilities and stores being used to support the Axis forces further west. Special forces approached from across the desert while
Commandos attacked from the sea. A preparatory air raid by RAF heavy bombers served only to alert the Italian and German defenders. The special forces were unable to silence the coastal artillery batteries and the seaborne assault had to be abandoned after some of the Commandos had been landed in the wrong place. The retiring vessels were then attacked from the air. The British sustained almost 800 casualties, together with a cruiser, two destroyers and several smaller ships and boats.
British recapture Tobruk remained in Axis hands until 11 November 1942, when the Allies captured it after the
Second Battle of El Alamein. It remained in Allied hands thereafter. Although not as much a reason for its strategic significance, the British built a rail line from
El Alamein to Tobruk during the course of the war. This rail line was significant both for purposes of supply and as a sense of pride to the Allied troops, as the rail line was built through a little-populated, inhospitable desert.
Libyan Civil Wars At the outset of the
First Libyan Civil War, the city quickly came under the control of the
NTC. In September 2014 the
internationally recognized government of
Libya relocated to a Greek car ferry in Tobruk harbor. A rival
New General National Congress parliament continued to operate in Tripoli. In October 2014 they again re-located, to a hotel named
Dar al-Salam also known as the Al Masira Hotel in Tobruk. In November 2014 that government was declared illegal by Libya's highest court. ==Notable people==