Customer Reviews

Tobruk 1941: Rommel's opening move (Campaign)

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Jon Latimer picks up in this volume on the Siege of Tobruk where he left off in his previous volume in the Osprey Campaign Series, Operation Compass 1940. Although the style is similar to the first volume, this work is better written and better edited. However, it is important to note that this volume does not cover the entire siege of Tobruk, only the period from Rommel's initial offensive on 24 March to the end of Operate "Battleaxe" on 17 June 1941. Since the siege continued until late November 1941, this period will presumably be covered in another volume on "Operation Crusader". Nevertheless, the story of the siege seems oddly truncated in this account.

The section on commanders is far too brief. Rommel is the only Axis commander given serious attention and even the Allied commanders are mostly glossed over. Generalmajor Streich, commander of the 5th Light Division, had a poor relationship with Rommel and this should have been discussed since it contributed to the failure of the first German attack on Tobruk. The section on opposing armies is totally superficial, focusing on a general discussion of anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, rather than discussing the units involved in the siege. The German 5th Light was a very ad hoc force cobbled together from various bits and pieces in late 1940. More information on the 9th Australian Division should have been provided. Virtually no information on the Italians was provided - Latimer missed a chance here to comment on their recovery, of sorts, from the Beda Fomm disaster. The Order of Battle provided is quite thorough, although there is no list of Axis aircraft available. Latimer should also have made some mention of the reinforcement schedules for both sides. The campaign summary is solid, if unexceptional. Latimer covers all the main points, but a review of his bibliography reveals that he has not dug much past standard secondary sources. There has been a wealth of new information about the Desert War, including a lot of specialized studies on the panzer units of the Afrika Korps, as well as information about Enigma, that have not been incorporated in this volume. Excellent sources, such as the Royal Armored Corps histories and the Tank Museum do not appear to have been utilized. Perhaps in his next volume, Latimer can attempt a bit more research. Finally, there is no attempt at analysis, asking why couldn't Rommel take Tobruk? Obviously inadequate resources played a key factor, but Latimer sheds little light on the question of whether Rommel had any other options.

Latimer has done an outstanding job of compressing a large amount of information into the limited format of an Osprey volume. The reviewer (below) may have wanted a far fuller account, but if he has a way of including all of the information Latimer has conveyed *as well as* all the material he believes was missing in just 20,000 words then I suggest he contact Osprey immediately. Such an achievement would be remarkable. I wonder whether some reviewers are more interested in showing off their knowledge than in a reasonable assessment of the work in question.

Given the limited scope of the Osprey format and the general nature of the series' reading audience, Latimer has done a superb job of outlining most of the important aspects of this campaign and of pointing the interested reader in the direction of further, fuller accounts. Highly recommended.

I liked this book when I first read it however I did notice what seemed to be whole chunks of text lifted directly from the British Official Histories by I.S.O. Playfair that had not been given credit via a footnote on that particular page (the book lacks footnotes on the pages that's not the problem however with such amount of text lifted I would have expected to have seen one to give credit where it is deserved).

With that said I still like the book and it is supported by excellent diagrams, paintings and photos in particular I liked the diagram of what a typical defensive point in the Tobruk perimeter looked like.

This book is worth a look and does appear to give a good overview of the battle and operations fought to relive the garrison.

This release of Tobruk by Osprey is one of their best, is full of detail and data. It has a very nice and direct narrative style. Is quite chunky even for a book of the campaign series, is full of good maps and really good photos. The color paints are very good, the one with the german recon vehicles is one of my favorites of any book by Osprey. Highly recommended.

I was pleased that the book covered how the Australians were pulled out and the 70th Infantry was inserted. The book really covers that time period, not before and not after. I was hoping to get some insight into the fall of Tobruk. All in all, this is a good piece of reference material.

Osprey Campaign Series has produced several fine books. In a fairly short book paticular battles are outlined with supporting maps and pictures.
Tobruk is a fine example of such a book. Military readers will be familiar with such descriptions as a major engagement between tens of thousands of combatants is decided at a point where only a few hundred soldiers actually fight. Such an engagement is the Battle of the Salient in April-May 1941 and it is well covered in the book.

The defence of Tobruk was a monumental task, the Australian force under the command of General Morshead or Ming the Merciless as he was affectionally known by his men where asked to hold Tobruk for eight weeks. The siege lasted 8 months.

In the Desert Was the few towns were of great importance and in paticular places such as Tobruk which had a harbor. The stand of Tobruk prevented Rommel from advancing further to Egypt.

It was a monumental siege and became the very essence of all what the British and the Commonwealth stood for, a bull dog refusing to give in before the mighty Germans and for the first time the Germans could not find victory.

It is a good book of its kind and goes through those eventful 8 months with much detail.

Like all books in the Osprey campaign series, this volume is meant to be an overview of a specific series of battles. In this, Jon Latimer does excellent work. As always, the format of the campaign series does well to give a feel for the campaign. Latimer even goes into some detail on the role of the antiaircraft artillerymen in Tobruk, a vital but often overlooked aspect of the siege. Overall, a good reference about Tobruk or a light read well worth looking into.