Illustrations
New Zealand infantry and Tobruk tanks. Men of 19 Battalion pass a Matilda of 4 Royal Tanks at Ed Duda after the link-up
Ceremonial parade at Baggush before the battle. Note the escarpment in the background, like many another on the way to Tobruk
A chilly autumn swim at Baggush
A relief model, made by the Engineers, of the battle area
New Zealanders and Indians extend the desert railway
Fifth Brigade drives towards the frontier
Crossing the frontier wire
A Divisional Cavalry Bren carrier pauses in muddy going inside Libya
Crusader tanks advance across typical scrubland
An armoured-car patrol with Marmon-Harringtons like those of Divisional Cavalry
A desert convoy led by a Stuart tank (‘Honey’)
An early conference in Libya with, left to right, Lieutenant-Colonel Gentry, Brigadiers Hargest and Miles, General Freyberg, Brigadier Barrowclough and Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell
A quick meal during a halt in the advance
Valentines of 8 Royal Tanks drive past New Zealand field guns
New Zealand Bofors crew ready for action at dawn, 22 November 1941
Sidi Azeiz, scene of the last stand of 5 Brigade Headquarters on 27 November
Fort Capuzzo, much battered in Wavell’s campaign, in BATTLEAXE, and again in CRUSADER
C Squadron, 8 Royal Tanks, with 6 Brigade. Probably taken after the overrunning of Africa Corps Headquarters at dawn on 23 November. In the centre is a group of prisoners. Most of the tanks were knocked out within a few hours.
An 88 is towed away from Gambut by a ‘half-track’ as 4 Brigade arrives, 23 November
Men of 20 Battalion move past Valentines of A Squadron, 8 Royal Tanks, under heavy fire near Bir el Chleta, 24 November
An early batch of German prisoners is marched past Valentine tanks
The Blockhouse
The ‘Mosque’ at Sidi Rezegh, the tomb of an Arab saint and his son
An artillery signals truck in action, with one man busy at the map board; behind him another crouches at the telephone
Infantry of the Tobruk garrison advance in the break-out battle
German prisoners hurrying for cover on Belhamed on 26 November. Their escort is out of sight to the left
Major-General Scobie confers with his predecessor, Major-General Morshead, on taking command of the Tobruk garrison
Tobruk, an aerial mosaic looking south-eastwards towards the main CRUSADER battlefield at Sidi Rezegh. The road running off to the top left is the Via Balbia
A and B Companies of 19 battalion pass 4 Royal Tanks in a thrust from Ed Duda to link up with 6 Brigade, 27 November. (They were soon recalled.)
Lieutenant-Colonel Hartnell of 19 Battalion greets Brigadier Willison of 32 Army Tank Brigade at Ed Duda, the first relief of Tobruk
Brigadier Watkins of 1 Army Tank Brigade confers with Lieutenant-Colonel Gentry after a Stuka raid. (Note mud from slit-trenches on their jackets.)
Brigadier Inglis, commanding 4 Infantry Brigade, in summer uniform
Counter-attack on the Tobruk Corridor: marked map captured with General von Ravenstein on 29 November. The two panzer divisions were to attack abreast, with the 21st on the right, driving past 90 Light Division (top left centre), followed by Ariete
15 Panzer Division bears down on 6 Brigade at Sidi Rezegh, 30 November. In the centre is a Pzkw III
Closing in on 6 Brigade. A ‘half-track’ tows a 50-millimetre anti-tank gun alongside a Pzkw III
General Freyberg speaks by wireless to 30 Corps on the ‘Bayley to Bayley’ link. The vehicle is a South African armoured car which broke through to the New Zealand Division
A portée of L Troop in action on 1 December
Smoke over Belhamed, 1 December. A 6 Field Regiment gun is about to withdraw. Enemy infantry are closing in from the left
The same scene from a slightly more comfortable distance, with burning transport of 6 Brigade on the skyline
A blazing Signals truck on Belhamed. The crouching figure in the foregroundshows that the enemy is close
Guns of 4 Field Regiment prepare for anti-tank action after Belhamed is lost. In the background is a captured German field gun
Retreat from Zaafran. The remnants of the Division form up at dusk on 1 December
Other New Zealand vehicles enter Tobruk
Lieutenant-General Sir Alan Cunningham, first commander of Eighth Army (after a successful campaign in East Africa). His brother was C-in-C, Mediterranean Fleet
Lieutenant-General C. W. M. Norrie, GOC 30 Corps, speaking on the ‘blower’
Bardia
Sollum from the Air, with the barracks (top centre) overlooking the pass road
A Vickers gun of 4 MG Company in action at Menastir with 22 Battalion
Scene of fierce fighting outside Bardia. Probably taken near Fort Capuzzo on 27 or 28 November, with German dead to the left of the lorry
The thick turret of a Matilda holed in three places by a German anti-tank gun
Transport under fire in the lee of an escarpment – a typical CRUSADER scene
A corner of the captured MDS near Point 175: in the photograph are New Zealanders, South Africans, Italians and a German medical orderly
The prisoner-of-war compound after Bardia fell, with New Zealanders just released from five weeks of captivity
A Bofors being manhandled up an escarpment on the way to Gazala
Stuka raid on transport near Gazala
Italians captured in the Gazala line march past a much-used Vickers gun
A New Zealand 25-pounder firing in half-light in the Gazala battle
Lieutenant-General Ritchie, who assumed command of Eighth Army on 26 November
Lieutenant-General Godwin-Austen, GOC 13 Corps in CRUSADER (taken early in the war when he was a Major-General)
Major-General Gott, GOC 7 Armoured Division in CRUSADER (taken when he was brigadier commanding the Support Group)
General Auchinleck congratulates General Freyberg after the campaign
General Rommel seated above the Afrikakorps emblem on a German armoured truck, February 1942
General Bastico, C-in-C of the Italian High Command in North Africa and nominally Rommel’s superior
Major-General von Ravenstein, GOC 21 Panzer Division, in Tobruk after his capture
Major-General Neumann-Silkow, GOC 15 Panzer Division, mortally wounded near El Gubi on 6 December 1941
Major-General Sümmermann, GOC 90 Light Division, killed in an air raid on 10 December 1941