Italian Forces

View of Tobruk, 1942.

Unknown (?Italian) author.

Italian Carro Armato M13/40 medium tank across the harbor from the port of Tobruk, Libya, dating from the (short lived) recapture of the town by the Axis, 1942. Tobruk was the subject of much attention from both Axis and Allies in the 1941/'42 period in view of its strategic position as the "gateway to Egypt"/"gateway to Libya", unimportant in earlier North African wars but vital in this one, as the relatively large, mechanized armies engaged needed to establish control of the relatively narrow coastal strip across which the town lay. As a port, Tobruk was, for various reasons, of relatively limited value to either side - not least, because it spent much of the 1941/'42 period under siege or otherwise actively contested by the combatants. Best regards, JR.