Originally called the Western Desert force, the allies Eighth army had just come of the back of a failed Operation Battleaxe in June 1941 which they had hoped would lift the siege of Tobruk which the eighth army was also involved in. Operation Battleaxe was the second attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk which had started on the 10th of April 1941 and had lasted until Operation Crusader started in November of 1941. There were three attempts to relieve the fighting in Tobruk, the first being Operation Brevity, lasting just longer than a week from the 15th to the 27th of May 1941.
Operation Brevity had started out well with the Allied forces catching the Axis armies off guard and making initial advances into the Axis lines, but after the first advances, Rommel quickly reorganised the Axis armies and started counter-attacks against the Allies. A lot of the Allies were trying to hold down positions in the open, on the flat desert plains, and so stood no chance against the reorganised Axis counter-attacks which had just been reinforced with more tanks, and so retreated back from their positions. The Allies were also stopped from holding their objectives because of strong Axis defences from tanks and anti-tank guns. Operation Brevity was almost a complete fail when it came to achieving their objectives and relieving the fighting in Tobruk, only managing to capture and hold Halfaya Pass, although the Allies did manage to capture Sollum and Fort Capuzzo they had to withdraw their troops and tanks in order to hold the important Halfaya Pass, but even that was taken back by the Axis armies only a few weeks later.
The second attempt to relieve the fighting in Tobruk was of course Operation Battleaxe, again not lasting very long from the 15th of June to the 17th of June. The Allies were trying to capture most of the same objectives as in Operation Brevity, and just as the in Operation Brevity, the Allies made some initial advances with the 4th Indian Division capturing Fort Capuzzo, but again the Axis defences and counter-attacks were far too strong. The allied tanks were stopped at nearly every objective they aimed to capture, with Axis anti-tank guns working to terrifying effect, destroying more than 150 Allied tanks in less than two days. Halfaya Pass which the Allies had taken in Operation Brevity was heavily defended by Axis tanks and anti-tank guns (probably due to the reasonable ease that the Allies took it in Operation Brevity) and so no Allied man nor tank made it to the objective. After the Allied attacks were dealt with, Rommel then took his turn at gaining ground in North Africa, launching a counter-offensive against the Allied forces recapturing Fort Capuzzo and pushing back another attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk.
Operation Brevity had started out well with the Allied forces catching the Axis armies off guard and making initial advances into the Axis lines, but after the first advances, Rommel quickly reorganised the Axis armies and started counter-attacks against the Allies. A lot of the Allies were trying to hold down positions in the open, on the flat desert plains, and so stood no chance against the reorganised Axis counter-attacks which had just been reinforced with more tanks, and so retreated back from their positions. The Allies were also stopped from holding their objectives because of strong Axis defences from tanks and anti-tank guns. Operation Brevity was almost a complete fail when it came to achieving their objectives and relieving the fighting in Tobruk, only managing to capture and hold Halfaya Pass, although the Allies did manage to capture Sollum and Fort Capuzzo they had to withdraw their troops and tanks in order to hold the important Halfaya Pass, but even that was taken back by the Axis armies only a few weeks later.
The second attempt to relieve the fighting in Tobruk was of course Operation Battleaxe, again not lasting very long from the 15th of June to the 17th of June. The Allies were trying to capture most of the same objectives as in Operation Brevity, and just as the in Operation Brevity, the Allies made some initial advances with the 4th Indian Division capturing Fort Capuzzo, but again the Axis defences and counter-attacks were far too strong. The allied tanks were stopped at nearly every objective they aimed to capture, with Axis anti-tank guns working to terrifying effect, destroying more than 150 Allied tanks in less than two days. Halfaya Pass which the Allies had taken in Operation Brevity was heavily defended by Axis tanks and anti-tank guns (probably due to the reasonable ease that the Allies took it in Operation Brevity) and so no Allied man nor tank made it to the objective. After the Allied attacks were dealt with, Rommel then took his turn at gaining ground in North Africa, launching a counter-offensive against the Allied forces recapturing Fort Capuzzo and pushing back another attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk.