Tobruk : the great siege, 1941-42 / William F. Buckingham.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction -- 1. Lines in the sand and Black Shirts: Egypt, Libya and the Horn of Africa, c.200 BC--1940 -- 2. Down the slippery slope, ready or not: Italy's entry into the Second World War, September 1939--September 1940 -- 3. Stroke and counter-stroke: the Italian invasion of Egypt and Operation Compass June 1940--December 1940 -- 4. Tobruk captured: the British advance into Libya December 1940--January 1941 -- 5. Compass concluded: the conquest of Cyrenaica and the Battle of Beda Fomm 22 January 1941--9 February 1941 -- 6. Tobruk menaced: the arrival of the Deutsches Afrikakorps in Libya and the British retreat from Cyrenaica 7 February 1941--8 April 1941 -- 7. Tobruk invested: 8 April 1941--12 April 1941 -- 8. Tobruk attacked: 12 April 1941--18 April 1941 -- 9. Tobruk assailed: 19 April 1941--4 May 1941 -- 10. Tobruk besieged: 4 May 1941--25 October 1941 -- 11. Tobruk relieved: 25 October 1941--10 December 1941 -- 12. Epilogue: Tobruk taken: 10 December 1941--21 June 1942 -- List of illustrations -- Bibliography -- Plates.

The siege of Tobruk was the longest in British military history. The coastal fortres and deep-water port was of crucial importance to the battle for North Africa, and the key that would unlock the way to Egypt and the Suez Canal. For almost a year the isolated garrison held out against all attempts to take it, and in the process Tobruk assumed a propoganda role that outweighed its great strategic value, becoming a potent symbol of resistance when the war was going badly for the British. Goebbels referred to the garrison as 'rats', and they proudly adopted the insult as a title, and became the.