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Rommel's success in the recent Battle of Libya began with a miscalculation. He sent his tanks south in a wide sweep around Bir Hachėim, to outflank the British line, but his intended surprise was detected, his columns were attacked by superior forces. At that point Rommel was worsted and he began to extemporize. While his engineers cut a gap in the heavily-mined Ain el-Gazala line, he distracted the British with various false movements, ringed his gap with protective artillery, then pushed his forces on through...
...also not above playing on them with false propaganda. Last winter, when Rommel had overstretched his supply lines and the British were rolling him back to Bengasi, he signaled his soldiers: "Don't let our men in Russia down. They have just taken Moscow." Last month, when Bir Hachėim held out longer than he expected, he rode among his tanks and infantry, bellowing: "Men of the Afrika Korps, be of good heart. Our glorious Führer informs me that his forces have overrun Sevastopol...
...planes; 2) airdromes and supply lines in Rommel's immediate rear. British pilots, many of them in U.S. planes, raised hob with such targets. But that was not enough. At the pinch Rommel still had enough tanks, guns and supplies. And he had the dive-bombers to crack Bir Hacheim, Tobruk and Matr...
...well known to be a demoniac master of desert war, but neither the British nor the U.S. public was prepared for Tobruk's fall. For it followed weeks of such cheery headlines as these: Planes pound Axis units in Libya. . . . British in Libya mopping up. . . . Heroic stand at Bir Hachéim foils Rommel. . . . Axis road to Egypt barred. . . . Even two days after Tobruk fell, the New York World-Telegram still bleated: R.A.F. Blasts Nazis in Libya...
There was reason. After 13 days, Bir Hachéim, the hot place, Pierre Koenig's key post, had fallen...