Tobruk’s Easter Battle 1941

John Mackenzie-Smith

Revised Edition. The initial Australian and British victory over Rommel’s Afrika Korps on Easter Monday 1941 at Tobruk was Germany’s first defeat in World War II. Incongruously the vital actions of Queensland’s 2/15 Battalion on that day have been generally ignored. For the first time, this investigation places that ‘lost’ body of infantrymen nearly four miles from the outer perimeter near El Adem crossroads. There they were dug in around two gallant Royal Horse Artillery batteries which incurred heavy losses in turning around a concerted Panzer attack. In that battle the 2/15’s A Company delivered the final blow to the accompanying German infantry, led by the formerly invincible Lt-Colonel Gustav Ponath who was killed in the field. This ably researched and intriguing episode redresses the brave 2/15’s subsequent sense of injustice.