Operation Brevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, General Archibald Wavell, Brevity was intended to be a rapid blow against weak Axis front-line forces in the Sollum–Capuzzo–Bardia area of the border between Egypt and Libya. Although the operation got off to a promising start, throwing the Axis high command into confusion, most of its early gains were lost to local counter-attacks, and with German reinforcements being rushed to the front the operation was called off after one day.
Egypt had been invaded by Libyan-based Italian forces in September 1940, but by February of the following year a British counter-offensive had advanced well into Libya, destroying the Italian Tenth Army in the process. British attention then shifted to Greece, which was under the threat of Axis invasion. While Allied divisions were being diverted from North Africa, the Italians reinforced their positions and were supported by the arrival of the German Afrika Korps under Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel. Rapidly taking the offensive against his distracted and over-stretched opponent, by April 1941 Rommel had driven the British and Commonwealth forces in Cyrenaica back across the Egyptian border. Although the battlefront now lay in the border area, the port city of Tobruk—100 mi (160 km) inside Libya—had resisted the Axis advance, and its substantial Australian and British garrison constituted a significant threat to Rommel's lengthy supply chain. He therefore committed his main strength to besieging the city, leaving the front line only thinly held.
Wavell defined Operation Brevity's main objectives as the acquisition of territory from which to launch a further planned offensive toward Tobruk, and the depletion of German and Italian forces in the region. With limited battle-ready units to draw on in the wake of Rommel's recent successes, on 15 May Brigadier William Gott attacked in three columns with a mixed infantry and armoured force. The strategically important Halfaya Pass was taken against stiff Italian opposition, and deeper inside Libya Fort Capuzzo was captured, but German counter-attacks under Colonel Maximilian von Herff regained the fort during the afternoon causing heavy casualties amongst its defenders. Gott—concerned that his forces were in danger of being caught by German armour in open ground—conducted a staged withdrawal to the Halfaya Pass on 16 May, and Brevity was closed down. The importance of the Halfaya Pass as a safe supply route was highlighted to Rommel, and 11 days later it was recaptured during Operation Skorpion, a German counter-attack.
OperationBrevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief...
to: Brevity (comic strip), a comic strip created by Guy Endore-Kaiser and Rodd Perry brevity code, a vocal word replacement system OperationBrevity, a...
intelligence coup" was mishandled, encouraging the premature attack of OperationBrevity. In 1993, Harold Raugh wrote that the diversion of so many British...
continued despite two failed Allied relief attempts: OperationBrevity (15–16 May) and Operation Battleaxe (15–17 June). The garrison repulsed several...
to increase the pressure on Wavell to attack. OperationBrevity was quickly planned as a limited operation to seize Sollum, Halfaya Pass and Fort Capuzzo...
which had been captured during OperationBrevity (15–16 May). Unternehmen Skorpion was the second offensive operation commanded by Rommel in Africa (apart...
Afrika Korps maintained a mobile position south and east of the port. OperationBrevity (15–16 May) was a limited offensive, to inflict attrition on Axis...
This is the order of battle for OperationBrevity, a World War II battle between the British Commonwealth and the European Axis Powers of Germany and...
and followed Brevity up with a much larger-scale offensive, Operation Battleaxe intended to relieve the siege at Tobruk, but this operation also failed...
Army had been routed by the British Commonwealth Western Desert Force in Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) and captured at the Battle...
Tobruk fails 15 May: British troops launch OperationBrevity to gain more territory from which to launch Operation Battleaxe later in the year 16 May: Italian...
list of American standardized brevity code words. The scope is limited to those brevity codes used in multiservice operations and does not include words...
direct assault. Following a failed counter-attack in OperationBrevity in May, Wavell launched Operation Battleaxe on 15 June; this attack was also defeated...
push back the Axis forces in North Africa. OperationBrevity failed as did Operation Battleaxe but Operation Crusader, the third and larger offensive was...
Wair, a location in the Libyan-Egyptian border region where parts of OperationBrevity took place, during the Second World War Thelma Mothershed-Wair (born...
Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met...
Rommel's counterattack in April and the failure of an Allied offensive, OperationBrevity, in May. Anthony Eden had got Churchill and the British Cabinet’s...
Battle of Halfaya Pass OperationBrevity May 15: Second Battle of Halfaya Pass May 15–16: Fifth Battle of Fort Capuzzo Operation Skorpion May 27: Third...
lost Libyan territory was regained during Operation Sonnenblume and by the conclusion of OperationBrevity, German and Italian forces were entering Egypt...
guillotine); Minnie Vautrin, 54, American missionary The British launched OperationBrevity, a limited offensive in the Egyptian and Libyan border area. The British...
which list the known military units that were located within the field of operations for a battle or campaign. The battles are listed in chronological order...
OperationBrevity, which succeeded in re-taking the Halfaya Pass, but failed in its wider objectives. A subsequent larger scale operation, Operation Battleaxe...
code, brevity codes and procedure words. Brevity codes are designed to convey complex information with a few words or codes. Specific brevity codes include:...
pass and relieve Tobruk followed. The first attempt, on 15 May, was OperationBrevity. Rommel counter-attacked; the British withdrew and by 27 May the Germans...
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