#28 - Mussolini's Boys (4-5 Dec 1941) - PzC 04 Tobruk '41

Bir el Gubi, 4 December 1941: The Crusader battles would both start and end with actions at Bir el Gubi and in both cases, the Italians would prove their worth. At stake on 4 December were the supply dumps located in the Pt.182 area, supplies that would be needed if a orderly retreat was to be conducted by the Axis forces. In the frontier, the 2nd South African Division had finally arrived to relieve the Indians who then joined the reconstituted 7th Armoured Division in the desert. Their plan was to attack and eliminate the Bir el Gubi positions that had threatened their flanks throughout the Crusader operation and then to drive north, cutting off the retreating Germans. The plan was to be a repeat of that used at Sidi Omar with the Indians moving to take the Italians in the flank and rear. The Italian defenders consisted of two fresh battalions of Young Fascists and though Pt.182 fell, the position at Pt.174 held out, forcing the Indians to redeploy to the south. Then, riding out of the sun, on the afternoon of 5 December, the remaining tanks of the DAK and Ariete arrived to recapture the supply dump and establish a rearguard for the retreat, the 7th Armoured, operating as several separate columns, was unable to effectively counter their strength. NOTE: the post war Italian North African Veterans Organization is known as the Bir el Gubi Association.