Tobruk
| Tobruk طبرق |
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|---|---|
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|
  Tobruk
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country |  Libya |
| District | Al Butnan |
| Population | |
| - Total | 300,000 |
Tobruk or Tubruq (Arabic: طبرق; also transliterated as Tóbruch, Tobruch, Ţubruq, Tobruck and Tubruk) is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of Al Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 300,000.[1]
Tobruk was the site of a colony of ancient Greeks, and, later, of a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica.[1] Over the centuries, Tobruk also served as a waystation along the coastal caravan route.[1] By 1911, Tobruk had become an Italian military post, but during World War II, in 1941, Allied forces, mainly the Australian 6th Division took Tobruk on the 22nd of January 1941. The Australian 9th division("the Rats of Tobruk") pulled back to Tobruk to avoid encirclement after actions at Er Regima and Mechili and reached Tobruk on 9 April 1941 where prolonged fighting against German forces followed. Rebuilt after World War II, Tobruk was later expanded during the 1960s to include a port terminal linked by an oil pipeline to the Sarir oil field.[1]
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Geography
Tobruk has a strong, naturally-protected deep harbor. It is probably the best natural port in northern Africa, although due to the lack of important nearby land sites it is certainly not the most popular: the city is effectively surrounded by a desert lightly populated with nomadic herdsmen who travel from oasis to oasis. There are many escarpments (cliffs) to the south of Tobruk (and indeed in all of Cyrenaica, the eastern half of Libya). These escarpments generally have their high sides to the south and their low sides (dip slopes) to the north. This constitutes a substantial physical barrier between the north and south of Libya in the Tobruk area.
Previously, Tobruk was some 460 km far (288 m) from Benghazi through the Via Balbia road, but this distance has been shortened to 430 km (269 m) after constructing the Charruba-Mechili-Timimi desert road between the years 1975-1985. Constructing the Tobruk-Agedabia road reduced the distance between the two cities from 620 km (388 m) to about 410 km (256 m).
Its location approximately 150 km away from Egypt by land also makes Tobruk an important hub for merchants from both Egypt and Libya, and for travellers between the two towns and from Al Bayda and Derna.
However, Tobruk suffers a serious problem that its stock of underground water is salty. A factory for the desalination of sea water has been built there.
History
An ancient Greek agricultural colony, Antipyrgos (Antipyrgus) was once on the site of modern Tobruk,[1] and the ancient name is still occasionally in use. The name roughly meant "across from Pyrgos", referring to a location in Crete across the Mediterranean Sea from Antipyrgos. In the Roman era, the town became a Roman fortress guarding the Cyrenaican frontier. Later the site became a way station on the caravan route that ran along the coast.
Strategic importance in World War II
At the beginning of World War II, Libya was an Italian colony and Tobruk became the site of important battles between the Allies and Axis powers. Tobruk was strategically important to the conquest of Eastern Libya, then the province of Cyrenaica, for several reasons.
Tobruk had a deep, natural, and protected harbour, which meant that even if the port was bombed, ships would still be able to anchor there and be safe from squalls, so the port could never be rendered wholly useless regardless of military bombardment. This was of critical importance, as it made Tobruk an excellent place to supply a desert warfare campaign. It was also heavily fortified by the Italians prior to their invasion of Egypt in November 1940. In addition to these prepared fortifications there were a number of escarpments and cliffs to the south of Tobruk providing substantial physical barriers to any advance on the port over land. Tobruk was also on a peninsula, allowing it to be defended by a minimal number of troops, which the Allies used to their advantage when the port was under siege. An attacker could not simply bypass the defenders for if they did the besieged would sally forth and cut off the nearby supply lines of the attacker, spoiling their advance.
But Tobruk was also strategically significant due to its location with regards to the remainder of Cyrenaica. Attackers from the east who had secured Tobruk could then advance through the desert to Benghazi, cutting off all enemy troops along the coast, such as those at Derna. This advance would be protected from counterattack due to escarpments that were quite difficult for a military force to climb, running generally from Tobruk to Soluch. Due to the importance of maintaining supply in the desert, getting cut off in this area was disastrous, therefore whoever held both Soluch and Tobruk controlled the majority of Cyrenaica.
Finally, fifteen miles south of the port was the largest airfield in eastern Libya. This was significant due to the importance of air power in desert warfare.
Although not as much a reason for its strategic significance, the British built a rail line from El Alamein to Tobruk during the course of the war. This rail line is significant both for purposes of supply but also as a sense of pride to the Allied troops, as the rail line was built through a little-populated, inhospitable desert.
Italian forces (and their native Libyan allies — about two divisions of the latter) invaded Egypt in early September 1940 but halted their advance after a week and dug in at Sidi Barrani. In early December, British Empire forces — an armoured division and two infantry divisions — launched a counterstrike codenamed Operation Compass. The Italians had previously invaded Albania and occupied part of the south of France, and had now made a military incursion into a British protectorate. The counterstrike involved the British pocketing two of the Italian camps against the Mediterranean, forcing their surrender. This led to a general Italian retreat to El Agheila. Tobruk was captured by British, Australian and Indian forces on 22 January 1941.
Italy called on her German ally, which sent an army corps, under the name Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK). Italy also sent several more divisions to Libya. These forces, under Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel, drove the Allies back across Cyrenaica to the Egyptian border, leaving Tobruk isolated and under siege. The defenders of the fortress consisted of the Australian 9th Division, the Australian 18th Brigade and some British tanks and artillery. They were later reinforced and replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division, Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, a Czechoslovak battalion and a British tank brigade. The siege lasted until December, when Operation Crusader pushed the DAK and Italians back out of Cyrenaica.
Capture of Tobruk
Rommel's second offensive took place in May and June 1942. Tobruk was taken in a surprise attack on 21 June 1942. The following units were deployed in Tobruk on 20 June 1942, of which - most were captured by the Axis forces.[2]:
- 2nd South African Infantry Division
- 4th Royal Tank Regiment
- 7th Royal Tank Regiment
- 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards
- 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters
- 1st Bn Worcestershire Regiment
- 2nd Bn Cameron Highlanders
- 2/5 Mahratta Light Infantry
- 2/7 Ghurka Rifles
- 67 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery
- 68 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery
- 25th Field Regiment, Royal Engineers
Tobruk remained in Axis hands until 11 November 1942, when the Allies captured it after the Second Battle of El Alamein. It remained in Allied hands thereafter.
Figures from Tobruk
Professor Omar El Barasi (b. 1951), is perhaps the most successful man Tobruk has ever produced. He got his doctorate in Petroleum engineering from Waseda University; Japan, and he is the manager of the Libyan branch of AGIP company. Son of Abdullah Abdul-Karim chief bodyguard of King Idris I of Libya, and son-in-law of Hussein Maziq, a prime minister during the Kingdom era.
See also
- Railway stations in Libya
Notes
- On 1 January 1934, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan were united as the Italian colony of Libya. However, during World War II these names continued to be used.