Siege of Tobruk

The siege of the port of Tobruk in Libya (April to Dec 1941) by Axis forces during the Second World War (1939-45) lasted 242 days and became a symbol of Allied resistance. Besieged by land but still supplied by sea, Tobruk was of vital strategic significance to both sides in the Western Desert Campaigns. Two attempted breakouts failed to lift the siege, but neither could the Axis troops led by General Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) break the defenders' resistance. It was not until a third Allied offensive, code-named Crusader, that Rommel was finally obliged to withdraw.