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The Longest Siege: Tobruk-The Battle that Saved North Africa. By Robert Lyman. London: Macmillan, 2009. ISBN 978-0-230-71024-5. Maps. Photographs. Appendix. Select bibliography. Index. Pp. xxv, 310. £20.00.
The siege of Tobruk, lasting 242 days from 10 April to 27 November 1941, was one of the first Allied victories of the Second World War. In this lengthy battle, characterized by small-scale actions, a motley combination of Allied forces comprising Australian, British, Indian, Polish and Czech forces resisted and eventually defeated the German and Italian formations of the famed Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK) under General Erwin Rommel. The latter s first offensive in North Africa had shattered the British army, but Tobruk and its vital port held out, acting as a thorn in Rommel's side which could stymie his offensive into Egypt. In the end it did, at least for the time being, the siege of Tobruk being lifted in December 1941 after operation Crusader. Although this is somewhat iffy-history, author Robert...