Operation Agreement

Operation Agreement
Part of Western Desert Campaign
Date September 1942 Location North Africa Result Decisive Axis Victory
Belligerents
New Zealand  Rhodesia  United Kingdom	Germany  Italy
Strength
~1,000	Unknown
Casualties and losses
746 men 1 cruiser 2 destroyers 4 MTBs 2 MLs Several makeshift craft	16 killed 50 wounded 30 aircraft

Operation Agreement consisted of a series of ground and amphibious operations carried out by British, Rhodesian and New Zealand forces on German and Italian-held Tobruk on 13 September 1942, during the Second World War. A Special Interrogation Group, fluent in German, also took part in missions behind enemy lines. The attacks extended to Benghazi (Operation Bigamy (Snowdrop)), Jalo oasis (Operation Nicety (Tulip)) and Barce (Operation Caravan (Hyacinth)).^{[1][note 1]} The assault on Tobruk ended in disaster; the British lost three warships, seven motor torpedo boats and dozens of small amphibious craft and several hundred soldiers and marines.

Targets

The objective of Operation Agreement was to undermine the Axis war effort in North Africa by destroying airfields, harbour facilities, ships, vehicles and large oil stores.^[3] The Allies also intended to capture Jalo oasis, which was to be used as a gathering point for the retreating ground forces involved in the other operations.^[4]

Mission

Beginning

G1 and T1 patrols of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) successfully assaulted Barce and its airfield, destroying 16 aircraft and damaging seven more.^[5] The main barracks there were also attacked.^[6]

The SAS—led by Lieutenant Colonel David Stirling and supported by S1 and S2 patrols of the LRDG—were to attempt a large-scale raid on Benghazi. However, after running behind the planned timetable their presence was discovered after a clash at a roadblock as dawn broke. With the element of surprise lost and the protection of darkness receding, Stirling decided not to go ahead with the attack and ordered a withdrawal.^[1]

The assault to take Jalo oasis was carried out by the Sudan Defence Force along with S1 and S2 patrols of the LRDG. The first attack on the night of 15/16 September was easily repelled by the defenders who had been alerted to the operation and had been strengthened. The attackers withdrew on 19 September as an Italian reinforcing column approached the oasis.^[6]

Main attack

The main attack on Tobruk suffered from poor planning and coordination. First, British Commandos from the submarine HMS Taku failed to set up beacons on the shore to guide the main British force due to bad sea conditions. The expected garrison had been strengthened and British destroyers bringing in the seaborne troops landed their troops on a beach far to the west of the intended one.^[7] Another seaborne landing—comprising motor launches and boats—partially failed to reach the planned landing point. Only two Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB)s entered a small cove to land members of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, but one of them was hit and became stranded in the shallow water.^[8]

Allied strength for Operation Agreement involved an amphibious seaborne force of about 400 Royal Marines, 180 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Army Engineers and about 150 SAS coming from the desert. Losses amounted to about 300 Royal Marines, 160 Army, 280 Royal Navy,^[1] one cruiser (HMS Coventry), two destroyers (HMS Sikh and Zulu), two motor launches, four MTBs and several small craft. MTB 314, a boat which was damaged and ran aground during the battle, was captured by the German minesweeper R-10 at dawn with 117 seamen and soldiers on board.^[9] Dozens of British seamen and marines were rescued at sea by the Italian torpedo boat Castore and several Italian motor barges, which also seized a couple of makeshift amphibious craft attempting to reach Alexandria at very low speed.^[10] German and Italian losses were 16 killed and 50 wounded.^[1]

One of the many reasons for the failure of the operation was non-existent security. Dock workers knew the destination before the crews. As the destroyers left Alexandria, dock workers called "Have a good time at Tobruk, Johnnnie!".^{[citation needed]} Bad planning had provided landing barges that were so fragile that a large number, when holding landing parties, disintegrated when they were launched from the destroyers.^{[citation needed]}

In popular culture

Operation Agreement was fictionalized in the 1967 film Tobruk.

See also

World War II portal

• North African Campaign timeline
• Battle of the Mediterranean
• List of World War II Battles
• British Commandos

Notes

Footnotes

1. ^ The names usually given to these operations - Daffodil, Snowdrop, Tulip and Hyacinth were names made up by the author of a book published in 1945, when the official names of the operations were still secret. Since then it has often been assumed that the "flower" names were the correct ones.^[2]

Citations

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Molinari & Anderson (2007), p. 71
2. ^ O'Carroll 2005, pp. 25-26
3. ^ Smith, pp. 22-23
4. ^ Molinari & Anderson (2007), p. 70
5. ^ O'Carroll 2005, p. 62
6. ^ ^{a b} Molinari & Anderson (2007), p. 72
7. ^ Smith, pp. 90-95
8. ^ Smith, pp. 106-111
9. ^ Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the war at sea 1939-1945: the naval history of World War Two. Chatham, p. 196. ISBN 1861762577
10. ^ Smith, Peter C. (2008). Massacre at Tobruk. Stackpole Books, p. 122 and 144. ISBN 0811734749

References

• Smith, Peter Charles (1987). Massacre at Tobruk: The Story of Operation Agreement. London: Kimber. ISBN 0-7183-0664-3. 
• Landsborough, Gordon (1989). Tobruk Commando: The Raid to Destroy Rommel's Base. London: Presidio Press. ISBN 1-85367-025-1. 
• Molinari, Andrea; Anderson, Duncan (2007). Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940-43. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 68–73. ISBN 1846030064. http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=v0T2gan40gQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=san+marco+marines+tobruk#PPA68,M1. 
• O'Carroll, Brendan (2004). The Barce Raid. Wellington, New Zealand: Ngaio Press. ISBN 0-9582243-8-2