Operation Sonnenblume, the counter-attack launched by Italian troops and the "Afrika Korps" across Cyrenaica, had forced the British and Commonwealth forces into retreat during March and April. Richard O'Connor—now General Officer Commanding British Troops Egypt—had been captured. The Australian 9th Infantry Division fell back to the fortress port of Tobruk and the remaining British and Commonwealth forces withdrew a further east to Sollum on the Libyan–Egyptian border.