page_title: Battle of Mersa Matruh
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Mersa Matruh / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in North Africa 1942 An RAF Lysander flies over a convoy of lorries during the retreat into Egypt, 26 June 1942.
context_page_description: The Battle of Mersa Matruh was fought from 26 to 29 June 1942, following the defeat of the Eighth Army at the Battle of Gazala and was part of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The combatants on the Axis side were the Axis Panzer Army Afrika
context_section_description: After the defeat of the Eighth Army at Gazala, the Allied forces were compelled to retreat eastwards. The British left a garrison in Tobruk, which was expected to be strong enough to hold the port, while the Eighth Army regrouped and replaced its losses. The British command had not prepared Tobruk for a lengthy siege and planned to return to relieve the Tobruk garrison within two months. The sudden Axis capture of Tobruk in a day came as a shock. The surrender of Tobruk was a great psychological blow to the British, it meant the Axis had a port to support an advance into Egypt and did not need to leave an investing force to watch the port. After a year and a half of fighting, the Afrika Korps was finally in position to drive east into Egypt.
  After the victory at Tobruk, Rommel pressed on the heels of the retreating Eighth Army. His intention was to bring the Eighth Army to battle and defeat it, before the British had the chance to bring up fresh units and reform behind a defensive line. Though his forces were badly weakened by the Battle of Gazala, he had speed, guile and surprise. The 21st Panzer Division was given one day to regroup and then was sent down the coast road to Egypt. Fuel and ammunition supplies captured at Tobruk supplied the Axis forces for their drive to the frontier and beyond.
  After the defeat at Gazala and the loss of Tobruk, Auchinleck offered his resignation on 22 June, which was declined. To slow the Axis advance into Egypt, the British command intended to form a defensive position at the Cyrenaica–Egypt frontier, along the Frontier Wire (the wire). XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General William Gott), was to fall back in a delaying action. Axis forces reached the wire on 23 June, shortly after the XIII Corps. There was no time to mount a defence and the Eighth Army lacked the armour to defend the open southern end of the position. Gott recommended falling back another 120 mi (193 km) to the Mersa Matruh position. British rearguards tried to destroy the fuel and ammunition dumped there and then Gott withdrew without engaging the Afrika Korps. The British command ordered the Eighth Army to prepare to fight a decisive action at Mersa Matruh.
  Rommel requested freedom of manoeuvre from Mussolini to pursue the Eighth Army into Egypt, which was granted. Additional fuel, equipment and munitions were salvaged from remaining British stores at the frontier. Rommel pushed on unopposed through the night and the next day, meeting no resistance from British forces on the ground but increasing attack from the air. The Desert Air Force which was growing in strength and operating nearer to its bases, while the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica were operating farther away from theirs.
  After the reverses at Gazala and Tobruk, the Eighth Army was disorganised and shaken, but not demoralised. Auchinleck realised a change in command was necessary and on 25 June he relieved Ritchie, and assumed personal responsibility for the command of Eighth Army. He issued directives to change the Eighth Army into a force that stressed mobility and made it clear that his highest priority was keeping Eighth Army intact as a fighting force. The last defensive position before Alexandria was El Alamein. Auchinleck was preparing defences there but a mobile defensive battle was to be fought from Mersa Matruh to the El Alamein gap. It had become apparent to Auchinleck that non-mobile formations were helpless against mobile forces and he could ill afford to lose more formations. He shifted transport to enable the infantry formations with XIII Corps to be fully motorised and stressed that Eighth Army forces fighting at Mersa Matruh must not allow themselves to be cut off.
caption: British Army retreating from the Gazala position
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