page_title: Brian Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge
section_title: North African Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Brian Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge / Second World War / North African Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in North Africa 1942 Salvaged German petrol cans or 'jerricans' being inspected at a depot in the Western Desert, 21 April 1942.
context_page_description: General Brian Hubert Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge GCB GBE KCMG KCVO DSO MC DL was a senior British Army officer during the Second World War, who played an important role in the East African, North African and Italian Campaigns. After the war he was the Deputy Military Governor of Germany from 1945 to 1948, and then the Military Governor from 1948 to 1949.
  The son of Field Marshal Sir William Robertson, he was educated at Charterhouse and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in November 1914, and served on the Western Front and Italian Front during the First World War. He was awarded a Military Cross in 1918 and the Distinguished Service Order in 1919. After the war he served with the Bengal Sappers and Miners from 1920 to 1925 and took part in the Waziristan expedition of 1923 to 1924. Following his father's death in February 1933, he succeeded him in his baronetcy. He retired from the Army in early 1934 to become the managing director of Dunlop Rubber in South Africa.
context_section_description: With the campaign in East Africa over, Robertson returned to Mombasa on 17 July, and then flew to Cairo in August, where he became Administrative Chief of the South African Defence Force in the Middle East, with the rank of brigadier. However, Cunningham was forming a new headquarters, which was called Western Army on 11 September, and renamed Eighth Army on 27 September, and he asked Robertson to become AQMG. Robertson readily accepted, even though it meant dropping in rank back to lieutenant colonel, but a request to South Africa to release him for this duty met with a refusal from the Chief of the General Staff of the UDF. When his deputy visited Cairo, Cunningham and the Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Sir Claude Auchinleck, approached him and asked for Robertson's release, which had the desired effect. He was formally seconded as AQMG on 19 September, with Brigadier Charles Miller as his superior, the Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General (DA&QMG).
  The immediate task was preparing for Operation Crusader, the Eighth Army's offensive against the German and Italian army in Libya. The maintenance of its 
  118,000 men and 17,600 vehicles required 8,000 long tons (8,100 t) of supplies per day. The railway was extended from Mersa Matruh to Bir Mischeifa, and a water pipeline was extended forward of Mersa Matruh. Over 150,000 imperial gallons (680,000 l) of water was stored in the forward area, and three forward bases were stocked with over 33,000 long tons (34,000 t) of stores. The transport engaged in stocking the forward bases alone consumed 180,000 imperial gallons (820,000 l) per day.
  Robertson developed the concept of the Field Maintenance Centre (FMC) for the support of fast-moving mobile operations. An FMC was like a military shopping centre, supplying all the needs of a corps, and dramatically reduced the response time to administrative needs of front line units and reduced the amount of paperwork that they needed to do to get their needs fulfilled. The FMC would later become a feature of war in the desert, and later British logistics in the Normandy Campaign. The offensive was launched on 18 November. While the Germans were taken by surprise, they soon recovered, and pushed the Eighth Army back. On 24 November, the Afrika Korps threatened the railhead at Mischeifa  and the Eighth Army's Rear HQ, which Robertson was ordered to defend. Fortunately for him, the Afrika Korps changed direction. But although the tactical situation was poor, the administrative situation remained good, and this influenced Auchinleck to continue the battle. Auchinleck  relieved Cunningham of his command, and replaced him with Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie.
  The Germans and Italians fell back in December. To support the advance, the ports in Libya needed to be developed. Robertson went to Tobruk on 13 January to investigate increasing its capacity. He concluded that the problem was the poor layout of the depots, and recommended that they be reorganised. Benghazi was captured on 24 December, and became the key port, being much closer to the front than Tobruk. The logistical challenge was to build up sufficient reserves to be able to deliver an attack on the German and Italian positions around El Agheila. On 21 January 1942, the Germans and Italians struck back. Benghazi was abandoned, and the Eighth Army fell back on Gazala.  Tobruk was now the main port, but Miller and Robertson considered it too far forward to stock with more than a week's supplies. They were overridden by Auchinleck, who wanted it stocked for a renewed offensive. But the Eighth Army lost the Battle of Gazala, which began on 26 May. On 2 June, Miller became the Eighth Army's Brigadier, General Staff (BGS), and Robertson took his place as DA&QMG, with the rank of brigadier once more. When Tobruk fell on 22 June, 3,000,000 rations, 4,000 long tons (4,100 t) of ammunition and 1,750,000 long tons (1,780,000 t) of petrol, oil and lubricants (POL) were lost. Following another defeat in the Battle of Mersa Matruh, the Eighth Army fell back to El Alamein.
  In August 194
caption: Salvaged German jerricans being inspected at a depot in the Western Desert, 21 April 1942. These were far superior to the British 4-imperial-gallon (18 l) flimsy tins.
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