SCENARIO ONE
First Shot, 2nd AIF
30 December 1940
Australia's contribution to the Allied war effort, the "Second Australian Imperial Force," spent the first year of the war training and preparing for battle. While Indian and British formations invaded Italian-ruled Libya, the Aussies remained in Palestine. When operations in East Africa and Greece called away the veteran Allied troops, the Australian infantry hurried forward. By the time the first units reached the front the battle had moved west to the Italian-held fortress of Bardia. On the afternoon of 30 December an Italian infantry force advanced against the observer positions of the 2/2nd Field Regiment. In the way stood Company D of the 2/6th Infantry Battalion.
SCENARIO FOUR
Feint
3 January 1941
In support of the main attack on the defenses of Bardia, the 2/6th Battalion, opposite the southern portion of the Bardia perimeter, launched a diversionary attack. These Aussies had orders to attract Italian attention and hopefully reinforcements, but the division command did not expect them to penetrate the fortress defenses. Local commanders took the orders somewhat differently.
SCENARIO SEVEN
Capture of Giarabub
19-21 March 1941
After months spent driving in Italian outlying posts, the Australian-British troops based on Siwa Oasis had forced the Italian garrison at Giarabub into the fort and positions around the oasis of the same name. The hope had been that the bypassed garrison would run out of food and be compelled to surrender. Italian aircraft brought supplies, while the troops applied the desert survival skills learned from decades of fighting the Libyan Arabs. The Allies decided to take the fort by storm, and additional units began to arrive the first week of January 1941. By early March the Italian native troops had almost all deserted and the garrison's daily food ration had been significantly reduced, although the Italians still did not consider surrender an option. The arrival of the 2/9th Australian Battalion, a company of 2/10th and additional British artillery meant it was time to attack.
SCENARIO EIGHT
Ambush!
31 March 1941
Soon after German troops arrived in Libya, their commander wanted to push forward against the British. As the British 2nd Armored Division defended its forward positions at El Agheila in response to Axis pressure, the 5th Royal Tank Regiment and Kings Dragoon Guards established an ambush in hopes of inflicting casualties on the probing Germans spotted the day before while the 9th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade dug in behind them.
SCENARIO TEN
Er Regima
4 April 1941
As British forces fled the El Agheila position in the face of a German-Italian offensive, they left Australian troops to hold passes through the escarpment. One such position was the Er Regima pass, east of Benghazi. Three companies of 2/13th Australian Battalion and a company of the British Royal Northumberland Fusiliers held the pass. Reinforcements in the form of a battery of 25-pdrs had been promised. In addition the entire force had been alerted to be prepared to withdraw when transport was made available, but the Diggers and Tommies understood the likelihood of such help.
SCENARIO ELEVEN
Fort Capuzzo
14 June 1940
On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the Allied powers. Believing that the Germans had inflicted such defeats on the British and French that the war was already won, the Italian government had done nothing to reinforce or supply its troops in Africa. The frontier garrisons, armed and equipped to keep the Arab population in check, were in no way capable of stopping a British intrusion. This became obvious in the early morning hours of 14 June 1940. A single British infantry company crossed the Libyan frontier wire in the company of tanks on a mission of mischief.
SCENARIO TWELVE
Stalemate at Derna
25 January 1941
On the morning of the 25th of January a squadron of 6th Australian Division's Cavalry regiment relieved the British forces screening Italian-occupied Derna and the airfield south of Derna. The elite Italian regiment holding the area, newly-arrived in Africa, fought off the first attempt to advance on the airfield. The carrier squadron pulled back and awaited the arrival of the 19th Brigade's infantry. Shortly after noon, the 2/11th Battalion, the one battalion of the 6th Australian Division that had not been involved in the reduction of Tobruk and Bardia, arrived.
SCENARIO THIRTEEN
Tank Battle at Mechili
24 January 1941
On the 24th of January elements of 4th Armored Brigade went looking for a fight at Mechili where intelligence placed an infantry regiment and two tank battalions. They found a strong unit of the Babini Armored Brigade, a scratch unit formed around the 4th Infantry Tank Regiment detached from the Ariete Armored Division. The Italian unit had had no time to work together before being thrown into action, and its officers hoped the mother division's hard training of individual crews could make up for this lack.
SCENARIO FOURTEEN
Post R59
11 April 1941
As German and Italian forces invested the port of Tobruk and the Commonwealth forces in it, the infantry battalions of the 9th Australian Division manning the perimeter made ready for their first fight. Gen. Ettore Baldassare of the Ariete Division ordered his tankers to probe forward carefully, as Axis intelligence reports did not make clear whether the Allies were reinforcing or evacuating the Tobruk garrison.
SCENARIO FIFTEEN
Beda Fomm One
5 February 1941
Following the disastrous defeats in Cyrenaica, the Italian 10th Army and tens of thousands of civilians streamed westward toward the colonial capital of Tripoli. British mobile forces raced to cut them off. Early in the morning of 5 February the wheeled elements of the British force at Msus left for the coastal road north of Agedabia. By noon the 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, Squadron C of 11th Hussars and artillery and anti-tank guns of batteries from the 4th and 106th Royal Horse Artillery Regiments, had reached the road and hastily dug in. Two and a half hours later the first large Italian truck convoy appeared on the horizon.
SCENARIO EIGHTEEN
Forte Piastrino
21 January 1941
After breaching the external defenses of Tobruk, Australian spearheads took the Italian positions one after another. Following the capture of the central position of El Adem, 2/8th Battalion, supported by Matildas and armored cars, was sent west to attack the entrenched positions of Fort Pilastrino. The Italian 70th Infantry Regiment and CXL CCNN Battalion of the 61st "Sirte" Division awaited them there.
SCENARIO TWENTY-FIVE
Repulsed at Tobruk
13-14 April 1941
A rapid German-Italian advance isolated Tobruk and in the opinion of General Erwin Rommel, left the fortress ripe for the picking if sufficiently pushed. Late on the 13th an assault force gathered at El Adem, south of the southern edge of the defensive perimeter. Composed of the 5th Panzer Regiment (38 tanks), 8th Machinegun Battalion and elements of the 1st Battalion of the 18th Flak Regiment and supported by the Italian 2nd Artillery Regiment, the force approached the Australian positions in pieces.
SCENARIO TWENTY-SEVEN
Turned Back!
22 April 1941
Within the Tobruk perimeter, Australian Lt. Gen. John Laverack decided to defend the fortress with the aggressive tactics that had worked so well for the Australian Corps in the last war. The Australians saw night combat as the key to seizing the battlefield advantage. On 22 April, a series of dawn raids set out in accordance with Laverack's policy. One of the three groups, made up of a mixed force from 2/17th Infantry and 2/1st Pioneer Battalions and accompanying tanks, was to eliminate an Italian artillery position.
SCENARIO TWENTY-EIGHT
The Road from Derna
7 April 1941
Withdrawing along the coast, elements of the British 3rd Armored Brigade and 1st and 9th KRRC Motorized Battalions fell back to serve as rearguard. The British did not know that Rommel had ordered Lt. Col. Ponath to cut across the desert and cut the coastal highway. Ponath's force had already captured the Western Desert Force's commander, Gen. Philip Neame, and his predecessor, Gen. Rochard O'Connor. The Tommies no more expected the Germans than had their leaders.
SCENARIO TWENTY-NINE
"Meet Me at the Pass"
26 April 1941
As the planned assault on Tobruk approached, Rommel ordered troops forward to secure the frontier between Libya and Egypt to prevent the British from interfering once the attack began. Accordingly, following shelling and air attack on the 25th, a mixed German-Italian force attacked the British battalion holding the top of Halfaya Pass. The position's capture would force the withdrawal of the entire frontier force along the coast and at the same time provide far better defenses should the British attack.
SCENARIO THIRTY-TWO
Operation BREVITY - The Scots Guards
15 May 1941
Badly disrupted by the German-Italian offensive, the Western Desert Force nonetheless quickly planned for a counter-attack to relieve the Tobruk garrison, an offensive they named "Operation Brevity." British generals hoped to clear the frontier and secure Halfaya Pass. One of the three elements advancing out of Egypt on the morning of the 15th was composed of the 13 Matildas of the 4th Royal Tank Regiment's C Squadron and the whole of the 2nd Scots Guards Motor Battalion. At daylight they suddenly appeared at the perimeter of the 8th Bersaglieri Regiment's position at the upper end of the pass.
SCENARIO THIRTY-FIVE
The Counter-Attack, 1st May
1 May 1941
Finally seeing the whole picture of the Axis penetration in the Ras El Medauuar area, General "Iron Pants" Morshead, the Tobruk garrison commander, ordered an immediate attack. Using only a single battalion, the 2/48th of 26th Brigade, the Australians laid on a hastily-arranged counterattack. Morshead ordered the battalion to attack the entire German-Italian penetration. Staff officers managed to add a few other companies, but the attack went in badly outnumbered from the start.
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