Liveblogging World War II: June 16, 1941
Operation Battleaxe in the Western Desert:
Wikipedia: The 11th Infantry Brigade renewed their attack on Halfaya Pass, but met with same failure as the day prior.... Neumann-Silkow began his attack on British held Fort Capuzzo.... By 10:00, the 15th Panzer Division had lost fifty of its tanks, and by 12:00, they were forced to withdraw.... Starting at dawn, the 5th Light Division began to advance southwards past the western edge of Hafid Ridge.... During the running skirmish, the British tanks... found themselves at a significant disadvantage anytime they engaged the panzers.... The Panzer IV's, armed with high-explosive 75 mm guns with an effective range of ~2750 m, would open fire while still well out of the ~460 m range of the 2-pounder guns found on British tanks. While this would do minimal damage to the British tanks, it decimated their towed 25-pounder artillery, which would be forced to withdraw. Without British artillery to concern them, the Panzer IV and 50 mm gun armed Panzer III's could then safely close range with their British counterparts and pick off the thinly armed cruiser tanks while still remaining beyond the range of the British tank guns.... To make matters worse for the 7th Armoured Brigade, they had problems with the reliability of their tanks and suffered numerous breakdowns...
