Battleaxe

E250148

Battleaxe was the codename for a 1941 British offensive in North Africa during World War II aimed at relieving the besieged city of Tobruk and pushing back Axis forces.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Battleaxe canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf World War II offensive
military operation
military operation
alsoKnownAs Battleaxe
axisCountry Germany
Italy
axisMilitaryBranch German Army
Italian Army (Kingdom of Italy)
surface form: Italian Army
belligerent British Empire
Commonwealth forces
United Kingdom
campaign North African campaign
surface form: North African Campaign of World War II
codenameFor Operation Battleaxe
commander Lord Wavell
surface form: Archibald Wavell

Noel Beresford-Peirse
conflict World War II
country United Kingdom
endDate 1941-06-17
followedBy Operation Crusader
front Western Desert
involvesUnit 15th Panzer Division
4th Indian Division
5th Light Division
7th Armoured Division
British Eighth Army precursor forces
location Cyrenaica
Libya
militaryBranch British Army
notableFor heavy British tank losses
use of British Matilda and Crusader tanks
objective break the Siege of Tobruk
push back Axis forces in North Africa
relief of Tobruk
opposingCommander Erwin Rommel
Friedrich Paulus
opposingForce Kingdom of Italy
Nazi Germany
partOf North African campaign
surface form: North African Campaign

North African campaign
surface form: Western Desert Campaign
precededBy Operation Brevity
relatedTo German Afrika Korps
surface form: Afrika Korps

Siege of Tobruk
result Allied failure to relieve Tobruk
Axis defensive victory
startDate 1941-06-15
strategicContext attempt to regain initiative after arrival of Afrika Korps
theater North Africa
year 1941

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Operation Battleaxe codename Battleaxe
Battleaxe alsoKnownAs Battleaxe
subject surface form: Operation Battleaxe