Hello, and thank you for listening to The History of World War II podcast, episode 167,

Operation Crusader, part one.

Last time, General Rommel, the Desert Fox, launched a raid against the British position closest

to him in mid-September 1941.

His mid-Summer night stream, as it was dubbed, was supposed to disrupt the Commonwealth

forces, grabs supplies from them, and tests their metal.

But little came of it.

The British were not found on strength at the supposed location.

No supplies were upscondent with, and worse for Rommel, his interpretation of this exchange

led him to all the wrong conclusions that the British were in no way ready to attack him.

The British were preparing to fight, and to not simply sit back and let the Axis forces

break themselves on Okenleck's defensive line.

German air reconnaissance showed a pipeline and a rail line coming ever closer to the

British front, yet Rommel chose to read these facts differently.

The answer to his misconstruing British intentions wasn't based so much on what they were doing,

but by what Rommel was trying to do.

He was becoming obsessed with Tobruk and its capture.

Hence the intelligence that came to him through his Italian spies or German pilots simply

reaffirmed for him, that Okenleck was going to hold still and pray that Tobruk could

withstand the Axis assault.

However, because he was Rommel, his up front dispositions were solid, if the British led

forces ever tried to make a move.

...