The Tanks are Coming Through Now

Provides new insight into why so many British brigades experienced defeat in detail by Rommel’s Panzerarmee Afrika that fateful summer.

The Tanks are Coming Through Now is a new and detailed narrative account of the Battle of Gazala, 27 May–18 June 1942 which was a major defeat for Eighth Army in the midst of a long campaign and led to the immediate loss of the Tobruk fortress, Cyrenaica and the long retreat to the Alamein position. Moreover, it assesses the myriad training and equipment issues faced by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie during his efforts to build-up Eighth Army for a renewed counter-offensive in spring 1942. With Rommel clearly poised to open a new offensive, Eighth Army was forced to adopt a defensive posture and hope that it might counter-attack a weakened Axis force which arguably placed the army in a position from which it could not easily recover.

The Tanks are Coming Through Now also reconsiders the various brigade battles by the utilization of primary sources from the National Archives, Bovington Tank Museum, the Imperial War Museum and Bundesarchiv. Structured by situational factors, including a discussion of the planning, terrain and brigade training, with this approach the reader is able to determine the effects of awed British leadership that resulted in a hard-fought soldier’s battle.

The major cause of Eighth Army’s defeat – poor command and control – has often been discussed by previous historians as part of a wider narrative of the campaign. Supported by newly commissioned color maps based on those found in regimental war diaries, The Tanks are Coming Through Now provides a novel understanding of why so many British brigades experienced defeat in detail by Rommel’s Panzerarmee Afrika that fateful summer.