The Battle of Bir Hakeim...Free French against Rommel

Battle of Bir Hakeim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(For the skeptics of Wikipedia, don't worry, I'm pretty sure none of this is fake. If you're still skeptical, just Google it).

It seems that not enough credit is given to the French in World War II. Specifically, the Free French Forces.

To sum it up...

"Bir Hakeim (sometimes written Bir Hacheim) is a remote oasis in the Libyan desert, and the former site of a Turkish fort. During the Battle of Gazala the First Free French Division of General Marie Pierre Koenig defended the site from 26 May to 11 June 1942 against attacking German and Italian forces directed by General Erwin Rommel. Resisting for 16 days, the Free French gave the retreating British Eighth Army enough time to reorganize, allowing them subsequently to halt the Axis advance at the First Battle of El Alamein."

-Wikipedia

The point of this post: has anyone heard of this? Has anyone seen any documentaries on this? Why are the French-bashers not noticing this?

 

Yes I have heard of it and have known about it for years as have others here. One of the many books I have had was the Ballentine Series book "Bir Hakim, Desert Citadel". And what " French-bashers" are you referring to? And here are just a few of the threads on the French and thier contributions to the war.

http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/26989-free-french-divisions.html
http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/25361-french-airborne-troops-1935-1945-a.html
http://www.ww2f.com/atlantic-naval-conflict/28429-free-french-submarine-rubis.html?highlight=French
http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/2...n-saint-pierre-miquelon.html?highlight=French
http://www.ww2f.com/north-africa-me...upe-blinde-sud-tunisien.html?highlight=French
http://www.ww2f.com/north-africa-me...umiers-free-french-army.html?highlight=French
http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/23158-volunteer-french-forces-axis-side.html?highlight=French
http://www.ww2f.com/cbi-theater/220...anco-siamese-war-1941-a.html?highlight=French
http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/22090-french-army-increase-1944-a.html?highlight=French

 

Bir Hakeim was one of the fortified "infantry boxes" meant to channel /pin the Axis attack so that it could be destroyed by the armoured reserves.
Strategically the French resistance did little more than delay the fall of Tobruk by a few days as the British armour lost the battle anyway and the box had to be abandoned.
On that occasion the French brigade under Koenig performed significantly better than other allied forces present (3rd Indian Mot and 150 Infantry brigades) and for the French public it was a great morale booster but "allowing them subsequently to halt the Axis advance at the First Battle of El Alamein."" is overstating it's importance.
BTW can anyone confirm the presence of a Jewish volunteers batallion at Bir Hakeim, my sources are a bit confused about that.

 

Not sure about during the battle but after Bir Hakim.

"The Battle of Bir-el Harmat was an action during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II between 2 June and 11 June 1942. A small position at Bir-el Harmat was defended by a Zionist company composed of 400 volunteers from the Jewish Brigade under the orders of Major Liebmann. The unit was assigned there on May 1942 in the middle of the Libyan desert, without any heavy weapons nor anti-aircraft equipment, to set up minefields to prevent an encircling maneuver from the Axis forces. The action took place at the same time as the siege of Bir Hakeim, and north of it, and was in many ways a parallel complementary siege. This position, south of Bir-el Harmat, a dozen of kilometers north-northwest of Bir Hakeim, received on 2 June the visit of a German armored column, and an officer asked for the capitulation of the position. Liebmann refused, and a few hours later, a first Stuka raid bombed his company. Without any specific anti-aircraft defense, they suffered heavy casualties. The two next days, the position was attacked by the Fiat M13/40 tanks of the Italian Ariete armored division, the same that attacked 5 days earlier, with no effect, Bir Hakeim's fortifications. Several of these tanks were destroyed by the mines barrage; a few tanks reached the center of the position, and the light-equipped volunteers had no other choices but to repulse them using Molotov cocktails. They had no radio contacts with the other allied forces, but they turned to resist as relentlessly as the Free French Forces of Bir Hakeim did. The Axis armored forces attacked the position the 5 June and 6 June, but the attacks were very ineffective since the defenders were hidden in personal dug holes; from the 7 June, the armored divisions stopped attacking, and the position was bombed daily both by Stukas and by German artillery. Their well was bombed, but despite deprivation of water, the company did not surrender. On 10 June, the British campaign headquarters of the British 8th Army issued a retreat order for both this position and Bir Hakeim's. The Jewish company lost 75% of its men contributing, along with the Free French, to delay Rommel's offensive for 10 days (16 days of siege for Bir Hakeim). Liebmann and his hundred surviving men abandoned their position on the 11th, rejoining during the night at Gasr-el-Abid the French and British forces. Yet, on 11 June morning, General Marie Pierre Koenig, in charge of Bir Hakeim fort, not even knowing about the Jewish presence in the surroundings, discovered with surprise that friendly unit which shared the same destiny as 1st Free French Division's. In perfect French, Major Liebmann told him that his men and himself were fighters from Palestine, but that they could not serve under their flag because of British rules. Koenig then told him to raise their Star of David flag, and all Free French officers around him saluted it. "

Battle of Bir-el Harmat
Battle of Bir-el Harmat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jewish Brigade: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article
​