Under daily aerial and artillery attacks, the division defended the port and conducted nightly offensive patrols against German and Italian positions.

The failure of these attacks had a lasting strategic impact on Operation Crusader; the Axis forces began their retreat and lifted the siege of Tobruk.

Historian Woodburn Kirby and Lieutenant-General William Slim (who led the British troops in Burma) believed that the division could have had a greater impact against the Japanese had it been retained as a single formation.

[9] The conclusion of the Munich Agreement—on 30 September 1938—calmed the rising tensions in Europe and averted war, allowing the British to resume their military build-up in Palestine.

[14] In the north, the 8th Infantry Division, under Major-General Bernard Montgomery, and Special Night Squads engaged in counter-terror operations, with O'Connor writing that one brigadier "always encouraged his men to be brutal".

General Officer Commanding British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan Robert Haining wrote in late 1938 that "unnecessary violence, vindictiveness ..., [and] killing in cold blood" had to be curbed.

[20] Due to the logistical problems in maintaining substantial forces across the Western Desert and on the Libya–Egypt border, Mersa Matruh was the forward British base of operations and supplied by rail.

Mersa Matruh also offered the British the strategy of drawing Italian or other forces forward to them, to allow a counter-attack after they ran into supply difficulties.

[24] Seven days later, the 6th Infantry Division was dissolved and its headquarters transformed into the command staff of a corps known as the Western Desert Force (WDF).

[26][27] The deteriorating situation in North Africa, which saw General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps retake the territory lost by the Italians during Operation Compass, resulted in the 6th Infantry Division being reassigned to defend Egypt.

With Germans and Italians threatening to gain full control of the French territory, thus jeopardising the British position in the Middle East, the Allies invaded Syria (Operation Exporter) on 8 June.

The Australian 9th Infantry Division fell back to the fortress port of Tobruk and the remaining British and Commonwealth forces withdrew a further 100 miles (160 km) east to Sollum on the Libyan–Egyptian border.

This failure was significant; Erwin Rommel's front line positions at Sollum were at the end of an extended supply chain that stretched back to Tripoli and was threatened by the Tobruk garrison.

[47] This caused a diplomatic row between Winston Churchill and the Australian Government that continued after the war, and turned what Graham Freudenberg called a "reasonable request in July" into "a risky one in October".

The men of the division then took over from the Australians and settled into their task of defending Tobruk, with what the Black Watch Regiment described as a sense that it was "the main post of honour open to the British fighting man.

"[57][58] The soldiers' lives were uncomfortable: fresh water was scarce, washing was a luxury and done in sea-water, razor blades were in short supply, meals were basic and sand storms were common.

[69][70] Under cover of dark the men moved forward, creating gaps in the barbed wire and minefields in front of their positions and bridging Tobruk's anti-tank ditch.

[78][e] To the south, having temporarily defeated the British armour, Rommel launched the Afrika Korps and the Italian mobile divisions towards Egypt in the "Dash to the Wire".

He sought to relieve the besieged Italian garrisons along the border, cut the British supply lines and inflict an overwhelming defeat upon the Eighth Army.

[82] Scobie had informed Lieutenant-General Alfred Godwin-Austen, the XIII Corps commander, responsible for all operations near Tobruk, that the positions between him and Ed Duda were strongly defended.

[85] The 1st Essex Regiment, with machine gun support from the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and the 32nd Army Tank Brigade, began their attack just after midday on 26 November.

Elements of the Essex battalion spontaneously joined the assault, retaking the lost ground and capturing 167 prisoners for the loss of around 25 men.

[104] During the night of 7/8 December 1941, one hour prior to the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Empire of Japan entered the war with the Japanese invasion of Malaya.

[116] In August 1942, Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India Movement resulted in civil disobedience spreading across Bihar, Orissa and Bengal.

[117][118][119][120][121] After civil power was restored in the affected areas, the 70th Division was concentrated again at Ranchi and resumed training as part of XV Indian Corps.

[122] The corps commander, Lieutenant-General William Slim, wrote in his memoirs that the 70th Division "was one of the best British formations I have met, with a magnificent battle hardened spirit gained in the Middle East".

The force returned to Allied lines during April, having lost nearly a third of its troops; most of the remainder, as described by historian Christopher Chant, were "crippled by exhaustion, malnutrition, dysentery, and malaria."

It had been estimated that 10 percent of the men would be unsuitable but this had been based on an erroneous report given in London (believed to be from Wingate) that the division was not first class, even though the standard of its infantry was high.

[129][131] Symes, despite his seniority, became Wingate's second-in-command and tried to prevent the further break-up of the divisional units to retain the traditions, histories and esprit de corps of the British Army's regimental structure, which reconciled his men and helped to ensure a smooth transition to Special Force.

[133] Historian F. W. Perry wrote, "it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the results achieved by the force did not represent an adequate return for the resources invested".