The Battle of Bir Hakeim: June 1942 Triumph of the Free French

The Free French were composed of a group of French Army soldiers, French Foreign Legionaires, Indian Nairs and Senegalese fighters. Together this band of men held out for 30 days against the best fighting force ever assembled for desert fighting, i.e. the German Afrika Corps led by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rommel threw a number of Italian armored divisions at the French defenders, trying desperately to reach the Libyan stronghold port city Tobruk. In the summer of 1942 the Free French made a heroic stand, holding the line for the Army of the Nile under General Neil Ritchie and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Readers will be impressed with the courage and tenacity of the defenders of this small desert oasis, south of coastal Libya. I have written my e-book from 1942 news accounts. There are several eyewitness accounts, particularly one voiced by an American ambulance driver who was among those who held out at Bir Hakeim.