Bir Hakeim—Where an African-Dominated Force Reversed the Tide of the North African War for the Allies in World War Two (Excerpt of "Flash of the Sun")

An Excerpt of Flash of the Sun

Joseph, Marcel, the rest of the Free French Forces and the Allies knew that the Axis powers needed to capture Tobruk in order to push into Egypt and control the Suez Canal. With regrouping Axis troops threatening Allied forces thirty miles east of Tobruk along a line that ran thirty miles south from Gazala at the coast, the entrenched and equally regrouping Allied forces went about their business of fortifying their defenses in preparation for the anticipated show down sometime in May. However, while the northern defense around Tobruk was well prepared and well-constructed, making it almost impregnable to any advancing army, the southern part was not as tightly fortified, leaving it vulnerable to penetration from a heavy flanking force. General Claude Auchinleck, the Commander in Chief of British Middle East Command and the overall commander of Allied forces in North Africa, expected the Axis to attack the northern part of the defense. So, he placed the better armed and better trained 8^th Army there. Here he was outsmarted by Rommel who attacked Gazala on May 26, giving the impression that the north was the main point of attack. At the same time, he sent the cream of his forces to the south, thereby outflanking the 8^th Army in the process. But Rommel’s plan to cut the Allied supply lines by gaining rear access to their southern defenses did not go as smoothly as planned because of Bir Hakeim.

When General Claude Auchinleck asked General Marie Pierre Koenig, commander of the 1st Free French Division to relieve the British forces manning the fort in the oasis of Bir Hakeim, he never expected much from this diverse military unit made up mostly of French Camerounians, Chadians, and other Equatorial Africans. However, quick Axis successes against British troops south of the oasis made Bir Hakeim the next place to overrun in Rommel’s southern plunge that was intended to deceive the opposing Allied forces. Alerted of the rapidly advancing Axis forces, General Koenig readied his men in defensive positions early the next morning. So, when the enemy attacked, the fighters of the 1st Free French Division were prepared to do battle with the over-confident Axis forces.

He remembered the first day of fighting at Bir Hakeim as the proudest day of his life as a soldier because they fought in a manner and with a spirit that was beyond their expectations, forcing the enemy to retreat in earnest. The 1^st Free French Division did not lose a single soldier that day, but they deprived the Axis forces of four dozen tanks and captured ninety-one prisoners. It turned out that even though Bir Hakeim held out, the Allied positions just north of it fared much worse as those defending it got wiped out, thereby leaving them at Bir Hakeim isolated and under siege.

The difficult development forced the defenders of Bir Hakeim to ration food and water, fortify their ranks and develop a suicidal mentality. In fact, they barely covered their eyes to get some rest thereafter. All the same, the dire situation made them become closer to one another than ever before; it made them determined to stick it to the Germans and their Italian allies. To sustain their bodies alongside their high spirits, they treated the fresh supplies the 101^st motorized company brought in on May 31, under the cloak of darkness as if they were divine nourishment or as if they were manner from heaven.

Still, survival was the dominant thought on his mind as he battled the Germans and their Italian allies alongside his fellow soldiers of the Free French Forces. So, when he found out the next morning that the returning convoy took Bruno with them because of the wound he suffered from enemy sniper fire just before dawn that day, he wondered what was going on. But that did not mean he was not happy his young relative would not see the worst of the fighting, which he knew was yet to come.

Later that day, as he manned his position with a sniper rifle aimed at the desert night, Marcel scrambled to his side and asked him if he wanted a smoke. He declined by shaking his head.

“Here is a letter for you.”

“From whom?”

“From me, of course! I want you to keep it tucked somewhere underneath your uniform until the appropriate time for you to open it and see what I have written in there.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you make it and I don’t come out of this war alive, I want you to give the letter to either of my parents, my mother preferably.”

“What is it about?”

“You will find out. They will have something for you when you hand it over to them.”

“You are beginning to puzzle me.”

“I know. There is something else I want you to know. I am responsible for Bruno’s evacuation. There was no enemy fire.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He talked to me a week ago about the consultation he had with a marabou before he left French Cameroun; he told me the fellow gave him an amulet which is supposed to protect him from enemy fire.

“I don’t get it.”

“All I am trying to say is that your young cousin is convinced he survived the last four days of this war madness because of the amulet.”

“I still don’t understand.”

Marcel shook his head with a gentle smile on his face. “When I spotted Bruno this morning as he tried to slip out into the desert to attack our enemies, I thought to stop him was the right thing to do. So I sniped him in the leg. It was a spur of the moment decision to put him safely out of the way of death that was lurking around right in front of him. I say so because German and Italian soldiers thirsty for our blood were not far away. Now, I am glad I got him in the knee. He would walk all right, but he wouldn’t be considered fit for fighting anymore.”

“What do you think you just did?”

“I just saved the life of your crazy cousin who was trying to get himself killed. You don’t intend to tell anyone about it, do you?”

“You are crazy, just like him.”

“I know.”

“So, why did you really do it?”

“Your people are known for grieving the loss of a loved one very deeply. I didn’t want his death to make you and Bartholomew lose focus. I don’t know what Bartholomew is going through at the moment, but you and I would consider ourselves blessed if we both make it out of here alive. We would even be lucky if either one of us survives this siege. Mon Frère, we are about to see the real hell on earth.”