I have been delving for some wartime photographs of these 2 places but am turning up blank. I get references but nothing I am looking for: 1. Was Bir Hakeim a town or only a fortification? 2. Was Knightsbridge a town or a strongpoint on a ridge? Help would be appreciated to sort this out for a map I am busy scripting for. Thx.
I've googled mapped Bir Hakeim and its just showing a train station in Paris (No Doubt named after a battle there) so I would suggest it wasn't a town. From what I've seen there appears to have been a battle there involving the French. I'd ask Kuno as he has started a thread about a women that comes up on Google when searching for Bir Hakeim. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/women-ww2/16205-travers-susan.html I think I found your answer: Susan Travers, who died 2003 in Paris aged 94, was the only woman to have joined the French Foreign Legion; English by birth, she came to regard the Legion as her true family and played a key part in the breakout by its troops from Rommel's siege of the desert fortress of Bir Hakeim in 1942. From the link above. Cheers Andy
Leonvdm - You will find both Bir Hakeim and Knightsbridge to be in Lybia - unfortuately Google maps don't appear to know where Lybia is and so i started at Cairo and worked my way westwards only to find that now all place names are in the venacular Lybian - which make things exteremly difficult to find... as Sollum is now Sol'em - Sidi Barrani is close to what it was but many of the rest are just unrecognisable...so it could be tough to find as is Halfaya - it comes out a Asam -or something similar - Sidi Rizegh is (sic) Adam... Knightbridge was close to there Bir Hakiem was just an outpost with a few houses.... Cheers
This is from a French article on De Gaulle and a Flickr photostream has a map. The Free French military cemetery on the site of the battle itself has been maintained in memory of those who fell. It is reached by a track, lined with crosses of Lorraine, that runs from El Adem. Because of its isolation, the 182 bodies it once contained have been transferred to El Adem alongside the bodies of the first four French soldiers to fall at Cyrenaica on 21 January 1941, and those of the six men who lost their lives in the in the Khufra raid led by General Leclerc. This is the cemetery at Bir Hakeim.
Spidge - can't beat those old maps as the NZ history seems to be a bit more concise than many others with maps - descriptions - orders of battle and just about everything - thanks for those.. Cheers
I have been delving for some wartime photographs of these 2 places but am turning up blank. I get references but nothing I am looking for: 1. Was Bir Hakeim a town or only a fortification? 2. Was Knightsbridge a town or a strongpoint on a ridge? Help would be appreciated to sort this out for a map I am busy scripting for. Thx. Hi, I am a 'newbe' at this but have been hunting for Knightsbridge as I have a relative there. This link shows a google map of it. Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma Anyone know how I can get a photo of a grave from there.
Donald - don't know how you managed to get a google map of Acroma but all I get is that they don't know where Lybia is ....can you try Halfaya/ Sollum cemetery - and let me know - we have a poster in Tripoli but that is a long way off... Cheers
I am sorry that you had to rely on Google maps whilst I was off line. My problem is that since two weeks I have no more i'net connection at home... provider. A) Bir Hakeim - actually only a well. Then fortified in Turkish times and some kind of a market place for the local tribesman. The Italians added a single house to the old fort. Had not much importance actually unless it became the southernmost "box" of the Gazala line. Even then - the old fort was on the southern edge of that box and the actual fortifications were better adjusted to WW2 weapons: dugouts. There is no village, city or any kind of dwelling nearby. Interesting for the British: At that place the POW of the ship (forgot the name) sunken by German U-Boat during WW1 (One)were kept until they were freed by a patrol of British armoured cars (unfortunately the British MG-gunned everybody in local dressing until one of the POW was able to tell them that they were no soldiers but only guardians and their families who actually had shared their miserable food with the POW for many weeks...) B) "Knightsbridge" was only a "box". Not even an old fortification as for example "Acroma". Acroma was the place where a peace treaty had been signed between the Italians and the Libyan freedom fighters (it had about the same value as one of these treaty signed between the US. Government and the native indians ;-))
Hi, I am a 'newbe' at this but have been hunting for Knightsbridge as I have a relative there. This link shows a google map of it. Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma Anyone know how I can get a photo of a grave from there. Donald, welcome aboard, attached is a link to a photoset for Tobruk, but you will be lucky to find a certain headstone Tobruk - a set on Flickr
Should be able to visit the cemeteries around Tobruk at the end of coming September - coming back from a desert trip from the South...
Kuno: You have absolutely made my day. As said before I script maps for a game called Blitzkrieg. I often script maps that have been compiled by other persons. part of the service. Yes a "bir" is a well. Hakeim is obviously thus the name for it. But as soon as I search for it I get zilch. Knightsbridge brings up a list of hotels!!!! All the references I have of the North African battles mention these places duringb the battles around Tobruk. Bir Hakeim was held by the Free French and contained a "fort" of some kind. A gallant defence until they slipped out to the disgust of the Italians and Germans. Knightsbridge was a "box" and quite well defended. It was against a hill as far as I can learn. My problem is that the idjit I am scriptingthe map for has set them up as towns. Thanks for the info. I will now blast his idea to the ground. LOL Another one bitesthe dust!!!!
Should be able to visit the cemeteries around Tobruk at the end of coming September - coming back from a desert trip from the South... Kuno, I have 2 in tobruk and one in Bengazi if you could help getting photograqphs P
Kuno - There is a young lady who wants to visit a grave in Halfaya / Sollum you might be able to help her out perhaps if you are going that far... Cheers
Hi Tom; I am unfortunately not familiar with the Egyptian side (must commit that I never was over there). Anyhow; as far as I know, there is no Cemetery at Halfaya/Sollum but only at el-Alamein. The older cemeteries have been abandoned and all graves were "collected" at some few central points.
Thought you might like to see photo of the Knightsbridge road junction sign. From the IWM Photo collection. Imperial War Museum Collections Online Database The Axis Offensive 1941 - 1942: A British Matilda tank passes the 'Knightsbridge' road junction shortly after the major tank battle there during the battle of Gazala.
In this article on the Worcesters is a diagram of how their box was shaped, showing wire, company positions, minefields & dummy minefields. Worcestershire Regiment(29th/36th of Foot) Web site
I've explored Google maps to see if I could find the actual battlesite. While I was very surprised at the clarity and maginification of the images, I was unfortunately unable to find the actual battlefield. The cemetery is equally elusive. I used several techniques while searching, the last one following the electrical grid in several directions, but to no avail. (If you notice the electrical tower in the cemetery image). I did however, spot an airfield in Adam, and it appears to be a military complex. I saw Mig-21s on the tarmac and bomb-proof aircraft hangars along the southern taxi-way. Also around the outskirts of town are what appears to be anti-aircraft defense posts. If westerners/tourists are looking for the cemetery, I would assume then that one would have to be a little careful not getting lost there. I would really like to go to Libya one day, I wonder what the exchange rate is and how prices are?
