06/15/42 - North Africa The 32nd Army Tank Brigade, supposed to keep the Via Balbia open, misunderstands its orders and retires to Tobruk, leaving the infantry unprotected.
Since the Via Balbia could not accommodate both divisions without a bottleneck, it is decided to send the 50th Division west through the Italian positions facing them and make the long march south of Bir Hacheim to rejoin the Allied lines. During the night Maj-Gen William H. Ramsden's move westward is unexpected and they break out successfully with some of his troops still arriving on the frontier as late as the evening of the 16th.
The South African retreat is also successful. By daylight most of the division is still on the Via Balbia. Protected by the Desert Air Force, only 6 soldiers are lost to Axis air strikes.
Auchinleck informs Churchill that he hopes to hold the Acroma-El Adem Line and not give up Tobruk.
Early on Rommel directs the 21st Panzer Div, the 90th Light Div and artillery units eastward. They are harried by the Desert Air Force and lose 5 tanks, 5 trucks and an anti-tank gun. The 29th Indian Brigade holds firm at El Adem, but a detached battalion, the 3/12 Frontier Force Rifles, located to the northwest on the Axis Bypass, is overrun late in the afternoon with the loss of 700 men as PoWs.
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