British armoured car patrols met en route, withdrew in the face of this armada signalling to 8th Army headquarters news of the desert march. At 04:00hrs on the morning of 27 May the great armoured mass, having marched 32 miles by compass bearing all through the night, halted south of Bir Hachim and there rested and refuelled before shaking out into attack formation. The strike force of the Axis army was now in position ready to carry out the next part of Rommel's plan; the northern strike. But 8th Army which had received the patrol reports had dismissed the movement of the outflanking group as bluff to draw attention from the centre and the north.
Dawn on 27 May lit the armoured mass of Africa Corps positioned east c: the Gazala mine-fields and facing towards the sea. The 90th Light Division was already on the move towards El Adem; immediately to its left 15th Panzer Division. On the left flank of 15th was 21st Panzer and on the extreme left flank Ariete Division. Towards 07:00hrs 15th Panzer Division was struck by a group of 60 British tanks who brought the panzers under fire froir. distances which were greater than normal. This sudden blow halted the German advance on that sector and the reason for the shock was due to the fact that the division was advancing without its usual screen of armourec cars. These had been detached from both panzer divisions to strengthen the right wing where 90th Light was operating and without this advanced guarc the Africa Corps was moving blind into battle. The British 4th Armourec Brigade, which had received advanced warning of the panzer thrust, stood ir 'hull down' position waiting for the German tanks to come within range. The guns of the Grant tanks with which the British armour was now equipped struck the Germans and destroyed three of them forcing the others to withdraw upon the artillery which had been left behind in the speed of the advance. The Corps commander brought out of Corps reserve an 8.8cir battery and put it into action supporting a flank thrust by a panzer platocr. and part of 33rd Reconnaissance Battalion. Under this double thrust the 8n Hussars and 3rd Royal Tank Regiment were driven back and almost destroyed. The remnants of 4th Armoured Brigade fell back upon El Aden:
The 3rd Indian Brigade's box lay in the path of 21st Panzer Division anc the two armoured blocks of the panzer battalions swept down upon the weakly armed defenders. For forty minutes the out-gunned brigade held 5th Panzer Regiment back but then a blow was delivered under which the defenders were crushed and the panzers swept across the now-silent position-heading northwards. During their advance they encountered 7th Motorisec Brigade in the 'box' at Retma and swept across that unit destroying anc dispersing it. The Ariete Division struck at Bir Hachim. The first attack went in at 09.00hrs when a force of 50 M 13/40 tanks stormed forward and ran ini; a mine-field. The Italian attack halted within range of French anti-tank gur.s but then a small, determined group smashed its way forward and into the positions held by the French Foreign Legion. The tanks were destroyed in close-quarter combat. Then a second assault came in at 09.30hrs but this lacked determination; the tenacity of the small, French garrison had bafflec the efforts of a whole Italian armoured division.
Towards 11:00 hrs the 44th Royal Tank Regiment was ordered to advance and to intercept the panzer spearheads and the graphic words of one of the officers of the reconnaissance detachment convey the morale effect of mass armour, 'On topping a rise we could see on the eastern skyline a solid mass of vehicles stretching southwards into the haze as far as the eye can see'.
This was the 21st Panzer moving on to Trigh Capuzzo and in the battles which then followed the anti-tank gun line of 21st Panzer Division destroyed 18 British tanks from concealed positions in a wadi. [14]
By l0:00hrs the Africa Corps was driving northwards with its flanks protected by 90th Light Division which had encountered British armoured forces west of Bir el Gobi. The Italian XX Corps delayed by the determined resistance of the Bir Hachim garrison had to skirt round the French 'box' and had only reached a point five miles north-east of Bir Hachim, where it regrouped.
The panzer spearhead of the Panzer Army Africa was under attack from east, north, and north-east for although 8th Army had suffered from the initial assault it had pulled itself together and had begun to launch counter-attacks. The 15th Panzer's move just after 15.00hrs was struck in both flanks by artillery and tanks and one British attack at 16.00hrs caused alarm when the 60 tanks which struck at the flank threw back the panzers and the impetus of the British thrust being maintained overran a motorised infantry battalion. Then the armour was among the panzer division's lorries dispersing them in disorder and cutting off from their armoured spearhead the follow-up units. This severing produced a critical situation both at divisional and at Corps level. The commander flung in his headquarter defence unit. This battle group made up of a battery of 8.8cm guns, a panzer platoon, and a light flak company was joined by 16 other 8.8cm pieces from 1st Battalion 43rd Flak Regiment and the whole formed a defensive flank against the armoured assaults, while 15th Panzer Division forced its way northwards. The German guns stood at bay immobile but powerfully armed against an opponent less heavily gunned but with mobility.. As the tanks charged forward the guns spoke and the barrage drove back the British machines. On came the tanks again and yet again; each time they were driven back but still they moved into the assault until 12 of their number were destroyed or burning. They then drew back out of range and stayed immobile until nightfall. With one flank covered by a gun line but encountering opposition which demanded that she fight every step of the way 15th Panzer reached a point 9 miles south of Acroma where both 21st Panzer and Corps Headquarters closed up to her. To the east 90th Light Division and its satellites had reached to within 8 miles of El Adem but were locked there in battle with 7th Armoured Division. The Italian Motorised Corps was echeloned deep in the left rear and the situation around Bir Hachim was quite alarming for aggressive French patrols had intercepted and destroyed German supply columns. The German and Italian troops of CriiwelTs Group were still halted awaiting developments but mine-clearing teams had begun to gap the fields.
Although the panzer army's main objectives had been gained the ulcer of Bir Hachim, together with the ungapped mine-fields, had forced Rommel's supply convoys to make a wide detour round the open southern flank. The British tank attack, which had carried past the southern flank of Africa Corps and which had cut off the panzer units from their supply columns, affected the future of Rommel's plan for neither fuel nor ammunition was reaching the forward units. Seen from the British side Rommel's position was untenable His panzer force had been mauled: 21st Panzer Division had only 80 runners, and 15th Panzer only half that number. After initial successes the Africa Corps was dispersed in packets across the desert surrounded from the east. west, and north and short of the two basic requirements of desert warfare petrol and ammunition.
At 05.15hrs on 28 May the two Panzer Divisions were ordered to advance 15th Panzer upon Acroma and 21st Panzer upon Eleut el Tamar, but 15th Panzer was unable to comply with the instructions. There was a shortage c: tank and artillery ammunition and the petrol tanks were dry. The division's chronicle of woe included the fact that its armoured strength was down runners, that one of its infantry battalions had been destroyed, and that artillery had suffered heavy loss. The 21st Panzer Division went in alone a: 07:30hrs and had captured Eleut el Tamar and the heights at Point 209 sect 90 minutes later. During this sweep the 21st had cut a destructive swathe through the British units in the area. First it had met a mobile column code-named 'Stopcol' and had destroyed it. Tanks from 8th Royal Tank Regiment had been encountered and crushed and then the panzers swept over defensive box at Commonwealth Keep (Point 219) and had taken that out. Although the 21st Panzer units had reached the escarpment there was rx: route down from the summit to the Via Balbia and division halted there.