Fearing that the supply lines by sea would be cut off, the British oscillated back and forth between holding on and abandoning Cyrenaica. Vice Admiral Robeck insisted that the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet under his command was far from strong enough to ensure the safety of sea lanes. Admiral Hamilton was of the same view, wanting to reduce his forces and defend the Suez Canal Zone with all his might.

And the commander-in-chief of the British forces in Egypt, Yaqiba. Lieutenant General Murray, however, wanted to defend aggressively to avoid the flames of war reaching Egypt. The views of General Wingate, the British governor in Cairo, were in favor of Murray. Before the war, the British garrison in Egypt was about 100,000 men, but in order to attack Turkey, during the Gallipoli landing campaign, the British and French organized an expeditionary force of nearly half a million men. This part of the expeditionary force was commanded by Sir Hamilton, and during the failed Battle of Gallipoli, the British and French expeditionary forces lost nearly 150,000 men, and some of the French troops were later withdrawn to the country.

After the fall of Malta, the British Middle East Expeditionary Force remained in Egypt to prevent the Suez Canal from being occupied by the German-Turkish forces or Austria-Hungary.

The total strength of the British army in Egypt is now about 350,000, plus two French divisions, and more importantly, the 120,000 Serbian troops withdrawn from the Balkans, who have also joined the British army in North Africa after repairing and replenishing supplies. The Austro-Hungarian North African Legion, on the other hand, numbered less than 100,000 men, but the British focused on the Arabian Peninsula to prevent the Turks from attacking, and Enverpasha was more eager to restore Ottoman rule over Egypt.

Lieutenant General Hovald split his only two divisions into two parts, with the 21st Division advancing from Benghazi toward Derna, while the Croatian 7th Division was to cross the desert and attack Birhakim, an important stronghold south of Tobruk, before penetrating the small town of Bardia on the border between Cyrenaica and Egypt. According to the battle plan developed with Admiral Mayer, the 5th Marine Division, escorted by the Pachner fleet, would land at Sellum to cut off the British rear supply lines.

Major General Stett's mechanized Croatian 7th Division left the resupply-ready coast and entered the depths of the dry Green Mountains, along the rugged trade routes between the deserts, towards Tobruk.

The Croatian 7th Division is a light armored division with the latest equipment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with an armored regiment, two mechanized infantry regiments and a divisional artillery regiment, with 168 tanks, 24 76mm self-propelled guns, 56 tracked armored vehicles, 82 wheeled armored vehicles and 1,362 vehicles, and the divisional artillery regiment has 24 105mm howitzers and 12 150mm heavy guns. The firepower of such an organization is several times more powerful than that of previous infantry divisions, but the corresponding logistical requirements and supply pressure have also increased a lot.

For this desert march, General Hovald specially equipped them with more than 120 water trucks.

The Panzer Regiment under Colonel Melzin was the vanguard of the assault on Birhakim, marching through the desert in the heat of the Cyrenaica summer, with the ground temperature exceeding 35 degrees Celsius and the tank resembling a steamer. The Colonel poked his upper body out of the open turret cover of the Islaya III, and the dust kicked up around it made it impossible to see what was going on.

The trade route to Bir Hakim was originally a rugged path that could only be passed by caravans, but it was even more potholed and dusty after being run over by the vehicles in front. The troops had basically not experienced much fighting since entering the desert, but the 7th Panzer Division still took a day and a half to travel more than 200 kilometers from Benghazi to Bir Hakim. On the evening of 17 May, the Croatian 7th Panzer Division finally crossed the dry riverbed and approached the perimeter of Birhakim.

The soldiers did not have time to eat dinner, so they immediately carried out major maintenance of the vehicle, the air cleaner, the engine, the exhaust pipe, the gearbox, the propeller shaft, and even the turret seat, almost every place on the tank that could turn was clogged with fine sand and dust, and the march was even harder than the battle.

Bir Hakim controlled several important trade routes leading to Cyrenaica to Tobruk, and if this was lost, Tobruk, the most important strategic support point of the British army, would immediately be directly threatened. The British deployed a division of defensive forces here and built a strong defensive position, and it seems that they will not give up lightly.

General Stett finally came from behind after the sun had set, and he and his staff climbed a hill southwest of the town to observe Bill Hakim's situation. It was clear that the British had been prepared to dig three strong ring lines outside the town and set up minefields.

"It should be the Serbian Legion." The Chief of Staff, Colonel Kasich, pointed to the flags planted on the enemy's positions.

"But we must take it, and this is the gate to Tobruk." "It's a tragedy that the British are using the Serbs as artillery helmets, and our two Slavic armies are fighting each other, for the British?" ”

"Are we trying to send a letter of surrender to the commander on the other side?" Kasić said.

"You can try, but I don't think it will work." General Stettet said, "Emperor Friedrich has issued a proclamation that King Peter II is allowed to return to Serbia, and that the Empire has no intention of annexing Serbian territory, but they are determined to follow the British. ”

The defense of Birhakim was the Serbian 3rd Infantry Division, commanded by General Stankovic, a division of more than 13,000 men, and after more than a year of rest and replenishment, the Serbian troops had already recovered from their original weakened state.

Stankovic received a letter from Stett around 9 p.m., in which he said he did not want to see two Slavic brother forces fighting to the death on the battlefield, and that he promised to give them the best treatment if the Serbian forces chose to surrender.

General Stankovich's reply was: "If you surrender, I allow the officers to keep their weapons of self-defense!" "For the sake of Serbia's honor, he was determined to fight to the death with the Austro-Hungarian army.

Fighting was inevitable, and General Statech decided to start the offensive after dawn.

Birhakim is located in an open area in the Gobi, surrounded by a vast desert with several camel trails leading to the town, and the wilderness is littered with wind-blown gravel. There is really no terrain to take advantage of, there are two small hills outside the town, and there is a dry riverbed outside the town.

However, the Serbs dug three trenches around the town, two of which were very wide, and anti-tank guns were placed behind them, so that the tanks could not reach Guò directly. It seems that by the time the war has been going on, all sides have begun to notice the breakthrough of tanks and armored vehicles defending each other.

But Stett had no idea that this battle would be fought so hard.

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