Operation Venezia was a
Second World War operation in which
Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
moved a large portion of his forces around
Bir Hakeim
Bir Hakeim ( ar, بئر حكيم, translit=biʾr ḥakīm, lit=Wise Well ; sometimes written ''Bir Hacheim'') is in the Libyan desert at and is the site of a former Ottoman Empire fort built around the site of an ancient Roman well, dating to ...
, the southernmost part of the British Gazala Line, soon after the start of the
Battle of Gazala.
Rommel activated the operation at 20:30
[The Rommel Papers, pg.206] on 26 May 1942, after his reconnaissance confirmed the presence of strong British armoured formations north-east of Bir Hakeim. His encircling force consisted of 10,000 vehicles
from the
15. and
21. ''Panzerdivision''s, the
Italian ''Ariete'' Armoured Division and the motorized elements of the
German 90th Light Infantry Division.
The British forces were expecting Rommel to make an attack and, on intercepting a signal which contained the codeword "Venezia", assumed, incorrectly, that it was the name of the full operation. This mistake is often repeated in historical literature.
[Germany and the second World War, pg. 667]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venezia
Western Desert campaign