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He attacked on the 30th March and within 11 days he had driven our forces back to the Egyptian Border. However, he could not capture Tobruk and with such a fortress to his rear he dare not move further into Egypt. Tobruk became an obsession with him and he was determined to use planes, mines, large guns, submarines and E-Boats to beat the fortress into submission or to starve them into surrender. The Siege of Tobruk began on the 9th April, 1941.
By the beginning of April, the first of the A Lighters were becoming operational and the first 5 were sent to Tobruk from Alexandria with a load of tanks and other equipment. The plan was not only to keep the fortress going but to build up the capability of the garrison so that when it came to the relief operation it could play a significant role.
As soon as they had unloaded they were directed to Suda Bay on the island of Crete and when the troops were evacuated from Greece and then Crete the 5 craft were lost together with 2 other craft which were sent as replacements.
As further A Lighters became operational they took part in the regular trips to Tobruk to provide the garrison with its requirements and to bring back equipment for repair etc. - called the Spud Run. In general the A Lighters and some old destroyers dealt with hardware and other vessels handled general supplies. Again, I haven`t the time to go into further detail - I can only talk about the A Lighters.
The journey from Alex. to Tobruk was some 350 miles which meant a journey of at least 35 hours during which, for much of the time, the craft were exposed to Axis aircraft. They could actually see the planes on the airfields revving up to take off to attack them.