Deleted member 1487
Looking into the Osprey Campaign series on the 1942 Gazala battle in the background section it makes a case that during the November 1941 Operation Crusader, the British offensive to break the Tobruk siege, Rommel had a chance to crush XXX Corps after destroying most of its tanks, but instead he gambled big on trying to wipe out the entire 8th army by taking the Frontier Wire and trapping it West of Halfiya Pass, a move that backfired and resulted in the Axis forces having to retreat back to their early 1941 positions at El Agheila.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crusader#Rommel.27s_dash_to_the_wire
What if he just finished off XXX Corps instead of using his meager remaining forces to wipe out the entire 8th army? What impact would that have had on Operation Crusader? Auchinleck was not willing to call off his offensive IOTL, but if XXX Corps had been destroyed would he have done so and ended the operation with half of his force wiped out? Would that mean his firing too? If Rommel then maintains his siege of Tobruk and the positions on the pre-war frontier of Libya-Egypt what impact would that have had on operations going into 1942?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crusader#Rommel.27s_dash_to_the_wire
What if he just finished off XXX Corps instead of using his meager remaining forces to wipe out the entire 8th army? What impact would that have had on Operation Crusader? Auchinleck was not willing to call off his offensive IOTL, but if XXX Corps had been destroyed would he have done so and ended the operation with half of his force wiped out? Would that mean his firing too? If Rommel then maintains his siege of Tobruk and the positions on the pre-war frontier of Libya-Egypt what impact would that have had on operations going into 1942?