The setback, from the perspective of the Official History

In the Official History, Vol.III, the authors try to put a positive spin on the events of January to February 1942, in western Cyrenaica. Rather than put the blame on the commanders and the near fatal tendency to put troops into battle without adequate training, they would have you believe that the setback was mostly due to having advanced to far west, too fast, at at time when there were inadequate forces available, due to events in the Far East, and when the means to move supplies forward were not adequate. The reality was that the same mistakes were made in January 1942 as were made in late November and early December 1941 that very nearly lost the Crusader Battle. The key British commanders seemed oblivious to the need to concentrate their forces to fight the Germans. This is my commentary to what is stated in Vol.III of the Official History.