Bombing attacks on Tobruk in 1941

The enemy air attacks on British anti-aircraft guns at Tobruk were primarily with dive bombers. The gun crews quickly learned that they could be most effective by staying with their guns during attacks rather than taking cover. The dive bombers were apparently all Ju-87 Stukas. Of the dive bombing attacks at Tobruk from the last twenty days of April 1941 until October 9, nineteen of these attacks were against the anti-aircraft guns. The last attack on the guns was on 1 September 1941 after commencing on 10 April. When you look at the chart you can see that the number of aircraft involved decreased over time, as the raids became more dangerous to the attackers. Frequently, at least one dive bomber took a direct hit during an attack on the anti-aircraft guns. This is from the chart on Page 411 of Vol.III of the Australian Official History.

Month                      Dive bombing raids     numbers of aircraft involved
April (last 20 days)  21                                386
May                          17                                277
June                           6                                 123
July                            4                                  79
August                      11                                217
September                  1                                  46
October (first 9 days) 2                                  57

As the enemy realized that dive bombing raids were too ineffective for the effort involved, they switched to high level bombing raids. The level bombers generally flew at between 18,000 and 25,000 feet. The defenders on the ground had trouble seeing the attacking aircraft. Even though the defenders were hampered by the high altitude attacks, the attackers were able to bomb effectively. Initially, the defenders could not see the aircraft until they dropped their bombs. To try to improve their ability to see the high level bombers, the defenders started listening for the sound of aircraft so that they could predict where to point their telescopic lenses. This was not a very successful tactic. The next tactic tried was to fire a barrage of shells into the expected aircraft path. The barrages were designed to be in the course flown to known targets in the harbor area.  They had 16 heavy anti-aircraft guns, so they were used in four-gun groups. By September, the guns had a position officer who had the authority to decide when to fire. They had to be watching for the attacking aircraft to fly deceptive routes to attempt to outwit the guns. The use of the barrages was very effective and caused the attacking bombers to have problems hitting targets. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.