Ливияның Тобрук қаласы: тарихы мен стратегиялық маңызы

Tobruk or Tobruck (/t//ə/'/b//r//ʊ//k//, //t//oʊ// /; Ἀντίπυργος, Antipyrgos; Antipyrgus; ; طبرق; also transliterated as Tobruch and Tubruk) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.). Tobruk was the site of an ancient Greek colony and, later, of a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica. |source 2 = Deutscher Wetterdienst (Sunshine 1996–2015), Weather Online

An Ancient Greek agricultural colony, Antipyrgus (Ἀντίπυργος, Antipyrgos) was once on the site of modern Tobruk, No longer a residential bishopric, Antipyrgus is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Later the site became a way station on the caravan route that ran along the coast.

At the beginning of World War II, Libya was an Italian colony and Tobruk became the site of important battles between the Allies and Axis powers. Tobruk was strategically important to the conquest of Eastern Libya, then the province of Cyrenaica, for several reasons.

Tobruk had a deep, natural, and protected harbour, which meant that even if the port were bombed, ships would still be able to anchor there and be safe from squalls, so the port could never be rendered wholly useless regardless of military bombardment. This was of critical importance, as it made Tobruk an excellent place to supply a desert warfare campaign. It was also heavily fortified by the Italians prior to their invasion of Egypt in November 1940. In addition to these prepared fortifications, there were a number of escarpments and cliffs to the south of Tobruk, providing substantial physical barriers to any advance on the port over land. Tobruk was also on a peninsula, allowing it to be defended by a minimal number of troops, which the Allies used to their advantage when the port was under siege. An attacker could not simply bypass the defenders, for if they did, the besieged would sally forth and cut off the nearby supply lines of the attacker, spoiling their advance. But Tobruk was also strategically significant, due to its location with regard to the remainder of Cyrenaica. Attackers from the east who had secured Tobruk could then advance through the desert to Benghazi, cutting off all enemy troops along the coast, such as those at Derna. This advance would be protected from counterattack, due to escarpments that were quite difficult for a military force to climb, running generally from Tobruk to Suluq. Due to the importance of maintaining supply in the desert, getting cut off in this area was disastrous. Therefore, whoever held both Suluq and Tobruk controlled the majority of Cyrenaica. Finally, south of the port was the largest airfield in eastern Libya. This was significant due to the importance of air power in desert warfare.

Italian forces (and their native Libyan allies—about two divisions of the latter) invaded Egypt in early September 1940 but halted their advance after a week and dug in at Sidi Barrani. In early December, British Empire forces—an armoured division and two infantry divisions—launched a counterstrike codenamed Operation Compass. The Italians had previously invaded Albania and occupied part of the south of France, and had now made a military incursion into a British protectorate.

The counterstrike involved the British pocketing two of the Italian camps against the Mediterranean, forcing their surrender. This led to a general Italian retreat to El Agheila. Tobruk was captured by British, Australian and Indian forces on 22 January 1941. Italy called on her German ally, which sent an army corps, under the name Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK). Italy also sent several more divisions to Libya. These forces, under Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, drove the Allies back across Cyrenaica to the Egyptian border, leaving Tobruk isolated and under siege. The defenders of the fortress consisted of the Australian 9th Division, the Australian 18th Brigade and some British tanks and artillery. They were later reinforced and replaced by the British 70th Infantry Division, Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, a Czechoslovak battalion and a British tank brigade. The siege lasted until December, when Operation Crusader pushed the DAK and Italians back out of Cyrenaica.

A British raid on Tobruk on 13–14 September 1942, codenamed Operation Agreement, intended to destroy port facilities and stores being used to support the Axis forces further west. Special forces approached from across the desert while Commandos attacked from the sea. A preparatory air raid by RAF heavy bombers served only to alert the Italian and German defenders. The special forces were unable to silence the coastal artillery batteries and the seaborne assault had to be abandoned after some of the Commandos had been landed in the wrong place. The retiring vessels were then attacked from the air. The British sustained almost 800 casualties, together with a cruiser, two destroyers and several smaller ships and boats.

Tobruk remained in Axis hands until 11 November 1942, when the Allies captured it after the Second Battle of El Alamein. It remained in Allied hands thereafter. Although not as much a reason for its strategic significance, the British built a rail line from El Alamein to Tobruk during the course of the war. This rail line was significant both for purposes of supply and as a sense of pride to the Allied troops, as the rail line was built through a little populated, inhospitable desert.

At the outset of the First Libyan Civil War, the city quickly came under the control of the NTC. In September 2014 the internationally recognized government of Libya relocated to a Greek car ferry in Tobruk harbor. A rival New General National Congress parliament continued to operate in Tripoli. In October 2014 they again re located, to a hotel named Dar al Salam also known as the Al Masira Hotel in Tobruk. In November 2014 that government was declared illegal by Libya's highest court.

The city is served by Tobruk Airport, with two major domestic airlines serving it.