Operation Agreement was a disastrous raid by British, Rhodesian and New Zealand forces on the Axis held Tobruk in Libya.  To undermine the Axis war effort in North Africa was the object of Operation Agreement. This entailed destroying airfields, harbour facilities, supply ships, large oil stores and lorries. To achieve this Operation Agreement was assisted by three separate diversionary actions which were carried out on the 12^th/13^th September 1942.

The main attack on Tobruk was carried out by an amphibious force of about 700 Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and Royal Marines. The attack was split into two forces (“A” and “C”), and Royal Navy support which consisted of one cruiser, six destroyers and one submarine. Completing the complement were sixteen motor torpedo boats (MTB), 3 motor launches and thirty landing craft.

The intention was for Force “A” to land troops north of Tobruk while Force “C” were to defend the perimeter east of Tobruk. Force “B” consisted of approximately 150 Special Air Service (SAS) troops approaching from the desert. Bad sea conditions had contributed to submarine HMS Taku’s commandos of Force “A” failing to set up guiding beacons on the shore for the main attack force. Consequently the two destroyers bringing in the seaborne troops landed them on the wrong beach, west of the intended landing place.

The Axis garrison at Tobruk had been reinforced and guns of the Italian shore batteries hit and sank destroyer HMS Sikh, which led the landing attempt of Force “A”. She lost 122 crew members killed and the survivors rescued by landing craft of the attack force were eventually captured. The second destroyer HMS Zulu, alongside cruiser HMS Coventry and the remaining destroyers were returning to Alexandria on the 14^th September 1942. Coventry was badly damaged by German dive bombers and finally scuttled by Zulu with the loss of 63 crew members. A short time after Zulu was damaged by German dive bombers and whilst under tow she sank and 39 crew members lost their lives.

There does not appear to be any records of the fate of the SAS troops of Force ”B” other than their commander Lt. Col. John Haselden was killed in action.

Of the motor launches and landing craft, only two launches landed the remnants of Force “C” at the target cove. Extremely heavy fire from Tobruk harbour, boom defences and a flotilla of Italian torpedo boats forced back three motor launches and seventeen MTBs. Three MTBs launched torpedoes at enemy naval vessels moored in the harbour but without success. One MTB was set on fire and scuttled, four were lost to Axis aircraft, and one was damaged and ran aground. 117 seamen and soldiers were captured by a German minesweeper. The remaining MTBs and surviving motor launch reached Alexandria despite being dive-bombed during their journey.

Operation Bigamy was a raid by the SAS on Benghazi, led by Lieutenant Colonel David Stirling. The SAS were supported by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) with the intention of destroying the harbour and storage facilities. This was to be followed up by a raid on the airfield at Benina in cooperation with the RAF. An Italian reconnaissance unit discovered Stirling’s attack force at a road block during the gruelling journey around Libya’s southern edge of the Great Grand Sea. Stirling decided to withdraw to Kufra in S.E. Libya. On the barren terrain during the withdrawal the Luftwaffe accounted for the loss of 70 vehicles. The raid was a complete failure and the raid on Benina was never attempted.

The only successful action was Operation Caravan, the attack on the Italian held Barce airfield 1,155 miles (1,859 km) west of Tobruk. Forty-seven British and New Zealand troops reached and attacked the airfield where they destroyed 16 aircraft and damaged another 7. Motorised transport, military equipment and buildings were also destroyed or damaged. The success came at a cost with eight wounded, ten captured and missing were two Senussi “spies” who belonged to the Libyan Arab Force. Two 30 cwt. trucks and four jeeps were also destroyed. The troops retreated along the same route in vehicles and abandoned them once they broke down. The RAF airlifted the wounded to Kufra. The remainder marched and unconfirmed reports fail to show how many arrived back safely. Two DSOs, six MCs and two MMs were awarded following this action and were the only gallantry medals awarded during the whole Operation Agreement.                       

The capture of the Jalo oasis was another target which would deny the Axis forces access to a rendezvous point for retreating German/Italian troops at the forthcoming Second Battle of Alamein. The attack on Jalo Oasis, codenamed Operation Nicety, was an attempt to support the withdrawal of the forces involved in Operation Agreement, Operation Caravan and Operation Bigamy. The Italian garrison at Jalo had been forewarned and reinforced after the Germans had discovered the plans for all the operations. The attack was carried out by a battalion of the Sudan Defence Force (SDF). The SDF was a locally recruited British-led force formed to assist the police in the event of civil unrest in the Sudan and to maintain the Sudanese borders. The Italians easily repelled the attack and the SDF withdrew on the 19^th September 1942 to avoid the Italian relief column approaching.

On 19^th September 1942 the Allied attack on Tobruk had been repulsed by the Germans and Italians. Including naval personnel the Allies failure cost 800 killed in action and 576 taken prisoner. They also lost one cruiser, two destroyers, four MTBs, two MLs and several landing craft. On the Axis side they lost 15 Italian and 1 German, 43 Italian and 7 Germans wounded and 30 aircraft were destroyed or damaged.

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