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Real Time History

Season 2026 · Episode 20

Operation Crusader and the Battle for North Africa 1941

0.033mAugust 21, 2026

Both the Axis and the British Middle East Command want to break the Siege of Tobruk in the summer of 1941. In the Fall the new British Eighth Army strikes first and the resulting Operation Crusader is one of the most confusing battles of the Second World War.

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Episodes

Episode 1Red Army vs. Mujahedeen: Soviet-Afghan War Tactics 1980-85
Episode 2Cabanatuan: The Great US Ranger Raid to Save 500 POWs
Episode 3Why Argentina Lost the Falklands War
Episode 4Great Powers Invasion of China: Boxer War 1900-01
Episode 5Striking at the Heart of America: The Saigon Embassy Raid 1968
Episode 6Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003: The Invasion
Episode 7Who Destroyed the Japanese Economy in WW2?
Episode 8Germany's Forgotten WW1 Gamble: Operation Albion 1917
Episode 9Why The Soviet Union Lost In Afghanistan
Episode 10Why Did the US Declare war on Great Britain in 1812?
Episode 11Afghanistan's Downfall - Civil War 1989-1993
Episode 12How China, Russia, Japan and the West Struggled Over East Asia 1894-1905
Episode 13Taliban Trojan Horse: The Battle of Qala-i-Jangi 2001
Episode 14Rommel's Rampage - Battle for North Africa Spring 1941
Episode 15SAS Desert Raiders in North Africa 1942
Episode 16Japan's Downfall: Pacific War from Tarawa to Okinawa
Episode 17The Battle of Fallujah and the Iraqi Insurgency 2003-04
Episode 18Stealing Royal Navy Ships: The Jesse Elliott Raid 1812
Episode 19Rise of the Taliban: Afghan Civil War 1994-2000
Episode 20Operation Crusader and the Battle for North Africa 1941
Episode 212001 Invasion of Afghanistan: Ousting the Taliban
Episode 222001 Invasion of Afghanistan: Ousting the Taliban
Episode 23The Failed US Invasion of Canada 1812
Episode 24Soviet War in Afghanistan 1979-1989 (Full Documentary)
Episode 25Was Operation Barbarossa Doomed to Fail?