 Operation Crusader turned into weeks of attrition the cost of which finally pushed Rommel away from the perimeter of Tobruk allowing Eighth Army to lift the siege.Tobruk would not stay liberated long; during the Battle of Gazala in 1942 the fortress fell with the Axis forces taking thousands of prisoners of war.The 2nd Battalion, however, did not remain in North Africa to see the fall of Tobruk instead they were to head to one of the most difficult fighting terrains in the Second World War, on 28 February 1942 the 70th Division was put aboard ships headed for India to help stop the rapid advance of the Japanese Army in Burma.