Yep. Though as I said, you can make test landings on the coast of Cyrenaica, since there isn't nearly as much of a risk there.
Sir John Valentine Carden Survives. Part 2.
- Thread starter allanpcameron
- Start date
TBF before any amphibious operation I'd wait till the have indications that the German reserve and the majority of the Italians reserves are being committed them I'd give the go order for operations.
I was talking about practice landings. Cyrenacia has been in British hands almost since the start of the year.
No, with the existing flanking manoeuvre seeming set to get in behind the Axis, it probably wouldn't be worth risking, ships as well, especially such valuable ones.
4 November 1941. Libya. Operation Crusader, Day 3.
allanpcameron
Donor
4 November 1941. Libya. Operation Crusader, Day 3.
Lieutenant Peter Smith watched the sun rise with the same feeling of awe as the first time he’d watched it in the desert. The ethereal beauty of the cold clarity of the starlight as it was warmed and suffused by the palest peach, the delicate rose, the richer gold of the rising sun never failed to move him. Smith’s father was a Vicar in a country church in Suffolk, and as many times as he’d tried in letters to describe the experience to his father, he could never yet fully express the experience.
Smith’s contemplation was interrupted by Private Wilson passing him a cup of tea. Wilson was the loader in Adsum, which along with Aggressive, and Arethusa made up the three Valiant I tanks in Ajax Troop, A Squadron, 1st Bn RTR. The troop had been involved in pretty much every fight so far in the war in North Africa. 7th Armoured Brigade had come a long way, and as another day dawned, it was time to add some more miles.
Corporal John Twist, Adsum’s gunner, had finished his tea, and was rolling up the blankets that had kept them warm during the night, before removing the camouflage netting over the tank with Wilson’s help. Private Bill Jones, Adsum’s driver, finished off checking the fuel and oil levels. Lieutenant Smith drank down the hot, sweet liquid, and headed off to meet Major John Wilkins, the Squadron CO and the other troop leaders. Although fully briefed on the day’s activities the night before, there was always an update in the morning to cover anything that had changed. Wilkins ran through the main headlines and confirmed that there were no changes to the plan.
When Smith returned to his Troop, he went over everything with the two Sergeants commanding Aggressive and Arethusa. After shaking hands, the three men returned to their tanks and prepared to start engines and move off. Somewhere out ahead, the 4th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Division would be engaging the enemy. 7th Armoured Brigade and 50th Infantry Division were following close on their heels.
The big diesel engine that powered Adsum fired up, drowning out almost every other sound. The sun was above the horizon now, its wintery light casting long shadows. Smith gave Jones the brief order to move off. The two other tanks in the troop followed on, as Smith stood in the commander’s hatch. As far as he could see the desert seemed to seethe with movement. Tanks, tractors pulling guns and lorries, lots and lots of lorries, moved like a wave towards the enemy. Wilson started to whistle, and soon the rest of the crew were singing ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’. They’d tried to fit the name of Tripoli in place of Tipperary, but it never quite worked. As Smith scanned the sky and land around him, all the men in all the vehicles knew exactly what their objective was.
Lieutenant Peter Smith watched the sun rise with the same feeling of awe as the first time he’d watched it in the desert. The ethereal beauty of the cold clarity of the starlight as it was warmed and suffused by the palest peach, the delicate rose, the richer gold of the rising sun never failed to move him. Smith’s father was a Vicar in a country church in Suffolk, and as many times as he’d tried in letters to describe the experience to his father, he could never yet fully express the experience.
Smith’s contemplation was interrupted by Private Wilson passing him a cup of tea. Wilson was the loader in Adsum, which along with Aggressive, and Arethusa made up the three Valiant I tanks in Ajax Troop, A Squadron, 1st Bn RTR. The troop had been involved in pretty much every fight so far in the war in North Africa. 7th Armoured Brigade had come a long way, and as another day dawned, it was time to add some more miles.
Corporal John Twist, Adsum’s gunner, had finished his tea, and was rolling up the blankets that had kept them warm during the night, before removing the camouflage netting over the tank with Wilson’s help. Private Bill Jones, Adsum’s driver, finished off checking the fuel and oil levels. Lieutenant Smith drank down the hot, sweet liquid, and headed off to meet Major John Wilkins, the Squadron CO and the other troop leaders. Although fully briefed on the day’s activities the night before, there was always an update in the morning to cover anything that had changed. Wilkins ran through the main headlines and confirmed that there were no changes to the plan.
When Smith returned to his Troop, he went over everything with the two Sergeants commanding Aggressive and Arethusa. After shaking hands, the three men returned to their tanks and prepared to start engines and move off. Somewhere out ahead, the 4th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Division would be engaging the enemy. 7th Armoured Brigade and 50th Infantry Division were following close on their heels.
The big diesel engine that powered Adsum fired up, drowning out almost every other sound. The sun was above the horizon now, its wintery light casting long shadows. Smith gave Jones the brief order to move off. The two other tanks in the troop followed on, as Smith stood in the commander’s hatch. As far as he could see the desert seemed to seethe with movement. Tanks, tractors pulling guns and lorries, lots and lots of lorries, moved like a wave towards the enemy. Wilson started to whistle, and soon the rest of the crew were singing ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’. They’d tried to fit the name of Tripoli in place of Tipperary, but it never quite worked. As Smith scanned the sky and land around him, all the men in all the vehicles knew exactly what their objective was.
Really great chapter @allanpcameron, love these personal perspectives of the fighting.
@allanpcameron I initially read the first few hundred pages of this time line as it was published. Some real life stuff happened and I lost track of things for a month or two and decided to reread the whole timeline to date before I continued reading.
I finally decided to reread and get caught up over the last week.
Good job.
I finally decided to reread and get caught up over the last week.
Good job.
"Lieutenant Peter Smith watched the sun rise with the same feeling of awe as the first time he’d watched it in the desert. The ethereal beauty of the cold clarity of the starlight as it was warmed and suffused by the palest peach, the delicate rose, the richer gold of the rising sun never failed to move him." Author's post.
That lovely description fits this short video from a scene about a different desert war.
That lovely description fits this short video from a scene about a different desert war.
5 November 1941. Sedada, Libya. Operation Crusader, Day 4.
allanpcameron
Donor
5 November 1941. Sedada, Libya. Operation Crusader, Day 4.
Wadi el Zerzer was little more than a dip in the desert at this point. As it moved towards the sea and joined Wadi Sofeggin it became much more of a tank trap. For C Squadron 6th Bn RTR it wasn’t the Wadi that they were worried about. It was the gunfire coming from the direction of Wadi Nfed that had forced the Royal Engineers around them to take cover.
Once more the minefields were slowing things down, and if the Italians were covering this one with artillery fire, it was obviously important. From somewhere behind them the British guns began to answer their Italian counterparts. Major John Dixon, OC C Squadron had taken a nasty piece of shrapnel in his shoulder the previous day, so Captain Mark Lawson was now in temporary command. There was only one CS Valiant I tank with the Squadron, and Lawson had ordered it forward, so that along with the smoke bombs from their mortars, the squadron could put up a half decent smoke screen fairly quickly. The wind was picking up, so keeping the screen in place would be problematical. Unless the engineers could clear a path, the tanks and infantry were going to remain stuck where they were.
There had been an air raid the previous evening as the tanks went into laager. Some Stukas had managed to get through the British fighter cover, and they’d scored a couple of lucky hits on both a petrol bowser and an ammunition lorry. The exploding ammo had kept much of the squadron and accompanying Durham Light Infantry awake and deep in their shell scrapes. The ground was very difficult to dig into, making for an uncomfortable night.
At first light the tanks and infantry had moved off, but were soon stopped when one of the tanks lost a track to a mine. That seemed to be the signal for the Italians to open up, hence the need for a smoke screen. As the smoke thickened, the Engineers moved up and took up their role once again. A Machine Gun Company were adding their indirect heavy fire to the artillery barrage to shut the Italians up and let the Engineers get on with their job.
The length of white tape marking the cleared line was extending, and a company of the DLI moved forward to try to make a bit more progress. Laws0n had ordered 2nd Troop, with the CS tank, to support the attack. The 3-inch gun in the CS tank changed from smoke to HE. Lawson wished the other three tanks could do the same, but at least their machine guns provided direct fire support to the men from around Durham.
Somewhere over to his left, another company of the DLI were trying to find a way to flank the Italian position. The radio crackled and the message was passed that this flanking movement was making progress, but needed tank support. Switching over to the Squadron’s frequency, Lawson ordered 3rd Troop to back up to the start line, then swing round to support the flanking manoeuvre.
Whether it was the artillery or the flanking move, the Italian guns had gone silent. The wind quickly blew away the remains of the smoke screen allowing the DLI and C Squadron to see the way ahead. A large crater was evident where the track had been. Lawson couldn’t figure out when it must have been made, surely an explosion that big would have been heard, even above all the other noise.
With no incoming fire, Lawson climbed down from the tank turret and hurried over to the Captain commanding the Royal Engineers. The track would need to be repaired to let the wheeled traffic pass, but Lawson wanted to see if his tanks could by-pass the crater. To be able to do that the Engineers would need to check for mines. Captain Timothy Lethbridge was bleeding from a couple of places. It wasn’t just the shrapnel from the Italian guns that was dangerous, the force of the explosions carried sand and stone at high enough speed to injure.
Lethbridge detailed a squad to take the tank officer forward and check whether the tanks would be able to move around the crater. “Careful where you step, Sir!” seemed to Lawson an unnecessary warning, but he carefully stepped in the boot print of engineers ahead of him. Two of the men proceeded with probes, while the Corporal in charge asked Lawson about the thresher tanks that had been around at the beginning of the attack. Lawson explained that the engine which spun the drum with the chains on, was a car engine. It seemed that the vibrations when a mine exploded had been too much for the engine. The Light Aid Detachment were working on replacing it, but, Lawson agreed, this would be the ideal situation for a mine clearance tank to proceed the rest of the squadron through terrain like this.
With the less than confident “We think it might be clear, Sir”, Lawson returned, still stepping in the boot prints. The Officers of the Royal Tank Regiment carried ash sticks, going back to the days of the Great War when tank commander would walk ahead of the Mark I tank checking the depth of mud. Mines were a different problem, but thinking of the probes used by the Engineers, things hadn’t changed too much. Arriving back at 2nd Troop’s position, he gave a quick briefing to the tank commanders and spoke with the senior DLI officer. Waving them forward, Lawson, once more trying to walk from boot print to boot print, guided the leading tank along the path checked by the engineers.
Behind the leading tank there was a squad of infantry, walking along where the track marks were. The Sergeant commanding the tank halted at Lawson’s command, and the OC clambered up behind the turret, saying to him “At this point, you’re as well putting your foot down and just going for it.” Using the radio, Lawson spoke to the Troop and told them that once they were around the crater to spread out and support the infantry up the rise to where the Italian positions had been. If someone lost a track, they would just have to deal with it. The day was getting on, and the objectives still hadn’t been achieved.
After Lawson had jumped down off the tank, 2nd Troop, with the CS tank, moved forward over the rough ground, the infantry following as closely as they could. As the four tanks spread out, and the Durham Light Infantry company moved forward, it became clear that the minefield wasn’t as deep as feared, and that it looked as if the Italian troops had withdrawn. Once more they seemed to be following this pattern. The mines to slow the British, with artillery and machine gun fire to cover the minefield. Once the British artillery could cover the engineers, then the Italians pulled back to the next position and did it all over again.
Wadi el Zerzer was little more than a dip in the desert at this point. As it moved towards the sea and joined Wadi Sofeggin it became much more of a tank trap. For C Squadron 6th Bn RTR it wasn’t the Wadi that they were worried about. It was the gunfire coming from the direction of Wadi Nfed that had forced the Royal Engineers around them to take cover.
Once more the minefields were slowing things down, and if the Italians were covering this one with artillery fire, it was obviously important. From somewhere behind them the British guns began to answer their Italian counterparts. Major John Dixon, OC C Squadron had taken a nasty piece of shrapnel in his shoulder the previous day, so Captain Mark Lawson was now in temporary command. There was only one CS Valiant I tank with the Squadron, and Lawson had ordered it forward, so that along with the smoke bombs from their mortars, the squadron could put up a half decent smoke screen fairly quickly. The wind was picking up, so keeping the screen in place would be problematical. Unless the engineers could clear a path, the tanks and infantry were going to remain stuck where they were.
There had been an air raid the previous evening as the tanks went into laager. Some Stukas had managed to get through the British fighter cover, and they’d scored a couple of lucky hits on both a petrol bowser and an ammunition lorry. The exploding ammo had kept much of the squadron and accompanying Durham Light Infantry awake and deep in their shell scrapes. The ground was very difficult to dig into, making for an uncomfortable night.
At first light the tanks and infantry had moved off, but were soon stopped when one of the tanks lost a track to a mine. That seemed to be the signal for the Italians to open up, hence the need for a smoke screen. As the smoke thickened, the Engineers moved up and took up their role once again. A Machine Gun Company were adding their indirect heavy fire to the artillery barrage to shut the Italians up and let the Engineers get on with their job.
The length of white tape marking the cleared line was extending, and a company of the DLI moved forward to try to make a bit more progress. Laws0n had ordered 2nd Troop, with the CS tank, to support the attack. The 3-inch gun in the CS tank changed from smoke to HE. Lawson wished the other three tanks could do the same, but at least their machine guns provided direct fire support to the men from around Durham.
Somewhere over to his left, another company of the DLI were trying to find a way to flank the Italian position. The radio crackled and the message was passed that this flanking movement was making progress, but needed tank support. Switching over to the Squadron’s frequency, Lawson ordered 3rd Troop to back up to the start line, then swing round to support the flanking manoeuvre.
Whether it was the artillery or the flanking move, the Italian guns had gone silent. The wind quickly blew away the remains of the smoke screen allowing the DLI and C Squadron to see the way ahead. A large crater was evident where the track had been. Lawson couldn’t figure out when it must have been made, surely an explosion that big would have been heard, even above all the other noise.
With no incoming fire, Lawson climbed down from the tank turret and hurried over to the Captain commanding the Royal Engineers. The track would need to be repaired to let the wheeled traffic pass, but Lawson wanted to see if his tanks could by-pass the crater. To be able to do that the Engineers would need to check for mines. Captain Timothy Lethbridge was bleeding from a couple of places. It wasn’t just the shrapnel from the Italian guns that was dangerous, the force of the explosions carried sand and stone at high enough speed to injure.
Lethbridge detailed a squad to take the tank officer forward and check whether the tanks would be able to move around the crater. “Careful where you step, Sir!” seemed to Lawson an unnecessary warning, but he carefully stepped in the boot print of engineers ahead of him. Two of the men proceeded with probes, while the Corporal in charge asked Lawson about the thresher tanks that had been around at the beginning of the attack. Lawson explained that the engine which spun the drum with the chains on, was a car engine. It seemed that the vibrations when a mine exploded had been too much for the engine. The Light Aid Detachment were working on replacing it, but, Lawson agreed, this would be the ideal situation for a mine clearance tank to proceed the rest of the squadron through terrain like this.
With the less than confident “We think it might be clear, Sir”, Lawson returned, still stepping in the boot prints. The Officers of the Royal Tank Regiment carried ash sticks, going back to the days of the Great War when tank commander would walk ahead of the Mark I tank checking the depth of mud. Mines were a different problem, but thinking of the probes used by the Engineers, things hadn’t changed too much. Arriving back at 2nd Troop’s position, he gave a quick briefing to the tank commanders and spoke with the senior DLI officer. Waving them forward, Lawson, once more trying to walk from boot print to boot print, guided the leading tank along the path checked by the engineers.
Behind the leading tank there was a squad of infantry, walking along where the track marks were. The Sergeant commanding the tank halted at Lawson’s command, and the OC clambered up behind the turret, saying to him “At this point, you’re as well putting your foot down and just going for it.” Using the radio, Lawson spoke to the Troop and told them that once they were around the crater to spread out and support the infantry up the rise to where the Italian positions had been. If someone lost a track, they would just have to deal with it. The day was getting on, and the objectives still hadn’t been achieved.
After Lawson had jumped down off the tank, 2nd Troop, with the CS tank, moved forward over the rough ground, the infantry following as closely as they could. As the four tanks spread out, and the Durham Light Infantry company moved forward, it became clear that the minefield wasn’t as deep as feared, and that it looked as if the Italian troops had withdrawn. Once more they seemed to be following this pattern. The mines to slow the British, with artillery and machine gun fire to cover the minefield. Once the British artillery could cover the engineers, then the Italians pulled back to the next position and did it all over again.
Uh oh the Italian's are fighting smart, trade ground for time and hope the British run out of Tanks before they run out of land. That said being much better equipped all over I don't think the attack on Pearl will see the pressure suddenly let up this time.
Donald Reaver
Donor
Giving up land for time is one thing, that was a thin minefield. How many minefields can they lay, how much covering force can they sacrifice.
All the while forcing the British to waste ammunition and burn fuel. At this point it's too late to retrieve the reputation of the Italian Army but it's a reminder that the right units under the right circumstances were as good as anyone else.