Brinkmann VS King Part IV (Chapter 5)
Lanzarote Canary Islands May 1942
The 5th battalion 9th British infantry division on the island of Lanzarote drew a damn tough assignment. They where the closest to Axis held airstrips in Morocco and Spain and where also the most likely to suffer counter invasion.
Lanzarote was a big island to defend with a lot of potential landing sites, and in reality it's defense; if it was something to be taken seriously merited a full divisions worth of troops and half a dozen artillery battalions to cover all the likely landing points
However British manpower was stretched thin, not only with the tremendous blood letting in Africa and the Middle East, but also by the daring thrusts of the Japanese against their far Eastern protectorates; so the 5th was all that could be spared for Lanzarote; 6 reinforced companies and a few batteries of AA and AT guns and a single squadron of A-12 cruiser tanks; and less than 30 artillery pieces. The allied high command under Admiral King had assumed the island's airbase would substitute for all required striking power; forgetting even that the Seawolves had rendered the base combat ineffective (littering the place with damaged bombers), thick axis standing air and naval patrols made reinforcement and fuel delivery damn near impossible.
Major Conner Owen hated spreading his force out, but such was the nature of his mission and location that he had no other choice. With just 5 reinforced companies of infantry and a small number of heavy weapons, he was compelled to put them at the likely landing places in drips and drabs. His first company along with a battery of anti tank guns was at Montana Baja at the extreme south western portion of the island. Second company was at Jameos Del Agua on the extreme north eastern end of the Island; which was closest to axis held territory. Third company was at Ariceffe with a battery of aa guns to cover the airfield. Fourth company was at Peurto Del Carmen and in reserve inland was fifth company along with the squadron of tanks and a dozen artillery pieces sat inland at San Bartolome ready to be dispatched once the main axis landings where identified
The problem was that axis dominance of the air space along with the relative lack of cover, had seen them identify all of his positions and take them into account for when the elite 1st battalion "wacht regiment" landed. Brinkmann had keyed on Puerto Del Carmen from the start, as it was a nice sized port, and the beaches around it where flat which allow for easy off loading of any transports that could beach themselves.
4th company (reinforced) with 500 men was already having a rough morning defending their port. The seawolves under Hauptannsturmfuhrer Otto Skorzeny had seized their 4 coastal guns of the six in class removing a major threat to the landing forces. Skorzeny had also seen fit to use the detailed sketches made by the 1st squad after conducting a lengthy patrol of the 4th's defensive areas to turn the British guns on their owners and light them up with 155mm fire and disturb their sleep. Corporal Cantor had set up the ground to air forward control radio and was already in touch with ME-210's which had taken up station over the island for target identification, bombing and artillery spotting. Cantor was able to relay coordinates of bunkers and machine guns pits that had been spotted the night before and the circling Messerschmidts in turn fired colored smoke rockets to identify the targets for the naval bombardment
After Skorzeny had eliminated the threat of coastal guns Prinz Eugene and the Spanish cruiser Galacia and 4 destroyers took up station just a few KM off shore. Brinkmann would have normally stationed himself and his pennant aboard the Fleet flagship KMS Admiral Tirpitz, but since the Lanzarote assault was going in first, he felt compelled to put himself aboard his old command and be in the decisive sector.
With the ME-210's and Arado 196 series D's spotting targets for him, Brinkmann opened a savage bombardment. 8 and 6 in shells obliterated scouted positions and decimated 4th companies platoons before they could even man their positions. Skorzeny and a fire team had scouted out a little flat section of beach just to the west of the port and where delighted when the wading Panzer MK 4's trailing their long exhaust hoses burst out of the sea and onto the island. The seawolf captain hopped on the back of the platoon leaders tank commanded by Feldwebel Hermann Bix who had participated during operation full moon as a member of 7th panzer. Skorzeny ordered the platoon spit into 2 2-tank battlegroups and sent 1 group to continue along road 504 to clear the way for the wacht boys and the other under Bix was to bypass Peurto Del Carmen and position themselves along road 2 which would effectively block any advances from the north that might threaten the beachhead before it consolidated.
Braving occasional machine gun fire, the wacht's 1st battalion assaulted into the port itself. Many of the British anti landing positions had been destroyed by shelling or bombing, but what few remained where stunned when Unteroffizer Goring tank battle group reached the dockyards and began systematically eliminating their positions with 75mm high velocity high explosive rounds. The elite German infantry where able to capture several slip ways and piers in tact which facilitated their offloading; of particular importance was that their heavy mortar platoon equipped with 8.8cm pieces able to get ashore in the first wave and use their lethal cargo to knock out buildings that the 4th company had turned into strong holds.
Owen got word relatively quickly that the landings had started and he ordered his other companies to leave their positions immediately and to march on Peurto Del Carmen with the hope of pushing the hun back into the drink. This was a mistake however; he should have waited till nightfall which would have reduced the effect of axis airpower (as was demonstrated during the successful evacuation of Malta) however, Owen felt, and perhaps not wrongly that he had no chance of evac, and his only chance of holding the island would be if he could disrupt the landing in its first few hours. As the British infantrymen piled into their trucks and carriers to head towards Peurto Del Carmen, their morale was viciously torn apart by over 150 axis bombers which had taken up station over the island; conducting a mix of strafing, level and dive bombing runs against them. Trucks ran off the roads as JU-88's and some of the last HE-111's to see active service hit them with fixed noses containing 4 20mm cannons which inflicted tremendous carnage; while Italian SM-79's and Italian built ME-110's plastered any assembly area they could find with incendiaries and SC50 cluster bomblets
Owen's companies where delayed by hours as both lost equipment and increasing numbers of dead and wounded seriously impeded the advance. By the time most of his men where in position to assault the Wacht had already cleared out a significant beachhead 6 miles deep and overrun Arriciffe effectively eliminating 3rd and 4th companies. What was worse was that 15 FW-190 fighters had been able to land safely on the airfield after Skorzeny and Bix and seen to tow the damaged bombers out of the way. These birds would be available to fly a strong combat air patrol in the morning and they would enhance the axis lodgement on the island. Owen gathered his remaining men and awaiting darkness since the naval bombardment had finally changed his mind about any possible daylight attack. The experienced British major knew the writing on the wall... they had one chance to push the axis into the drink, otherwise their situation would be hopeless before noon tomorrow.
to be continued...
your thoughts?
Galacia steams towards the Canaries to take them back from the British
Grossadmiral Brinkmann took command of the landing and fire support phase of the assault on Lanzarote
Panzer 4's assault through Peurto Del Carmen
German ME-210's wait to scramble on the Canaries.... again whilst not first class against enemy single engine fighters; their range, benign handling, ability to carry a variety of weapons and equipment and their rugged landing gear made them absolutely indespensible; even whilst waiting for the new and improved ME-410 to enter service
