24 November 1941. Libya. Operation Crusader Day 23
The Italian Army had planned to send an Expeditionary Corps to support Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The losses in East and North Africa had left Mussolini’s military advisors arguing that Libya needed to be reinforced rather than sending ill-equipped troops to Russia. With a great deal of reluctance, Mussolini agreed, and despite the losses in shipping across the Mediterranean, most of the men two Divisions (50th Regina, 52nd Torino Infantry Divisions) arrived to reinforce the remaining Italian troops. Not all their heavy equipment had arrived, and very little fuel had made it through the British blockade.
When the new troops arrived, they had been immediately placed in the defensive line stretching from Homs on the coast to Tarhuna inland. The remains of the German Afrika Corps, based around Tarhuna, provided the only mobile force on that flank. The 25th Bologna Division was dug in around Homs, while the two newly arrived Divisions were spread out over the very long front. The Border Guard units that had previously faced west against the French in Tunisia had been stripped and sent east to bolster the line that had to protect Tripoli. The Blackshirts’ 1st and 2nd Libyan Legions were also part of the defensive line, and the Italian army units on either side of them looked on their flanks with dismay.
The men who had arrived in Libya immediately picked up the sense of defeatism that had infected Libyan High Command. General Ettore Bastico, Commander-in-Chief North Africa was still trying to exude confidence, but without any real hope. Desertions were mounting, especially among the Libyan troops, and large numbers of Italian families that had come to Libya to colonise it were desperate for any places on ships bound for Italy, despite the danger of the crossing.
The remaining German forces had been informed that they could expect no more reinforcements, even if it were possible to send them over the Mediterranean. It was clear to Berlin that there would be no point throwing good money after bad. Plans to send an infantry Division to join the remainder of 5th Light and 15th Panzer Divisions had been cancelled. The needs of Operation Barbarossa now took precedence over everything else. To confirm just how serious this was, the Luftwaffe contingent in North Africa had been ordered to fly their remaining aircraft to Sicily. The ground contingent were to move to Tripoli and use whatever ships they could commandeer to follow the aircraft back to Europe.
The possibility of withdrawing all German units from North Africa had been debated in Berlin. Some specialists were flown out in a series of secret flights, people whose skills would be difficult to replace. The wounded were also airlifted out. The senior German General, Johann von Ravenstein, commanded the newly formed 21st Panzer Division, a name that was somewhat ironic. The survivors of 5th Light Division and 15th Panzer Division together weren’t even as strong as a Light Division. 21st Panzer Division was made up of just over one Battalion of Panzers, with only a handful of Panzer IVs and twenty Panzer IIIs, the rest made up of Panzer IIs. The Infantry Regiment, while officially still with three battalions, was under strength, and many replacements had been scoured from ancillary units. The one strength was the Reconnaissance Battalion, which had two armoured car companies, instead of one, and the motorcycle Reconnaissance Company had an extra platoon.
Von Ravenstein and his senior officers had met to look at what to do in the event of an Italian collapse, or rather, when there was an Italian collapse. The extra motorcycle Reconnaissance platoon had been detached to scout a route that any surviving German forces would take towards the Tunisian border.
General Weygrand, the French Governor of Algeria, and Commander in Chief of French North Africa, had increased the French colonial army in North Africa from 30,000 to 180,000 men, not all, but many were fully equipped with tanks, machine guns, trucks, and artillery. He had plans to increase the army further by raising a large number of Senegalese troops. When informed of this through channels, Hitler had been pressurising Petain to stop the plan, preferably by demoting Weygrand and bringing him back to Metropolitan France. In the light of what was happening to the Italians in Libya, the Vichy officials had been slow to follow Berlin’s demand. Notification had reached Weygrand of his impending change of circumstances, but as yet the order to return had not yet been issued.
Von Ravenstein expected that should the German troops arrive at the Tunisian border, pressure from Berlin on Vichy would be enough to make sure that they were treated with honour and sent home. No one in the German command structure was quite sure what to expect, but having a plan to extricate themselves from the Italian incompetence and failure was a relief. This was particularly the case due to increasing pressure coming from the direction of Beni Ulid.
Initially it was believed that this was just a British flank guard, but the reconnaissance battalion had managed to capture a few prisoners, who turned out to be from 4th Indian Division. This indicated that another British force was aiming for Tarhuna. The storm of the past few days had diminished, leaving many wadis still flowing with water, and some ground waterlogged. The fact that the Indians were still approaching in these conditions gave Von Ravenstein grave concerns.
Having spoken to General Bastico, Von Ravenstein who had one of the Blackshirt Legions immediately on his flank, ordered his Division to stand ready. He had requested permission from Bastico to make a spoiling attack on the Indians, which had been refused. His Reconnaissance Battalion was making every effort to impede the Indian advance, but the German troops were finding that the Indians were moving slowly and steadily, and were obviously well trained and experienced. Almost no aerial reconnaissance had been flown, so one element of the Reconnaissance Battalion had taken a long detour to get around the side of the Indians to see what, if anything, was following on behind them. Their last radio signal before they went off the air, was that there was a British panzer Division moving up the road towards Tarhuna.
