Sir John Valentine Carden Survives. Part 2.
- Thread starter allanpcameron
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3 November 1941. Libya. Operation Crusader, Day 2.
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3 November 1941. Libya. Operation Crusader, Day 2.
The progress made the day before, continued with little interference from Italian forces. The LRDG had noted that there was a defensive line based on Wadi Sofeggin. This was expected to be the main line of resistance on the road to Misrata.
6th Division continued towards their two objectives. 22nd (Guards) Brigade and 6th Bn RTR pushed forward from the abandoned airstrip heading towards Sedada, where another airstrip had been identified. 3 Bn Coldstream Guards led the way, with 1 DLI protecting their flank to the south. The Scots Guards followed on, less one Company, which was securing the area covered the previous day.
On the main coast road, 23rd Brigade, supported by 41 RTR, had taken over the push northwards. 1st Battalion the Buffs [1 Buffs] were working on the right flank between the coast road and the coast itself. 2nd Kings Own Royal Regiment [2KRR] took the lead up the main road with B Squadron of 41 RTR. Their day’s objective was marked on the maps as the landing ground at B. el-Churgia and the hamlet of el-Hescia. Because of the growing gap between 22nd (Guards) Brigade and 23rd Brigade, Major General Evetts had ordered 16th Brigade to hold their positions in the morning, and then to follow the track that ran to the left of the road to prevent any gap between the Brigades being exploited by the enemy.
On the coast itself, the infantry of 7th Support Group were pushing northwards to keep pace with 16th and 23rd Brigade, securing the right flank of the advance. This unit had the support of elements of the Royal Navy’s Inshore Squadron. This had been kept to a minimum to try to help the RAF concentrate on protecting the army’s main thrust.
The rest of XIII Corps, 7th Armoured Brigade with 50th (Northumberland) Division, were moving up to the starting positions of 6th Infantry Division and 4th Armoured Brigade. GOC XIII Corps, Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen, from his experience in East Africa, wanted the advance to be slow and steady. Once 6th Division had secured the area south of the expected line of resistance, then the fresh Infantry Division and Armoured Brigade would smash through it. It would still be another week before XXX Corp, currently at Sirte, would be fully ready to proceed with their part in the operation. General O'Connor, GOC 8th Army, wanted to keep the Italians and Germans eyes fixed on what was happening in front of them, for as long as possible.
The progress made the day before, continued with little interference from Italian forces. The LRDG had noted that there was a defensive line based on Wadi Sofeggin. This was expected to be the main line of resistance on the road to Misrata.
6th Division continued towards their two objectives. 22nd (Guards) Brigade and 6th Bn RTR pushed forward from the abandoned airstrip heading towards Sedada, where another airstrip had been identified. 3 Bn Coldstream Guards led the way, with 1 DLI protecting their flank to the south. The Scots Guards followed on, less one Company, which was securing the area covered the previous day.
On the main coast road, 23rd Brigade, supported by 41 RTR, had taken over the push northwards. 1st Battalion the Buffs [1 Buffs] were working on the right flank between the coast road and the coast itself. 2nd Kings Own Royal Regiment [2KRR] took the lead up the main road with B Squadron of 41 RTR. Their day’s objective was marked on the maps as the landing ground at B. el-Churgia and the hamlet of el-Hescia. Because of the growing gap between 22nd (Guards) Brigade and 23rd Brigade, Major General Evetts had ordered 16th Brigade to hold their positions in the morning, and then to follow the track that ran to the left of the road to prevent any gap between the Brigades being exploited by the enemy.
On the coast itself, the infantry of 7th Support Group were pushing northwards to keep pace with 16th and 23rd Brigade, securing the right flank of the advance. This unit had the support of elements of the Royal Navy’s Inshore Squadron. This had been kept to a minimum to try to help the RAF concentrate on protecting the army’s main thrust.
The rest of XIII Corps, 7th Armoured Brigade with 50th (Northumberland) Division, were moving up to the starting positions of 6th Infantry Division and 4th Armoured Brigade. GOC XIII Corps, Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen, from his experience in East Africa, wanted the advance to be slow and steady. Once 6th Division had secured the area south of the expected line of resistance, then the fresh Infantry Division and Armoured Brigade would smash through it. It would still be another week before XXX Corp, currently at Sirte, would be fully ready to proceed with their part in the operation. General O'Connor, GOC 8th Army, wanted to keep the Italians and Germans eyes fixed on what was happening in front of them, for as long as possible.
My guess would be a flanking manoeuvre of some sort, possibly a fast drive to the Tunisian border.
I do have a couple of tangential questions, how far has the railway gotten by this point? And are there plans to extend it a the way to Tripoli (one that's secure)?
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That seemed to be the way things went in OTL a pinning attack then a flanking manoeuvre South into the desert, until Montgomery reversed things at El Alamein.
How cunning. Do everything the same way it's been done before in a dozen earlier battles. They'll never expect that.
Maybe, though from the description, this will be less a tactical flanking manoeuvre as O'Connor pulled the last time, and more a strategic one, as he pulled during Compass, driving across the desert to Brega, putting him in the Italian rear.
At least, that's my reading of it.
Being entirely fair, there isn't really any other tactics viable in the terrain other than a head on assault and even if they're expecting an attempt at a flanking it'll still most likely be more successful and less bloody than just "Advance towards the enemy" in a parody of WW1.
So after only "Left" hooks, whey not go for a "Right " hook. That would caught the Italians and Germans by surprise. A landing behind their lines would not be something that would be included in their plans or preparations.
We don't know how far out the left 'hook' is going. They might be looking to hit Tripoli from the south, rather than the east, or they might be aiming to bypass Tripoli altogether, and cut the Tripoli-Tunisia road near the Tunisian border.
And we recollect that, unlike Arnhem in Market Garden the counter attacks were unsuccessful.
Which I take it is the point.
My father knew him in Palestine and called him mad, as in actually insane. Not just ‘different’.
Britain does seem to collect them. Him, "Mad Jack" Churchill, Percy Hobart, etc.
Quite. I originally thought about Anxio, but there the naval fire support was much lighter.
Well, he was an Officer and born to a military family, so he was eccentric. 'Lunatics' is for the lower orders.
These were ‘different’ but Wingate was questionably medically certifiable.