Sir John Valentine Carden survives.

[Icedaemon]

By 11:00hrs 12 December, strong detachments of the 4th Armoured Brigade, had patrolled the main coast road finding numbers of Italian troops in Fort Capuzzo, Sollum, Sidi Suleiman, and Halfaya. O’Connor knew that Sollum would be needed to be one of the places where some of the shipping that had extra supplies could be unload. So, he ordered that this should be attacked as a matter of priority. The 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, equipped with Valiant Mark I* were given the task, supported by 11th Indian Brigade, backed up by the artillery of 4th Indian Division.

A frontal attack was always going to be difficult, and without being able to get through the Halfaya pass, there was no way round the flanks. The Royal Navy had pounded Sollum during the previous night, so that when the Valiant tanks approached at 15:00hrs, after a barrage from the 4th Indian Division’s artillery, the Italian force began to melt away back towards Bardia. A minefield slowed the progress of the tanks, but with the support of the 1/6th Rajputana Rifles they managed to put the Italians on the run. Here the speed of the Valiant I* came into its own, with the Cameron Highlanders in lorries accompanying them, they chased the retreating Italians along the road towards Fort Capuzzo. However, the light was fading and the weather continued to be appalling.

The inclination of the armoured regiment was to go into laager at night, but if they did so, the Italians would reach safety and have to be dealt with later. So, they kept going, machine gunning and firing their main guns at the Italian trucks whenever they could. Very quickly they came within range of the Italian artillery at Fort Capuzzo, which meant they stopped to regroup, resupply and hold the road. To go up against the Italian forces at Fort Capuzzo, they would need the artillery to catch up with them. Because of a communication breakdown, this took much longer to achieve than they’d hoped. Most of 13 December was wasted while 4th Armoured Brigade, 11th Indian Brigade and 4th Division troops sorted themselves out. They had been caught out by the speed of the Italian retreat, and were struggling to get their own re-supply forward, especially ammunition for the artillery.

Given the losses in manpower and materiel, the Italians second line will be that much weaker. Logically, that will also make any future battles somewhat easier. I take it the POWs are mostly heading to India in the short term?

Now with a twin stick

That's a lot of movement which one needs to perform via muscle memory, or at least without looking much. Given how in modern times there's an increasing number of people who can't drive a manual gearbox, it does seem likely that the Brits need to make sure they have experienced drivers on the trucks for which they have few spares.

 

[Rickshaw]

Tobruk when it was captured had hordes of Italian supplies and loads of water in underground cisterns. It's capture was rather reflected when Rommel captured it in 1942. It was sufficient for his army advance to continue beyond there to the Egyptian frontier and eventually el Alamein. The British found they were in possession of a treasure trove of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition, tens of thousands of meal equivalents (if they liked Pasta dishes) and thousands and thousands of litres of water.

 

[allanpcameron]

Operation Compass, Part 4.

19-25 December 1940. Bardia, Egypt.

Major-General Mackay having been given command of the assault on Bardia and had spent time bringing up and siting all the artillery that O’Connor had attached to him. The Australian Division’s own artillery regiments weren’t at full strength, and some were even still equipped with old Great War era weapons. O’Connor made sure that nearly all the Western Desert Force’s artillery was assigned to Mackay, even the Medium Regiment that General Beresford-Peirse had attempted to take along with his 4th Indian Division. In addition, everything that could be scrounged for an attack on a prepared position was found and distributed between the men. Italian wire cutters, tape for guiding units into position, extra picks and shovels, were all put in the hands of the troops. In planning for the assault, Great War expenditure of artillery shells was planned for, each gun needing 500 shells on hand, and enormous task for the already over-stretched RASC units.

A map of the defences of Bardia had been captured in Sidi Barani, and night patrols had confirmed some of the details, giving it a degree of legitimacy. The size of the garrison was difficult to estimate, but Mackay knew the defensive line, in the form of an arc, was eighteen miles in length round harbour and town of Bardia. There was an almost continuous anti-tank ditch, behind which was a double line of underground posts, linked by rows of barbed wire. The posts were generally about 800 yards apart and each was protected by its own anti-tank trench. The posts were generally armed with one or two 47-mm guns and from two to four machine-guns. Four hundred yards behind the forward line lay a second arc of posts, similar to the first, but lacking an anti-tank trench and sometimes without wire.

From the plan it was noted that posts were numbered consecutively from south to north, odd numbers for the outer posts and even numbers for the inner, and the numbers were marked on the maps and, as the patrols discovered, on the posts themselves. Within the perimeter aerial photography revealed a considerable array of artillery, estimated at 110 guns, and some long stone breastworks. Each flank of the line lay on the inner bank of one of the steep-sided wadis carved into the cliffs which would be impossible to assault. Everywhere else the posts were in flat, almost featureless ground offering little cover to an attacker, and few landmarks.

Various version of plans for assaulting Bardia were investigated and discarded. What became clear in the exercises in the desert between the Australian infantry and the Infantry Tanks of 7th Army Tank Brigade, was that they were the most valuable asset. If the tank ditch and mines could be dealt with, then, as shown in the first phase of Operation Compass, letting the tanks loose inside the Italian camp, with infantry support would be almost impossible to resist. The Tank Brigade became aware that they could really do with having some kind of specialised vehicles. The job of clearing mines was crucial to the tanks, relying on the engineers, who had no protection was something that should be looked at. Having some tanks equipped with bull-dozers to level out the anti-tank ditches, perhaps even tanks carrying bridges, would be useful. Some of these had been experimented with, but since none of these things were actually available, it was clear that the engineers would need to clear mines and create pathways in and out of the anti-tank ditches.

For this the engineers would need the cover of an artillery barrage and probably smoke. None of the Battalions of Infantry Tanks had any close support tanks, and so General Creagh, now returned from hospital and back in charge of 7th Armoured Division was approached to see if he would lend his Close Support tanks to the endeavour. The advantage of being based in the Middle East was that the 3.7-inch mountain howitzer was a common enough gun, and so ammunition for the tank mortars in that calibre included a good HE round as well as the smoke round for which they were designed to fire. Creagh agreed, but noted that the armour of the A9 and A10s was vulnerable to Italian anti-tank guns, so requested they be protected as much as possible. Each of the six Armoured Regiment had six CS tanks so 7th Army Tank Brigade added twelve each A9, A10 and Valiant I* Close Support tanks to their number, spreading them out among the three Battalions.

With a plan now in place one more full rehearsal took place starting on the night of 20/21 December and continuing much of that day. While the lessons were being studied, the men and machines were given a day to recover. During the rehearsals it had been noted that the best assault formation was for each Infantry Company to accompany a Troop of three tanks, in effect, giving each platoon a tank in support. A Squadron of tanks had been assigned to each Battalion and the units had trained together and now would fight together. The attack was timed to begin in the early hours of 23 December, with the hope that the whole attack would be mostly completed on 24 December, Christmas Eve. If they were still fighting on Christmas Day, it would be because the Italians were putting up a better fight than they had done so far.

The opening salvo of the assault on Bardia was courtesy of the Royal Navy. The inshore squadron comprising of HMS Barham and Terror, with other gunboats, had been reinforced by HMS Warspite, Valiant, Illustrious, Gloucester, York, and eleven destroyers, on their way back to Alexandria from Malta. The majority of the shells were concentrated on the northern section of Bardia’s defences. The RAF, who’d been bombing the area constantly for over a week had been concentrating on the southern section, but the 15-inch guns of three battleships and a monitor with the Cruisers and destroyers adding their own weight of fire, concentrated the minds of the Italians. Swordfish from HMS Illustrious also bombed targets of opportunity.

When the artillery of the Western Desert Force added their voice to that of the Royal Navy’s, while it lacked in heavy shells, it was still more than enough for the Italian defenders to cling to the bottom of their dug-outs. The 2/1st Battalion, 16th Australian Brigade lead the attack, focussing on the area between posts 45 and 47. While some troops rolled up the first line of odd numbered posts, others went to suppress the even numbered, second line of posts. Meanwhile the attached engineers worked to clear the wire with bangalore torpedoes, clear safe passages through the minefields, and then, with the help of Pioneers to create ramps for the tanks to cross the main anti-tank ditch.

With smoke shells from the artillery and Close Support tanks adding to the confusion, much of this work was done before the Italians could respond. The engineers had broken down the sides of the ditch on each side of Post 47 and made six crossings for the tanks and trucks at 60-to-100-yard intervals. They had also discovered and marked the mines between the crossings and the wire. Within five minutes the first two crossings were ready, and at 06.35hrs in the half-light, B Squadron 40th Battalion RTR, 14 Valiant Infantry Tanks and two Close Support Valiant I*, who went to the aid of the 2/1st Battalion, now pushing north, continuing to roll up the flank of the Italian defenders, and prepared to throw up a flank against any Italian counter-attack.

A Squadron and 2/2nd Battalion moved through the gap in the wire and ditch at the heels of B Squadron and began to roll up the defensive posts to the south-east, widening the gap further and soon were on the line of the Bardia-Capuzzo road.

By the time 2/3rd Battalion arrived, with the tanks of C Squadron, the engineers and pioneers had extended the crossing points allowing the second wave to move forward more quickly. These moved down the incline in the direction of Bardia itself, advancing two miles in the company of the 6th Division’s cavalry squadron in Bren carriers. An Italian counter-attack by six Italian medium tanks was stopped in its tracks as the 2-pdrs on the Valiant tanks pierced them easily, with no reply.

With 16th Australian Brigade and 40th Bn RTR now fully engaged, some 1800 men and almost seventy tanks, they found Italian resistance to be patchy. Some posts and sangers of Italian gunners put up a stiff resistance and would only be overcome by heavy fire and at the point of the bayonet. Other positions showed white flags with barely a shot being fired in their direction. By 08.30hrs the 16th Australian Infantry Brigade had occupied practically all its objectives, and had captured about 8,000 prisoners for very few losses.

The second phase got underway as planned at 11:30hrs. 17th Australian Infantry Brigade, with the support of 44th Bn RTR, moved forward, and came under accurate artillery fire. The 2/5th Battalion lost its commanding officer, but with the tanks of A Squadron and twelve A10 Close Support tanks attached, the Battalion rallied, and began to find some of the same success as their comrades had done in the early morning. By 13:00hrs, now with 2/6th Battalion supporting, they had reached the ‘switch’ line, where Italian resistance seemed more coordinated.

Having had some time to regroup, 16th Australian Brigade and 40th Bn RTR got underway again. The 2/2nd Battalion made more progress straight towards Bardia, while the 2/3rd Battalion moved towards the Bardia-Tobruk road. Thousands of prisoners once more were taken, and so surprised was the enemy by the speed of the assault that the Australians were able to capture the water supply plant and the harbour facilities intact. By late-afternoon the only Italians still holding out were those in the extreme north and south. In the north, after being subjected to such a lengthy bombardment from the 15-inch guns of the battleships, when the infantry of the 7th Support Group made a breech in the wire, they found the Italians surrendering wholesale. In the south, the 2/7th Battalion, who were still fresh, with C Squadron and the A10 Close Support tanks firing almost at point-blank range, the 17th Australian Brigade were finally able to penetrate the artillery area, and as their supporting fire died off, the Italian infantry gave up.

In a single day 6th Australian Division had won a most comprehensive victory. The Italians lost over 40,000 officers and men, killed and captured; more than 400 guns; 13 medium and 117 light tanks—many of them serviceable; several hundred motor vehicles, and many documents of immediate value. The Corps Commander, General Bergonzoli, somehow had managed to escape.

The Australians had suffered 256 casualties, killed and injured. The 'I' tanks had been invaluable, though they were by no means invulnerable. Some were stopped by mines, and others had their turrets jammed by direct hits from shells. Of 140 tanks which had taken part in the assault ten were out of action but were repairable easily. Sixteen would need to be repaired at a workshop, including four which had mechanical failures. Almost every Valiant tank had some scarring from shells that failed to penetrate, some had external stowage bins shot away. Six tank commanders were killed because there was no way to communicate with the infantry except by sticking their heads out of the turret. One A10 Close Support tank was penetrated by a 47mm anti-tank gun and destroyed; its crew killed.

Christmas Eve was spent clearing up the battlefield, burying the dead, organising the prisoners and generally getting sorted out. The medical units from both armies worked together to care for the wounded. For all the advantages of the captured material, having 40000 extra mouths to feed and water, as at Sidi Barrani put an enormous strain on the Australians and their supply chain. An urgent request was sent to the Royal Navy asking that they take on board as many of the Italian prisoners as possible. Since the British ships were returning to Alexandria, taking thousands of POWs by sea would free up a great deal of land based resources. The Navy responded and took off five thousand prisoners from Sidi Barrani over the next twenty-four hours, as well as many of the seriously injured Australians and Italians who were carried back to hospitals in the Delta.

At midnight, with General Mackay’s approval, Padres offered Watchnight Services or Midnight Mass. While some attended, many of the men of 6th Australian Division simply slept, exhausted and relieved.

NB Text in italic differs from OTL. The map is OTL, but the attack follows the same plan. The main differences are able to happen because, the 6th Australian Division was prepared earlier to take over from the Indian 4th Division. The preparations for Compass are greater than the planned OTL five day raid. The presence of more tanks. When the battle of Bardia took place 7th RTR provided less than 30 tanks. Here there are three times that number, so I am guessing that increases the chance of success by a factor of three, meaning the assault takes one day instead of three. I am aware that there's a lot of conjecture and hand-wavium here present, but I hope it isn't too unbelievable.

 

[pedmore1202]

Operation Compass, Part 4.

19-25 December 1940. Bardia, Egypt.
Having had some time to regroup, 16th Australian Brigade and 40th Bn RTR got underway again. The 2/2nd Battalion made more progress straight towards Bardia, while the 2/3rd Battalion moved towards the Bardia-Tobruk road. Thousands of prisoners once more were taken, and so surprised was the enemy by the speed of the assault that the Australians were able to capture the water supply plant and the harbour facilities intact. By late-afternoon the only Italians still holding out were those in the extreme north and south. In the north, after being subjected to such a lengthy bombardment from the 15-inch guns of the battleships, when the infantry of the 7th Support Group made a breech in the wire, they found the Italians surrendering wholesale. In the south, the 2/7th Battalion, who were still fresh, with C Squadron and the A10 Close Support tanks firing almost at point-blank range, the 17th Australian Brigade were finally able to penetrate the artillery area, and as their supporting fire died off, the Italian infantry gave up.

Well, that's good. I don't know how much material could be moved through the port, but as mentioned by others, even a couple of hundred tons a day would free up so many trucks, and correspondingly reduce the wear and tear on them.

And the water plant as well, means they don't have to worry about shipping as much water overland from Egypt, again requiring less trucks etc

 

[kelgar04]

Well we have pushed into Libya now if memory serves Bardia is mainly accessible by small craft.

 

[MarcH]

Another fantastic update, and in my mind an entirely believable series of events.

A lot happened there, where do I begin.
Well firstly the whole thing is over 12 days ahead of where we were OTL. That alone is a big change and really speeds things up. Also being over in only one day instead of three is a big boost to the British. That is two less days of ammo expenditure, two less days of tanks using fuel at combat levels, two less days of troops needing to be supplied under combat conditions. That all adds up and reduces the comparative logistical burden over OTL.

Secondly

Thousands of prisoners once more were taken, and so surprised was the enemy by the speed of the assault that the Australians were able to capture the water supply plant and the harbour facilities intact.

That is a big sentence. The ability to start dropping supplies, even a limited amount that much closer to the front reduces the logistical burden, as does the capture of the Water. Even if the water is only used to supply the garrison and workers at Bardia it is one less place, and a lot fewer mouths that need a water supply.

Third

In a single day 6th Australian Division had won a most comprehensive victory. The Italians lost over 40,000 officers and men, killed and captured; more than 400 guns; 13 medium and 117 light tanks—many of them serviceable; several hundred motor vehicles, and many documents of immediate value.

Logistics, Logistics, Logistics. The motor Vehicles are the most important capture here. Well the Trucks among them are. The intelligence is nice but may well soon be out of date as the Italians make some "Strategic retreats"

Fourth

The 'I' tanks had been invaluable, though they were by no means invulnerable. Some were stopped by mines, and others had their turrets jammed by direct hits from shells. Of 140 tanks which had taken part in the assault ten were out of action but were repairable easily. Sixteen would need to be repaired at a workshop, including four which had mechanical failures. Almost every Valiant tank had some scarring from shells that failed to penetrate, some had external stowage bins shot away.

Having 114 tanks serviceable (if my math/reading is correct) and ready to go into action is a big boost to the WDF at this stage this close to the next major objective, Tobruk. The Valiant's being basically untouched except for some scarring will really get tongues wagging about those tanks. All the Crews will want to be in them and all the Officers will want them in their forces, having a tank the enemy can't stop is a big advantage to an attack.
It is also worth pointing out Tobruk is 5-6 hours away from Bardia at 15mph, a speed the tanks can all make easily with little fear of Breakdown or excessive ware.

Fifth

An urgent request was sent to the Royal Navy asking that they take on board as many of the Italian prisoners as possible. Since the British ships were returning to Alexandria, taking thousands of POWs by sea would free up a great deal of land based resources. The Navy responded and took off five thousand prisoners from Sidi Barrani over the next twenty-four hours, as well as many of the seriously injured Australians and Italians who were carried back to hospitals in the Delta.

This is important, it reduces a lot of the strain the WDF would have faced dealing with all those prisoners and wounded while trying to continue the advance. It may actually be a better idea to keep all the Prisoners around Bardia and just ship them out rather than trying to march them back. Yes loading some into returning trucks may be worth it but if the Navy can organise shipping them all out fairly quickly it unclogs the roads quite a bit and allows supplies forward easier.

Sixth

In a single day 6th Australian Division had won a most comprehensive victory.

Go Australia. I doubt this will be the last ITTL.

Finally

Here there are three times that number, so I am guessing that increases the chance of success by a factor of three, meaning the assault takes one day instead of three.

id argue that force multiplication is an exponential rather than linier increase in strength, particularly when it comes to tanks. More big scary things to draw fire that could be aimed at the PBI, more guns able to deal with bunkers and strong points. With the CS tanks, particularly here, more smoke to cover advances or blind guns and more HE to blow things up. Just my opinion though.


All in all a great update, really shows the progress Britain and the Commonwealth has been able to make with only a few small changes.

 

[alfredtuomi]

Well we have pushed into Libya now if memory serves Bardia is mainly accessible by small craft.

so the nile barges get repurposed.

 

[kelgar04]

so the nile barges get repurposed.

Don't know what the depths are like maybe the Royal Engineers could run something out like a pontoon pier so maybe destroyers and light craft can dock?

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Well we have pushed into Libya now if memory serves Bardia is mainly accessible by small craft.

Time to round up any surviving X lighters that are kicking about the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

[alfredtuomi]

Don't know what the depths are like maybe the Royal Engineers could run something out like a pontoon pier so maybe destroyers and light craft can dock?

if it's a port then atleast small coasters should fit.Think this was done in OTL .Even a tiny ship carries an awful lot of truck loads.

 

[alfredtuomi]

Google maps shows a beach and a tiny harbour that currently has a dock.Any landing craft or even running a barge aground and using it to transfer from small coasters is better than trucks.

 

[MattII]

Oh wow, I guessed Bardia would fall before New Years, but I hadn't considered it might happen before Christmas. My guess is Tobruk is coming fairly soon too.

 

[kelgar04]

if it's a port then atleast small coasters should fit.Think this was done in OTL .Even a tiny ship carries an awful lot of truck loads.

It does though I think its mainly a beach area little in the way of a pier.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

 

[dave_r_gilbert]

Just looking at battle of tobruk on wikipedia (yes, I know).
States that by then the supplies captured at sollum and capuzzo had been used up.
And that supplies through the port of sollum were running at 350 long tons per day in early january, and 500 long tons later in the month.
No mention of Bardia.

 

[MattII]

Just looking at battle of tobruk on wikipedia (yes, I know).
States that by then the supplies captured at sollum and capuzzo had been used up.
And that supplies through the port of sollum were running at 350 long tons per day in early january, and 500 long tons later in the month.
No mention of Bardia.

Well here, they'll probably still have some of those supplies from Sollum and Capuzzo, which will be easier than pulling supplies all the way from Marsa Matruh or the delta.

 

[alfredtuomi]

Just looking at battle of tobruk on wikipedia (yes, I know).
States that by then the supplies captured at sollum and capuzzo had been used up.
And that supplies through the port of sollum were running at 350 long tons per day in early january, and 500 long tons later in the month.
No mention of Bardia.

At 3 tons per truck that a saving of over 100 truck loads a day from the Nile.nothing to sneeze at.

 

[alfredtuomi]

This clip seems to indicate casualties being loaded aboard a ship alongside a dock and from google maps Bardia's harbor is bigger than Sollum's then one should get at least as much supply from Bardia.Assuming shipping is available.

 

[alfredtuomi]

now all we need once the rest of the Italian army is in the bag and forces are transferred to Greece is for O'conner/Wavell to follow the same plan as they did when the Italians first invaded Egypt.Fall back to a more easily supplied/defended position and wait.Of course leaving many eyes in the desert to watch.

 

[allanpcameron]

This clip seems to indicate casualties being loaded aboard a ship alongside a dock and from google maps Bardia's harbor is bigger than Sollum's then one should get at least as much supply from Bardia.Assuming shipping is available.

The next update will explain the problem, but HMS Aphis has a lot to do with it:
"Accordingly H.M.S. Terror, having replenished after bombarding Maktila, began on the 14th to engage targets systematically in the defended area of Bardia, and continued to do so for the next three days. On one night she was unsuccessfully attacked by a M.T.B., and by torpedo-bombers on another. At dawn on the 17th she supported an impertinent adventure by the Aphis, which entered Bardia harbour and remained inside for an hour while she engaged targets at point blank range. The Terror remarked that the volumes of black smoke rolling out of the harbour entrance indicated that the Aphis 'was having a good time'.1 An attempt to repeat the exploit next day found the Italians on the alert, and the gunboat was pursued along the coast with fire from mobile artillery, her withdrawal being covered by the Terror."
Official History