Authors: John Schettler
“So you want another Bir el Khamsa?”
“Well, we won’t ask you to do all the heavy lifting. Tiger Convoy finally got round the cape with 500 new tanks. Lord knows, if they were Challenger IIs like those you have, this war would end soon enough. But no, I’m afraid we’ll have to make do with our Matildas, and some new cruiser tanks we’re calling Crusaders. My thinking was this—to place your force in reserve. You are presently billeted here south of the old rail head near Mersa Matruh, but I propose to move your force to Sidi Omar on the Egyptian border.”
“I see… And then what?”
“Stand as 8th Army reserve. We’re arranging to get your two battalions back from Syria by rail, just as we sent them there. You should have them in hand in seven to ten days time. In the meantime, might you be so kind as to move your current force to Sidi Omar?”
Kinlan smiled. “General, you give the sweetest orders I’ve ever heard. You know damn well that I’ll move my troops anywhere you need them. But I appreciate the light hand here. As you know, we have considerations beyond the military to think of.”
“Ah, yes, the secrecy bit. We’ve certainly done our best, but it’s fair to say the Germans know about you, don’t they. What they may be planning to do about it is anyone’s guess. Rommel took one hell of a beating at Bir el Khamsa, but yet here he comes again.”
So it was decided, and Kinlan was getting his troops into a march column ready to send them west. He would move up the road through Bir Sheferzan to Sidi Omar, and await the arrival of his heavy infantry battalions from Syria. O’Connor had hoped Rommel would take some time sorting out his units once they made contact with the British defensive line, but he rested no more than 24 hours before beginning his attack.
The Italians opened the action at Tobruk, along the coastal road leading back to Derna. There they threw three infantry divisions at the British positions along Wadi Sehel. The new British commander, General Montgomery, had posted the 20th Brigade of the 9th Australian Division, in a line of 18 defensive strong points between the ragged coast and the main road to Tobruk. South of the road, the 24th Brigade extended the defense to a high point known as hill 209. It had once been outside the perimeter defense plan, but when Monty took over he immediately ordered the defensive works moved forward so that hill could be occupied by British troops.
“I’ll be damned if I’ll let them get up there and machine gun the hell out of us,” said Montgomery. “No. Get your engineers to work at once. That hill will anchor the southern line of our perimeter.”
South and east of hill 209, the line dog legged to run parallel to the coast. There Monty placed the last brigade in the 9th Australian Division, and then posted its sister division, the 6th, south between the Tobruk perimeter and covering the big aerodrome at El Adem. He then had one last division in his corps, the 2nd New Zealanders, and it was his inclination to hold it as a reserve behind the Australians. But O’Connor had argued that the line should extend further south of El Adem, where a substantial wadi ran in a wide arc.
“I’ll want to position my armor south of the bend of that wadi,” said O’Connor. “It’s a good anti-tank obstacle, and a perfect defensive position for infantry. My guess is that Rommel will have to send his own armor either north or south of that feature. If he comes north, I’ll leave you a brigade of Matildas and the Carpathian Brigade as your reserve. If he comes south, I’ll have 2nd and 7th Armor there to handle things.”
“Very well, general, but I must give you my opinion that it will need three divisions to adequately hold Tobruk and El Adem.”
“Don’t worry,” said O’Connor. “If the Carpathians aren’t enough for you, I’ve made arrangements to move a reserve to Sidi Omar.”
“Sidi Omar? That’s too far south and too far east. You should post it at Gambut if I’m to make any use of it.”
“Well it is my hope that you will not need to do so, General.” O’Connor gave him a thin smile.
“If wishes were horses,” said Montgomery, folding his arms.
“Yes,” said O’Connor, “beggars would ride. I’m not trying to unhinge your defensive plan, General Montgomery, but do post the 2nd New Zealand as I advise here. I’ll need them as a shield if I’m to be able to use my armor effectively as a sword. It’s my assessment that Rommel will attempt a wide envelopment south of El Adem. I plan to meet him there with my own 7th Armored, but I’ll need you to hold all the ground to my north. You’re an infantry commander, and new to fighting in this desert. Things have a way of getting rather dicey out here on short notice. But rest assured, we’ll have adequate reserves.”
So it was that the 2nd New Zealand Division was placed south of El Adem, over Montgomery’s objections, and the wiry General steamed about it for some time after. Their plans had considered Rommel’s most likely choices for an attack south of Tobruk. What O’Connor did not expect, however, is that Rommel’s main effort would not be a deep southern envelopment around that wadi, but a concerted effort to punch through the defensive fortress to get to his main objective.
Tobruk had foiled Rommel’s drive into Egypt during his first offensive, and his plan now was to reduce it while fending off the British reserves with his own mobile divisions. Rightfully called ‘the Verdun of the desert,’ Tobruk could prove to be a difficult task, or so he believed. The British had some time to prepare the perimeter defenses, though the infantry occupying them had only just arrived after being withdrawn from defensive positions in the Jebel country. Rommel’s plan was to soften the outer shell by first using the Italian infantry divisions. He did not expect they would be able to actually break through, but they would force enemy defensive artillery fires, and possibly pull in reserve units within the fortress to the more threatened sector on the coast.
Behind this screen of four Italian infantry divisions, Rommel’s real shock troops were assembling for the main attack. He had quietly boasted that ‘Tobruk will be no problem this time—I will take it with the Luftwaffe,” but in this he meant he would use the considerable hammer he had in the Herman Goering Brigade. This unit was a lavish formation, much more developed at this time than it was in the history Fedorov could read about. Then it had been a regiment, with heavy emphasis on flak units that led it to be posted near the oil fields of Ploesti in Rumania. This time around it had already been built up to a full brigade.
There were three well equipped “Schutzen Battalions” in the formation, which were heavy motorized battalions with four companies of infantry each, the third being heavier on support weapons and engineers. Together they comprised the mobile Schutzen Regiment within the Brigade. Next came the two Flak Battalions, each equipped with three heavy batteries of 88s and three light batteries of 20mm guns. The third battalion here was all artillery, and then came the vaunted “Führer Flak Battalion,” which had the best mobile flak batteries, including quad 20mm guns, a 37mm battery, and yet more 88s. If that were not enough, there was also a
Wachbataillon
in the Brigade, with three more companies, and a big
Ersatzabteilung
for replacements that had four more infantry companies and three flak batteries.
All together, the Brigade could field twenty infantry companies, an equal number of flak batteries and three artillery batteries. By comparison. Rommel’s 5th light Division had only two heavy machine gun battalions, the 300th Afrika Infantry Battalion attached, and his two tank battalions as the real combat elements of the division, so the Reichsminister had seen that the Brigade formed in his name would have the strength to do it justice in combat. But that was not all the Luftwaffe had to offer Rommel’s Afrika Korps.
After the stunning success in capturing Malta, and then the easy victory they enjoyed on Cyprus, Kurt Student had been given a free hand to further enlarge his Fliegerkorps. There had not been time to create a full division, but he had been putting together several new “Sturm Regiments” that would be suitable for smaller operations when a full division would not be required. The concept had been proven in the attack on the Dutch fortress positions, when three
Sturmgruppes
, Beton, Eisen, and Stahl, had proved very effective. This had given rise to the formation of the Luftland Sturm Regiment for the Crete Operation, which was now involved in the Syrian campaign. But Student had selected another good man to lead his second Sturm Regiment, Oberst Eugen Meindel, who had fought well at Narvik earlier in the war.
This was also a new wrinkle in the history, as both Ramcke and Meindel had been commanders of the same Sturm Regiment in Fedorov’s books, but this time they each would be given a chance to make their fortune with unique formations. When Hitler summarily pulled the 1st Mountain Division off the reinforcement schedule for Rommel, Paulus came looking for fresh troops in compensation. He asked Student if anything could be spared from the 7th Flieger Division, then acting as theater reserve on Cyprus, but Student had Meindel’s troops available instead.
So behind Goering’s fat brigade, Meindel had another three battalions of
Fallschirmjagers
available in support. Together the two units had as much infantry fighting power as the 90th Light Division, which had also been considerably reinforced to a full nine battalions. To round out Rommel’s hopes for a good attack, the Luftwaffe was also providing six squadrons of the deadly
Stuka
dive bombers.
Just after the Italian infantry hurled themselves at the coastal defenses south of the main road, the Italian Ariete sprung into action, coming down the track from a place the British had named “Knightsbridge,” and aimed at the northernmost end of the 6th Australian Division lines, just outside Tobruk’s southern defensive perimeter. It was clear they meant to drive straight up the road that bypassed the fortress, hoping for a quick breakthrough.
The Italian tanks were not unstoppable, but they had also been reinforced in the long interval, and came in good numbers, backed up by their 8th Bersaglieri Battalion. Behind this division, the whole of the Trento Motorized Infantry Division was strung out along that road, all the way to Knightsbridge. It would feed itself into that battle, like a log to a buzz saw, but over time, the preponderance of strength in that vital junction fell to the Axis forces.
The fighting was hot and furious for some time, but the Italians had made a few good inroads as Rommel monitored reports on their battle closely. He had already ordered his 90th Light “Afrika” Division to make a full assault against the 2nd New Zealand Division, south along the obstacle of Wadi Nullah, so there were no reinforcements that division could send north towards the fighting near El Adem.
The Aussies of the 6th Division were as tough as they came, but they still had nothing bigger then a 2 Pounder AT gun, and all too few. They held off the first tank charge, then rallied and sent in their reserve elements to counterattack, using the recon battalion armored cars and their motorized machinegun battalion. This pushed the Bersaglieri Battalion back, and by nightfall it looked as though the line would hold.
No one expected the Italians to continue the fight after dark, but that is exactly what they decided to do. A battle was shaping up much like one that became known as “The Battle of the Salient,” also fought in May of 1941 in Fedorov’s history. There the Ariete Division and 6th Australians fought for a row of strongpoints labeled R3 through R7, all taken and held by the Italians. But here the attack was not directed at the strong points, but on the entrenched lines of the Australian infantry. And the Italians had a bone to pick. They had been pushed around by the Aussies long enough, and now General Raffaele Cadorna was going to get his pound of flesh one way or another.
“We attack all night,” he said sternly. “Regroup! Form your tank companies. Lead with the M11s and follow with the M13s. Then bring up the armored cars!”
There would be no sleep on that ground for either side that night, and when dawn came the situation was ripe for a development that no one expected.
Chapter 20
The
night attack by the Ariete Armored Division was running parallel to the line of defenses where the main road from Tobruk led five miles south to El Adem. There the 2/1 Field Company of Engineers was the only unit of the 6th actually inside the fortifications, manning bunkers R35 through R39. They could see the action developing, watching the hot tracer fire and listening to the rattle of tanks, but none turned for their positions.
Tom Walls gave the elbow to a Vickers MG gunner as he watched. “Looks like the Eye-Ties are giving us a pass,” he said, using the familiar slang word the Aussies used for the Italians.
“Good for us,” said Corporal Peters, “but there’s practically nobody on the line to the east. Strongpoints astride the road are well manned, but after that it gets fairly thin.”
“Well where’s the bloody 9th Division?” Walls protested. “I thought old Ming had that lot locked down tight in here.” He was referring to Major General Leslie Morsehead, the no-nonsense commander of the 9th Division. Tough as nails, and with a deep reserve of calm in the most trying circumstances, he was a hard taskmaster, and strict disciplinarian, to the point where the men had come to call him “Ming the Merciless.”
“Eye-Ties are hitting the coast road too,” said Peters. “What you think we’ve been listening to all day until this lot showed up? They hit the ninth with three divisions, and most everyone’s gone off to that little hornet’s nest. This one here is ours.”
“Fancy that.” Walls shook his head. “Well, if they push over those trench lines to the south of us, they’ll be able to swing right around and into the Fortress from the south.”
“Don’t worry about it, that new limey General will have something in the cupboard back there. Just keep your eyes on that view slit and watch for enemy infantry.”
The action heated up, with four battalions of Italian tanks making a determined attack, until they had pushed through to approach the artillery of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment. There the Aussie commander had ordered his gunners to level the barrels and blast away point blank at the Italian tanks, and though he had some success, darkness and the speed of the enemy advance made it obvious that his position would soon be overrun.