Chapter Seven
In late August Churchill, still smarting about the very public failure of his ‘Tiger Cubs’, wrote to his Minister of Supply and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff in a state of irritation:
We ought to try sometimes to look ahead. The Germans turned up in Libya with 6-pounder guns in their tanks, yet I suppose it would have been reasonable for us to have imagined they would do something to break up the ordinary ‘I’ tank. This had baffled the Italians at Bardia, etc. The Germans had specimens of it in their possession taken at Dunkirk, also some Cruiser tanks, so it was not difficult for them to prepare weapons which would defeat our tanks.
The ‘Tiger’ convoy had stretched Britain’s resources to the limit and by early July 1941, for the defence of the British Isles, Churchill could muster 1,141 infantry and Cruiser tanks, of which just 391 were considered fit for action. British repair facilities at this stage remained lamentable and a month later 25 per cent of the infantry tanks were still out of action, as were 157 of the 400 Cruiser tanks. Despite the success of the ‘Tiger’ convoy, the Royal Navy believed the Mediterranean was becoming too dangerous and so escorted the next convoy, of another fifty Cruiser and fifty infantry tanks, around the Cape, but they did not reach Suez until mid-July.
When Panzergruppe Afrika was established, consisting of the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions, they were equipped with about 170 Panzer Mks II, III and IV, as well as a dozen British Matildas and seventeen Valentines. Rommel’s ‘Tiger Cubs’ went into action with the 21st Panzer Division on 14 September 1941, when three columns pushed into Egypt.
By November the Eighth Army had come into being, and a second generation of British infantry and Cruiser tanks, along with the American Stuart light tank, had reached North Africa. The production runs for Britain’s early Cruiser tanks was fairly limited (125 A9s, 175 A10s and 335 A13s) and all were withdrawn from service in late 1941, having been replaced by the Crusader and Stuart. The British massed 756 tanks, mostly Matildas and Valentines, for Operation Crusader. They enjoyed mixed success when the operation was launched on 20 November employing two whole corps, 13 Corps (1st Army Tank Brigade, plus the 2nd New Zealand and 4th Indian Divisions) and 30 Corps (the 7th Armoured and 1st South African Divisions, plus the 22nd Guards Brigade).
The intention for Crusader was for 13 Corps to bypass the Axis frontier defences to the south and attack along the Via Balbia towards Tobruk. To the south 30 Corps was to advance north-westward across the desert, smash the enemy’s panzers in the area of Sidi Rezegh airfield and then link up with the Tobruk garrison, which was to break out in the Belhamed–El Duda area. The powerful 7th Armoured Division consisted of three armoured brigades: the 4th armed with the newly arrived American M3 Stuarts, and the 7th and 22nd both equipped with British Cruiser tanks. The Tobruk garrison included the 32nd Army Tank Brigade, which comprised four Matilda squadrons and a regiment of Cruisers and light tanks.
Major-General F.W. von Mellenthin recalled,
To meet this attack the Panzergruppe had 249 German and 146 Italian tanks. …Of the German tanks, 70 were Mark IIs, which only mounted a heavy machine gun, and could therefore play no part in the tank battle, except as reconnaissance vehicles. The bulk of our strength consisted of 35 Mk IVs and 139 Mk IIIs; we also had five British Matildas, of which we thought highly.
Once more, however, the British tanks were lured into a trap sprung by concealed armour and anti-tank guns, and the attack quickly came unstuck. Nonetheless, the British held on and Rommel, with his two panzer and single Italian armoured divisions over-extended, was forced to retreat. During these engagements Rommel’s ‘Tiger Cubs’ caused confusion on both sides.
Leutnant Schmidt of the 15th Panzer Division was involved in the capture of a British tank recovery vehicle in November 1941 near Sidi Azeiz. Afterwards, heading south towards Maddalena, he was alarmed to be informed that he had British tanks behind him. Three anti-tank guns were set up to block the twelve advancing Matildas; two were destroyed and the rest fanned out. Schmidt and his gunners were in danger of being surrounded and were considering retreating when two more Matildas came up behind them. Schmidt takes up the story:
I glanced back with a vague idea of withdrawal if that were possible amid this fire. To my horror I saw two more British Mark IIs moving towards us. Then to my gasping relief I recognised swastika markings on them: they were two of the British tanks that had been captured at Halfaya during ‘Battleaxe’ months before.
When the German commander surrendered at Bardia, some 9,000 German and Italian troops were taken prisoner. A total of 4,000 Germans and 10,000 Italians were captured at Bardia, Sollum and Halfaya. The campaign also cost them about 300 tanks, while the British lost 278.
Since Bardia was one of Rommel’s major supply bases, perhaps the worst aspect of the disaster for him was the loss of vast quantities of supplies, guns and ammunition. This was an irreplaceable loss from which, despite his subsequent victories in 1942, he never really recovered. Rommel attempted not to repeat the same mistake at the end of the year when he sought to evacuate at least part of the 10,000 tons of Axis material at Tobruk but British air raids destroyed 2,000 tons of precious fuel at Benghazi. Likewise, when Rommel was forced out of Tripoli in early 1943, he managed to spirit away almost all of his supplies – quite remarkably, most of it was moved by road.
Italian bombers attacked Malta in the summer of 1940, violently at first but soon with diminishing strength. The Luftwaffe’s first limited offensive against the island in the spring of 1941 had the basic objective of holding Maltese defences down while DAK forces were ferried across from Italy. Once the German II Air Corps had moved to Sicily, life on the island became much more difficult. Attacks began in December 1941 and reached their height in April 1942. In the meantime more British tanks were shipped round the Cape and via the Suez Canal rather than risk the Mediterranean again. (Author’s Collection)
Maltese workers cutting air raid shelters in the island’s soft sandstone. During the summer of 1941 the island was given the chance to recuperate. Of the three large supply convoys totalling thirty-nine transports that reached Malta that year only one ship was lost. Air Vice Marshal H.P. Lloyd, who took over command of the RAF units there in May, is said to have remarked, ‘You wouldn’t have known there was a war on.’ The RAF and Royal Navy were not idle, though, successfully attacking Axis shipping and Rommel’s forces suffered accordingly. (Author’s Collection)
After the initial engagements in North Africa these Germans had every reason to look and feel confident. Operation Crusader, though, would soon put a dent in their morale. Note their mixture of sun helmets and field caps. (Dr Peter Caddick-Adams)
To fend off Operation Crusader, Rommel could muster 139 Panzer IIIs. This particular one with the L/42 gun has a British Daimler scout car parked in front of it. By the end of 1941 Axis forces had lost 300 tanks and the British a similar number, but they had retaken Bardia, Sollum and Halfaya. (Author’s Collection)
A German NCO poses by his 4x4 staff car, in this case a Horch Kfz 15. He is kitted out with long desert boots and what seems to be a sage green uniform. The palm tree/swastika insignia of the Afrika Korps is clearly visible on the driver’s door. In the second shot another soldier does his laundry next to a similar vehicle; again the DAK symbol can be seen quite clearly. (Dr Peter Caddick- Adams)
Two of Rommel’s ‘Tiger Cubs’; after Battleaxe, the Germans re-employed limited numbers of captured British Matilda (seen here) and Crusader tanks. (Author’s Collection)
The Crusader proved a great disappointment for British tank crews, but nonetheless went into battle again during Operation Crusader and continued in service until the very end of the war in North Africa. (Author’s Collection)
Although the Valentine went into production in 1940, it first joined the Eighth Army’s tank brigades in June 1941 and played a key role in Operation Crusader. It subsequently played an important part in the desert fighting, but, like the Crusader, it was armed with the inadequate 2-pounder anti-tank gun. In contrast, the Valentine did gain a reputation for reliability (it is reported that after El Alamein some drove over 3,000 miles on their own tracks). (Author’s Collection)
A welcome addition to the British tank inventory was the American-supplied M3 Stuart light tank. The first eighty-four arrived in Egypt in July 1941 and by November this number had risen to 163. While it was under-gunned (it had a 37mm gun) and poorly armoured, it was reliable and very mobile in a reconnaissance role. It, too, was blooded during Operation Crusader. (Author’s Collection)
German troops take a meal in front of an Italian M13/40. Rommel remained reliant on the Italians’ contribution to his tank force (the type of Mautlier half-track indicates that this photo was probably taken in Italy or the Balkans). (Author’s Collection)
The crew of a Crusader seem to be examining their handiwork – a blazing Panzer Mk IV destroyed during Operation Crusader. It is unlikely, however, that the Crusader knocked it out with its 2-pounder gun. The open turret hatch indicates that at least some of the crew managed to bale out before the flames took hold. (Author’s Collection)
Australian troops plunder a broken-down M13/40. The Italians were able to field a single armoured division with 146 tanks at the time of Operation Crusader. Axis forces became over-extended and had little choice but to retreat in the face of the determined British offensive. (Australian Army)
A captured German 150mm Lorraine Schlepper self-propelled howitzer on its low-loader. Fewer than a hundred of these were produced and about half of them ended up in North Africa. While the gun was welcome, the fighting compartment was cramped and the superstructure offered an alarmingly high silhouette for enemy gunners. Many of those photographed seem to have been abandoned, raising a question over their mechanical reliability. (Author’s Collection)
The Desert Air Force hurried Rommel on his way. The specks are his motor transport vehicles scattering across the Western Desert as they try desperately to escape the bursting bombs dropped by attacking light bombers. (Author’s Collection)
These abandoned Me109s were captured when British forces overran Axis airfields. Often the aircraft were already unairworthy and had been cannibalised for spares, as seems to be the case with the second aircraft. (Author’s Collection)
An abandoned German 210mm heavy field gun. Although very accurate, its weight greatly reduced its mobility, meaning it was not something that could be withdrawn in a hurry. Artillery Command 104, equipped with heavy siege guns, was established by Rommel to reduce Tobruk’s defences in 1942; its inventory included eighty-four Italian 149mm guns, thirty-six Italian 105mms, forty French 150mms and twelve French 100mms. (Author’s Collection)