Acroma
"Knightsbridge"
10 MILES
6th
THE CHINA MAIL, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1950.
MEDITERR
Ras Belgdilleh S.A.Bdc.
ESCARPI
Fr.Pilestring
TOBRUK
Gds.
Bde.
PMENT
Gurkhas th Ya Ind.Inti
"King's Cross"
+MhS.A.Bac
hrattas
British dispositio Enemy thrusts
Fortress perimete
ElAdem,
Ed Dunda
¿Belhamed
Trigh
Capuzzo
Sidi Rezegh
„JAN AZOKO SITE CHAPTER TWENTY OF “THE HINGE OF FATE, MR CHURCHILL'S FOURTH BOOK OF SECOND WORLD WAR MEMOIRS.
operational command of the,
Prime Minister to Gen. Auchinleck.
Thuta the Now Zealanders Army from Gen. Ritchie, He broke clear, and the whole divi- should have done this when I sion was reunited in a high state asked him to in May,
of discipline and ardour 'nçar the
Alamein position 80 milea away. So little were they dis- organised that they could be 28 June 12,
used forthwith to stiffen the de- I am very glad you have taken
fences at Alamein command. Do not vex your- The XXXth nolf with anything except the
withdrawn earlier
Xth Corps had been to Alamein. battle. Fight it out wherever When joined there by the Xth it Rows. Nothing matters but and XIIIth Corps the wholo destroying the enemy's armed army, on June 30, was ranged and armoured force. A strong on or behind the now position. stream of reinforcements is The troops were amazed rather approaching. We are sure you than depressed.
are going to win in the end.
Flanks secure
The Alamein position rung from
the railway station of that
Gen. Auchinlecit quickly con- cluded that it was not possiblo to make a final stand at Matruh. Arrangements were already in hand for the preparation and occupation of the Alamein name to the impassable Qattara position 120 miles farther back.
to the To halt the enemy, if only for for the forces avaliable to hold. This was a long line a timo, the following dispost- Mu
Much work had been done, but tions were mado: Tho Xth Corps, with the 10th Indian and tifications around Alamein itself Except for semi-permanent for- 50th British Infantry Divisions. the line consisted chiefly of dis-
held the Matruh defences,
HOW ROMMEL'S FORCES
OVERRAN TOBRUK
• By Winston Churchill
I had been the Cabilitet view that even if the Eighth
Army were beaten back Tobruk should remain
·
thorn In the enemy's side, and as late as June 10, 1942, Mr Churchlf had been 28- sured by Gen. Auchinleck that Gen. Ritchie would troops to leave sufficient hold it "even should it bé- come temporarily isolated.”
G
AL 2
p.m. crimel
i
escape,
but
Farther south, under command
50ion, 36 milca
connected works. The Banks, however, were secure, and the Eighth Army had been sy reinforced. The New Division was
in perfect order after the Ane action it had fought. The 9th Austrailan Division was also soon to arrive and win high distinction.
12
With the advantage of short of the Xilith Corps, were the communication, and with Alex❤ 29th Indian Infantry Brigade, andria only 40 miles away, the covering a six-mile gap in the reorganisation of the Eighth minefields, and the New Zealand Army did not take long. Auch- Division. The 1st
Armoured inleck, once in direct command, ability of the Italian troops, who Division and the 7th Armoured seemed a different man from would have formed the major
Division guarded the desert the
thoughtful strategist with part of the expedition. The at- flank. The New Zealand Divi- one eye on the decisive battle tack might well have failed. slon, which had arrived ound the other on the vague and Nevertheless it now seems eer- Matruh from Syrin on June 21, remote dangers in Syria and imself small parties to
tain that the shattering And were at length moved on the Persia. He sought at once was there. He ordered one without transport nearly all
regain the tactical initiative. group directly on to Tobruk. It failed. Only one considerable grievous loss of Tobruk spared 20th into action on the ridge.
Island from the supreme Deflant suffered heavily from artillery group
As early as July 2 ho made which no good soldier, whether fire, but reached the
the first of a series of counter- attacks which continued until 3.30 p.m., and by 8 am, men of the Coldstream Guards involved or not, should avail ridge at the outskirts of Tobruk. and 188 South Africans, having himself. The burden falls upon through the front of the 20th challengoi Rommel's precarious That evening the enemy broke the middle of the month. These collected some lorries, set out
the High Command rather than Indian Infantry Brigade, where ascendancy. I sent my encour- the ridge towards Pilastrino, the perimeter, made a
agement, on the marrow of upon his troops. where they not the Guarda sweep that brought them at
The next morning Brigade hastily forming front to nightfall to the Egyptian fron- meet attack from this unexpec- tier 70 miles away. ted direction.
All
sent
was successful.
the
trial. This is a consolation of
Broke clear Solaro and undaunted, 189 officers and
due
Another group's Cross, nieng together and breaking through on Gen. Klopper, and still less the mineler was they stream. We of, censure debate (in the
and
Axis plans
The news
every
the
encircled
had But he had
Battle swayed
Prime Minister to Gen, Auchinleck.
July 4, 1942.
yere sufficient for 90 days, was lost and the brigade head- Axia plans. Hitherto it had been thought and the defined a worthy successor, Brig Inglis I cannot help liking very much
nightfall the enemy
The western
sion Di
and
The pursuit
its
due cast across country with all battalions deployed and bayonets fixed.. For 1,000 yards no enemy were met. Then fir- ing broke out. The whole brigade-charged in line,
the way things seem to be go- ing. If fortune turns I am sure you will press your ad- vantage, as you say, "relent- lessly."
Gen. Ritchie proved himsouted through the gap, and then. House of Commons on July 1 both a competent Staff Offeer passing behind the New Zealan- and 2), which had been an ac-
ders,
and attacked companiment to the cannonade. and later a resolute Corps Com them from three sides. EN. KLOPPER,
mander. Nevertheless, it was a sperate fighting continued all De- the commanding
afternoon that
bad arrangement by which he Guards Brigade, 2nd South African evening the
day, and at the end it seemed left his desk 15 Gen. Auchin- Division, was plac- strongly supported by
of the capture of leck's deputy Chief of Staff to that the division was doomed, battery that could be mustered,
'Gen. Freyberg in charge of the fortress. fought a stern battle, and suf- Tobruk without the need of a become the Commander of
bçen revolutionised the Eighth Army. The lack of clear severely wounded, upplies and ammunition tered heavy losses. Some ground long slege
between but at intended that after Tobruk was responsibility
Gon.
was determined to had been taken Rommel should stand on Auchinleck and his recent Staff Shortly after midnight the 4th
to break nd Gen. Klopper was con- quarters was captured, dent that Tobruk could brought to a halt. The situation the Egyptian frontier and that Officer. Gen. Ritchie, had led to New Zealand Brigade moved
the next major effort should be a mishandling of the forces, lay its part in the plan, was parlous.
in its the capture of Malia by air- which
character and which included the reten-
southern borne and seaborne forces, As consequences constitutes an un- on by the Eighth Army sides of the perimeter were in- late as June 21 Mussolin reitera fortunate page in British mill-
Auchinlock's counter-
attacks on the ted these orders. The day after tary history. f the strong points of El tact and the Gurkhas
pressed Rommel very hard for dem and, Belhamed out extreme left were holding out, Tobruk fell Rommel reported
...the first fortnight of July. Ho that he proposed to destroy the but the enemy were in posses- L
then took up the challenge, and de the perimeter. "
a great part of the small British forces left on the
The Germans were taken from July 18 to July, 20 renew completely by surprise and ined his attempts to break the Tobruk fortrens. All our reserve frontier, and thus open the way The garrison included troops were pinned down. De to Egypt. The condition' and Rommel swiftly organised his hand-to-hand fighting under British
Unc. ordered
On the
21st he of the morale of his forces, the large pursuit, and on June 24 crossed the moon were routed. The rest had to ttalions), a tank brigade
by
still Tobruk self the plles, and the weakness of the only our
light mabile struck
"The crisis Eouth by circuitous
exists d 61 infantry tanks, five reserve of transport, necessary British position prompted pur columns, and the stubborn and routes. This is how Rommel has on the 20th he was contemplat-
magnificent fghters of the Royal described, the episode.
withdrawal to the frontier. egiments of field and me- if the remnants of the garrison sult "into the heart of Egypt.”
Air Force, who really covered
He complained that he had re- um artillery, and about were to be evacuated, was im-
soon to be de- He requested approval. A let the retreat of the main body of The wild flare-up which ensued ceived little in the way of re- anti-tank guns. In ad- mobilised and
ter also arrived from Hitler the Eighth Army to Matruh.
involved my own battle head- plonishments, he was short
of Rommel's pressing
proposals
quarters....The exchanges of men, tanks and artillery; the upon Mussolini. The Duce need- Their position here was not
fire between my forces and British Air Force was extremely ed no persuasion. Elated at the strong. About the town itself the New Zealanders
roach an active. prospect of conquering Egypt, there was an organised defen-
extraordinary pitch of inton- *And 80 sity. Soon my headquarters back and forth until the end of the assault on sive system, but south of it only
the battle
swayed At 8, p.m. on June 20 General he postponed
to Eighth Maite till the beginning of Sep- some lines
were of unconnected
by In Klopper reported
burning the month, by which time both and Rommel-new A minefields inadequately guarded.
vehicles, rounded
making them the plan total of about 35,000 Army Headquarters: "My H. Q. tember,
target for continuous enemy a standstill.
sides had fought themselves to surrounded. Infantry on peri- en were within the peri- meter sill fighting hard.
authorised to oc be successfully held, needed
The Eighth Army- close range, I bad relatively Darrow powerful
under Auchinleck had weather- armoured force
enough of this after a while, ed the storm, and in its stubborn eter, a force very similar holding out, but I do not know cupy
and guard its southern flank. The and ordered the troops with Bize to that which had how long" He asked for in- passage between Alamein
as the 7th Armoured Division, though structions, and was told: "Come the Qattara Depression
ur infantry brigades (closely threatened base instal- captures of munitions and sup- the frontier to Egypt, opposed of the New Zealand Division checked: Port that he
tion there were
about
,000 men in administra-
ve and transport units ntred round the port and
base installations.
molition was
lations, In
stroyed.
Fighting hard
Am sucess rather to Italian The Matruh Hne, if it were to
the
to
eld Tokruk when it was out tomorrow night preferably, starting-point for future opera- now rebuilt to nearly a hundred rst besieged a year, he it not, tonight." He called his tions whose final objective was tanks, was not yet capable of
senior officers to conference and the Suez Canal. asked their view
ore.
"
L
such a task. Hitler himself has not, been Gen. Auchinleck himself came After a lufi of only two days,
Some sold that effective re- confident of success against forward to Matruh on June 25 June 19 Rommel renewed his
as he mistrusted the and decided to take over direct Xensive. In a series of rapid sistance was no longer possible. Malta,
main supplies in ows he took El Adem, Bel- With the
he defeated our 4th Armour- running short; to continue fight- |
Brigade at Sidi Rezeph, re-
med, and Acroma. On June enemy hands ammunition was Ing meant heavy casualties to no
Let
all who of purpose.
could But others
for The on,
transport,
ucing them to a strength of break out.
the
Aly
10th nghting
obruk
20 tanks. By
was Isolated and
were
unded, and until tank re- without which escape was not
enishments, came to hand ere was no effective armoured ree to support or relieve the rrison from outside.
Panzer attack
the
At 6 n.m. on June 20 emy opened a heavy bom- rdment with guns and dive
had
been was hope that a
column might come from the south. Let what remained be concentrated in the south-west corner of the perimeter and fight on till relieved.
At 2 a.m. the moon set and a mine- break-out through the
fields, even if hitherto practic- mbers on the southeastern able, became impossible, Gen,
held a Klopper rt of the Tobruk perimeter,
radio, telephone Id by the 11th Indian Infantry conversation with Gen. Ritchie Igade. Half an hour later the and told him that the situation tack was launched, led by the was a "shambles." If resistance st Panzer Division, supported were continued, terrible casual- the 15th, Panzer Division, ties would result; he was "do- gether with the Italian aring the worst." Gen. Ritchie in- oured division and a motoris- structed him
infantry division.
"Every day and hour of ro- With our own armour outside sistance materially assists bruk temporarily disposed of, cause. I cannot tell the tactical emmel could afford to put his situation, and must, therefore 11 weight into this single blow. leave you to act on your own tell mainly on a battalions of judgment regarding capitula- Indian Brigade in a sector tlon... The whole of the Eighth here the defences were at Army has watched with ad- eir weakest. They were soon miration your gallant aght." oply penetrated: No Aghter
biection could be given. lo our CODE is our Air Force was thdrawn to diaturit landing. cunda.
Capitulation
Our
At dawn on the 21st Gen. Klopper sent out a parlement
en Klopper ordered a counter-aire with an offer to capitulate, act by his tanks and part and at 7,45 a.m. German officers The Coldstream Guarda This came to his headquarters and hastily organised and de- accepted his surrender. His or- red placemen), failed. Alders were received by many of his troops, some of whom had
been: engaged, with
into
tanks were
south- dardy and dismaye. To some
cold
war the Toading of hia' commanding oücors ho
had to lasua personal instruc
was of no tions, for they would accept Handful them from no other source. Ag- cording to German records 22-
400,250, pur men were takes
Are
at
ing
was
the staff to move back south land had taken 7,000 prisoners eastwards. The confusion Egypt was still safe, reigning on that night, can scracely be imagined.† -
"Rommel," by Permond Young,
P. 209.
LEY OUR TRAVELLING MAI
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WAS A RISK OF THINGS, TURNI
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