VICTORY IN THE DESERT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27028, 12 March 1949, Page 7

VICTORY IN THE DESERT

By Winston S. Churchill

Before a great enterprise is launched the days pass slowly. The remedy is other urgent business, of which there was at this time certainly no lack. I was myself so pleased that our generals would take the offensive that I did not worry unduly about the result. Meanwhile, outside the small group who knew what was going to be attempted, there was plenty to talk about and do.

For a month or more all the troops to be used in the offensive practised the special parts they had to play in the extremely complicated attack. Only a small circle of officers knew the full scope of the plan, and practically nothing was put on paper. To secure surprise, attempts were made to give the enemy the impression that our forces had been seriously weakened by the sending of reinforcements to Greece and that further withdrawals were contemplated. On December 6 (1940), our lean bronzed desert-hardened, and completely mechanised army of about 25.000 men leaped forward more than forty miles, and all next day lay motionless on the desert sand, unseen by the Italian Air Force. They swept forward again on December 8, and that evening, for the first time, the troops were told that this was no desert exercise, but the “real thing.” At dawn on the 9th the battle of Sidi Barrani began. Sidi Barrani It is_ not my purpose to describe the complicated and dispersed fighting which occupied the next four days over a region as large as Yorkshire. Everything went smoothly; Niberwa was attacked by one brigade at 7 a.m., and in little more than an hour was completely in our hands. At 1.30 p.m. the attack on the Tummar camp opened, and by nightfall practically the whole area and most of its defenders were captured. Meanwhile the 7th Armoured Division had isolated Sidi Barrani by cutting the coast road to the west. Simultaneously the garrison of Mersa Matruh. which included the Coldstream Guards, had also prepared their blow.

At first light on the 10th they assaulted the Italian positions on their front, supported by heavy fire from the sea. Fighting continued all day, and by ten o’clock the Coldstream battalion headquarters signalled that it was impossible to count the prisoners on account of their numbers, but that “there were about five acres of officers and two hundred acres of other ranks.”

At home in Downing street they brought me hour-to-hour signals from the battlefield. It was difficult to understand exactly what was happening, but the general impression was favourable, and I remember being struck by a message from a young officer in a tank of the 7th Armoured Division. “ Have arrived at the second B in Buq-Buq.” I was able to inform the House of Commons on the 10th that active fighting was in progress in the desert; that 500 prisoners had been taken and an Italian general killed: and also that our troops had reached the coast. That afternoon Sidi Barrani was captured. From December 11 onwards the action consisted of a pursuit of the Italian fugitives by the 7th Armoured Division, followed by the 16th British Infantry Brigade and the 6th Australian Division. On December 12 I could tell the House of Commons that the whole coastal region around Buq-Buq and Sidi Barrani was in the hands of British and Imperial troops and that seven thousand prisoners had already reached Mersa Matruh.

“Mr Churchill to Mr Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia (13.12.40): “I am sure you will be heartened by the fine victory the Imperial Armies have gained in Libya. This, coupled with his Albanian disasters, may go hard with Mussolini. Remember that I could not guarantee a few months ago even successful defence of the Delta and Canal. We ran sharp risks here at home in sending troops, tanks and cannon all round the Cape while under the threat of imminent invasion, and now there is a reward.

We are planning to gather a very large army representing the whole Empire and ample seapower in the Middle East, which will face a German lurch that way, and at the same time give us a move eastwards in your direction, if need be. Success always demands a greater effort. All good wishes.”

By December 15 all enemy troops had been driven from Egypt. The greater part of the Italian forces remaining in Cyrenaica had withdrawn within the defences of Bardia, which was now isolated. This ended the first phase of the battle of Sidi Barrani. which resulted in the destruction of the greater part of five enemy divisions. Over 38,000 prisoners were taken; our own casualties were 133 killed, 387 wounded and 8 missing. “ Maul the Italian Army ”

Prime Minister to General Wavell. ' , A 16.X11.40. The Army of the Nile has rendered glorious service to the Empire and to our cause, and we are already reaping rewards in every quarter. We are deeply indebted to you, Wilson, and other commanders, whose fine professional skill and audacious leading have gained us the memorable victory of the Libyan desert. Your first objective now must be to maul the Italian Army and rip them off the African shore to the utmost possible extent. We were very glad to learn your intentions against Bardia and Tobruk, and now to hear of the latest captures of Solium and Capuzzo. * * * I cannot of course pretend to judge special conditions from here, but Napoleon’s maxim: “Frappez la masse et tout le reste vient par surcroit,” seems to ring in one’s ears. I must recur to the suggestion made in my previous telegram about amphibious operations and landiftgs behind the enemy front to cut off hostile detachments and to carry forward supplies and troops by sea. * * *

Prime Minister to General Wavell. 18.X11.40. St. Matthew, Chapter VII. Verse 7.* General Wavell to Prime Minister.

St. James, Chapter 1., Verse 17.* (*Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” *“ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Light, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”) Bardia was our next objective. Within its perimeter, 17 miles in extent, was the greater part of four more Italian divisions. The defences comprised a continuous anti-tank ditch and wire obstacles with concrete block-houses at intervals, and behind this was a second line of fortifications. The storming of this considerable %tronghold required preparation. To complete this episode of desert victory I shall intrude upon the New Year.' The attack opened early on January 3. One Australian battalion, covered by a strong artillery concentration, seized and held a lodgment in the western perimeter. “ Behind them engineers filled in the anti-tank ditch. Two Australian brigades carried on the attack and swept east and south-eastwards. They sang at that time a song they had brought with them from Australia which soon spread to Britain. ‘Have you heard of that wonderful wizard, The wonderful Wizard of Oz, And he is a wonderful wizard, If ever a wizard there was.’ This tune always reminds me of those buoyant days.” By the afternoon of the 4th, British tanks—" Matildas,” as they were named—supported by infantry, entered Bardia, and by the sth all the defenders had surrendered. Forty-five thousand prisoners and 462 guns were taken.

By next day, January 6, Tobruk in its turn had been isolated by the 7th Armoured Division, and on the 7th the leading Australian brigade stood before its eastern defences. It. was not possible to launch the assault'till January 21. By nightfall one third of the defended area was in our hands, and

Balance Sheet for the Year

early next morning all resistance ceased. The prisoners amounted to nearly 30,000, with 236 guns. The Desert Army had in five weeks advanced over 200 miles of waterless and foodless space, had taken by assault two strongly-fortified seaports with permanent air and marine defences, and captured 113,000 prisoners and over 700 guns. The great Italian army which had invaded and hoped to conquer Egypt scarcely existed as a military force, and only the imperious difficulties of distance and supplies delayed an indefinite British advance to the west. Future Planning This was a time when events were so fluid that every possible stroke had. to be studied beforehand, and thus the widest choice of action lay open to us. Our victory in Libya had already stimulated the revolt against Italy in Abyssinia. I was most anxious that the Emporer, Haile Selassie, should re-enter his country as he desired to do. The Foreign Office thought this step premature. I deferred to the judgment of the new secretary of state, but the delay was short, and the Emperor, eager to run all risks, was soon back on his native soil.

At this stage we may review the numerous tasks and projects for which plans and in most cases preparations had been made, and approval in principle obtained. The first was of course the defence of the island against invasion. We had now armed and equipped, though not in all cases at the highest standard of modern equipment, nearly thirty high-class mobile divisions, a large proportion of whom were regulars, and all of whose men had been under intense training for fifteen months. Of these we considered that, apart from the coastal troops, fifteen would be sufficient to deal with oversea invasion. The Home Guard, now more than a million men, had rifles and some cartridges in their hands apart from our reserve. We therefore had twelve or fifteen divisions available for offensive action oversea as need and opportunity arose. Secondly, in case Vichy or |he French in North Africa shornd rally to the common cause, we had prepared an expeditionary force of six divisions, with an air component for an unopposed and • assisted landing in Moroccan Atlantic ports, principally Casablanca. Whether we could move this good army to Morocco or to Ceuta, opposite Gibraltar, more rapidly than the Germans could come in equal numbers and equipment through Spain depended upon the degree of Spanish resistance. We could, however, if invited, and if we liked it, land at Cadiz to support the Spaniards.

Thirdly, in case the Spanish' Government yielded to German pressure and became Hitler’s ally or co-bellig-erent, thus making the harbour at Gibraltar unusable, we held ready a strong brigade, with four suitable fast transports to seize or occupy some of the Atlantic islands. Alternatively, if the Portuguese Government agreed that we might for this purpose invoke the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance of 1373, “Friends to friends, and foes to foes,” we might set up with all speed a base in the Cape Verde islands. This operation, called “Shrapnel,” would secure us the necessary air and refuelling bases to maintain naval control of the critical stretch of the route round the Cape.

Fourthly, a French de Gaullist brigade from England, with West African reinforcements, was to be sent round the Cape to Egypt in order to effect the capture of Jibouti in case conditions there became favourable (operation “ Marie ”).

Preparations were also being made to reinforce Malta, particularly in air power (operation “Winch”) with the object of regaining control of the passage between Sicily and Tunis. As an important element in this policy plans had been made for the capture by a brigade of commandos, of which Sir Roger Keyes wished to take personal command, of the rocky islet of Pantellaria (operation “Workshop”). Every effort was ordered to be made to develop a strong naval and air base in Crete at Suda Bay, pending the movement thither of any reinforcements for its garrison which a change in the Greek situation might require. We were developing airfields in Greece both to aid the Greek Army and to strike at Italy, or if necessary at the Rumanian oilfields. Similarly, the active development of airfields in Turkey and technical assistance to the Turks was in progress. Finally, the revolt in Abyssinia was being fanned by every means, and respectable forces were based on Khartoum to strike in the neighbourhood of Kassala, on the White Nile, against the menace of the large Italian army in Abyssinia) A movement was planned from Kenya for an amphibious advance up the East African coast and into the Red Sea to capture the Italian fortified sea-ports of Assab and Massawa, with a view to the conquest of the Italian colony of Eritrea. Thus I was able to lay before the War Cabinet a wide choice of care-fully-considered and detailed enterprises which could at very short notice be launched against the enemy, and certainly from among them we could find the means for an active and unceasing overseas offensive warfare, albeit on a secondary scale, with which to relieve and adorn our conduct of the war during the early part of 1941, throughout which the building up of our main war-strength in men and munitions, in aircraft, tanks and artillery, would be continuously and immensely expanded.

As the end of the year approached both its lights and its shadows stood out harshly on the picture. We were alive. We had beaten the German Air Force. There had been no invasion of the island. The army at home was now very powerful. London had risen triumphant from all her ordeals. Everything connected with our air mastery over our own island was improving fast. The smear of Communists who obeyed their Moscow orders gibbered about a Capitalist-Imperial-ist war. But the factories hummed and the whole British nation toiled night and day, uplifted by a surge of relief and pride. Victory sparkled in the Libyan desert, and across the Atlantic the Great Republic drew ever nearer to her duty and our aid. Royal Congratulations

At this time I received a very kind letter from the King.

Sandringham, January 2, 1941. My dear Prime Minister, I must send you my best wishes for a happier New Year, and may we see the end of this conflict in sight during the coming year. I am already feeling better for my sojourn here; it is doing me good, and the change of scene and outdoor exercise is acting as a good tonic. But I feel that it is wrong of me to be away from my place of duty, when everybody else is carrying on. However, I must look upon it as medicine and hope to come back refreshed in mind and body, for renewed efforts against the enemy. I do hope and trust you were able to have a little relaxation at Christmas with all your arduous work. I have so much admired all you have done during the last seven months as my Prime Minister, and I have so enjoyed our talks together during our weekly luncheons. I hope they will continue on my return, as I do look forward to them so much.

I hope to pay a visit to Sheffield* next Monday. I can do it from here in the day. ...

With renewed good wishes, I remain, Yours very sincerely, GEORGE R.I. I expressed my gratitude, which was heartfelt.