El Alamein
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2. Douglas Austin, Malta and British Strategic Policy, 1925–1943 (London: Frank Cass, 2004), p.158 suggests that Malta-based submarines and aircraft accounted for half (six from twelve) Axis supply vessels sunk between 17 August and 6 September 1942.
3. Martin L. van Creveld, Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p.197.
4. These figures are for the period June 1940 and January 1943 and are in Giuseppe Fioravanzo, La Marina Italiana nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale – vol. I – Dati Statistici (Rome: Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, 1950).
5. B.H. Liddell Hart, Fritz Bayerlein and G.P.B. Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa (Quantico, Virginia: US Marine Corps Association, 1956), p.19.
6. F.W. von Mellenthin, Panzer Battles (London: Futura, 1977), pp.171–72.
7. Mellenthin, Panzer Battles, p.172.
8. Martin Kitchen, Rommel’s Desert War: Waging World War II in North Africa, 1941–1943 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p.294. Contrast this with the gloomy picture in B. H. Liddell Hart [ed.], The Rommel Papers (New York: Da Capo Press, 1953), pp. 265–70: ‘… German forces were below strength … Rations were miserable and so monotonous we were sick of the sight of them … petrol and ammunition situation was as serious as ever’.
9. Emilio Pulini interview, 2924, IWM Sound Archive.
10. Ian English interview, 10599, IWM Sound Archive.
11. This remark was made at a meeting of the Dardanelles Committee, 20 August 1915.
12. Few military units are ever at full strength, even when not in combat.
13. Figures taken from Pier Paolo Battistelli, Rommel’s Afrika Korps: Tobruk to El Alamein (Oxford: Osprey, 2006), p.87. The breakdown was ninety-three PzKpfw III, seventy-three PzKpfw III Ausf L ‘Specials’, ten PzKpfw IV Ausf F and twenty-seven PzKpfw IV ‘Specials’ (with long high-velocity 75mm gun, and designated Ausf F2).These figures exclude PzKpfw IIs and self-propelled guns.
14. Hans-Otto Behrendt, Rommel’s Intelligence in the Desert Campaign, 1941–1943 (London: William Kimber), p.189.
15. Kitchen, Rommel’s Desert War, p.295. Kitchen quotes documents in the Bundesarchiv (RH/19/VIII/26) in support of his analysis.
16. Behrendt, Rommel’s Intelligence in the Desert Campaign, p.189.
17. Mellenthin, Panzer Battles, p.172. Mellenthin claims that the general staff advised against an offensive and exaggerated Eighth Army’s tank superiority. This is not supported by available evidence.
18. B.H. Liddell Hart [ed.], The Rommel Papers (New York: Da Capo Press, 1953), p.318.
19. Liddell Hart, Bayerlein and Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa, p.20.
20. Albert Kesselring, The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring (London: Greenhill, 2007), p.130.
21. Mellenthin, Panzer Battles, p.174. For consistency, I have removed the anglicized version of the German unit names.
22. John Harding interview, 8736, IWM Sound Archive.
23. John Harding interview, 8736, IWM Sound Archive.
24. Freyberg’s address to New Zealand Divisional Headquarters Conference, 16 August 1942, quoted in Jonathan Fennell, Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign: The Eighth Army and the Path to El Alamein (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 205–06.
25. Private papers of J. Anderson Smith, Con Shelf, IWM Documents.
26. Quoted in Brigadier-General Sir James E. Edmonds, History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence: Military Operations France and Belgium, 1918. Vol. 1. The German March Offensive and its Preliminaries (Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum and Battery Press, 1995 (repr. of 1935 edition)), p.258.
27. Private papers of T. Witherby, 78/61/1, IWM Documents.
28. Private papers of J. Anderson Smith, Con Shelf, IWM Documents.
29. Private papers of C.T. Witherby, 78/61/1, IWM Documents.
30. Douglas Waller interview, 23447, IWM Sound Archive.
31. Private papers of C.T. Witherby, 78/61/1, IWM Documents.
32. Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate (London: Cassell, 1954), p.522.
33. Private papers of R.L. Crimp, 96/50/1 & Con Shelf, IWM Documents.
34. Mellenthin, Panzer Battles (London: Futura, 1977), p.174.
35. Frederick Hunn interview, 19898, IWM Sound Archive.
36. Liddell Hart, Bayerlein and Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa, p.9.
37. Private papers of R.L. Crimp, 96/50/1 & Con Shelf, IWM Documents.
38. Mellenthin, Panzer Battles, p.175.
39. For more on the ‘going map’ deception see Sir David Hunt, A Don at War (London: Routledge, 1990), pp.123–25.
40. Frederick Hunn interview, 19898, IWM Sound Archive.
41. Liddell Hart, Bayerlein and Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa, p.10.
42. Liddell Hart, Bayerlein and Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa, p.10.
43. Liddell Hart, Bayerlein and Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa, p.11.
44. Douglas Waller interview, 23447, IWM Sound Archive.
45. Quoted in Bernd Hartmann, Panzers in the Sand Volume Two 1942–45: The History of the Panzer-Regiment 5 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2011), p.49.
46. Liddell Hart, Bayerlein and Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa, p.11.
47. Private papers of K.L. Phillips, 06/2/3, IWM Documents.
48. Stephen Kennedy interview, 19089, IWM Sound Archive.
49. Private papers of K.L. Phillips, 06/2/3, IWM Documents.
50. Quoted in Hartmann, Panzers in the Sand Volume Two 1942–45, p.50.
51. Liddell Hart [ed.], The Rommel Papers, pp.279–80.
52. Liddell Hart, Bayerlein and Roberts, A Battle Report: Alam Halfa, p.20.
53. Christopher Shores and Hans Ring, Fighters over the Desert: The Air Battles in the Western Desert, June 1940 to December 1942 (London: Neville Spearman, 1969), pp.168–70.
54. OH, Vol. III, p.382 [fn].
55. Heinz Werner Schmidt, With Rommel in the Desert (London: Panther, 1955), p.171.
56. Niall Barr, Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein (London: Pimlico 2005), p.239.
57. Ronald Walker, The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945: Alam Halfa and Alamein (Wellington: NZ Historical Publications Branch, 1967), p.123.
58. Harry Crispin Smith interview, 19090, IWM Sound Archive.
59. Harry Crispin Smith interview, 19090, IWM Sound Archive.
60. Howard Kippenberger, Infantry Brigadier (London: Geoffrey Cumberledge, 1949), p.215.
61. Kippenberger, Infantry Brigadier, p.215.
62. Kippenberger, Infantry Brigadier, p.216.
63. Harry Crispin Smith interview, 19090, IWM Sound Archive.
64. Quoted in Barr, Pendulum of War, pp.239–40.
65. Private papers of J.W. York, PP/MCR/97, IWM Documents.
66. Private papers of F.W. Daniels, PP/MCR/159, IWM Documents.
67. Private papers of E. Norris, 80/18/1, IWM Documents.
68. Private papers of J.W. York, PP/MCR/97, IWM Documents.
69. Private papers of E. Norris, 80/18/1, IWM Documents.
70. Private papers of E. Norris, 80/18/1, IWM Documents.
71. Private papers of E. Norris, 80/18/1, IWM Documents.
72. Private papers of E. Norris, 80/18/1, IWM Documents.
73. Private papers of E. Norris, 80/18/1, IWM Documents.
74. Private papers of E. Norris, 80/18/1, IWM Documents.
75. Private papers of F.W. Daniels, PP/MCR/159, IWM Documents.
76. Private papers of J.W. York, PP/MCR/97, IWM Documents.
77. Private papers of D.L.A. Gibbs, P470, IWM Documents.
78. Private papers of D.L.A. Gibbs, P470, IWM Documents.
79. Shores and Ring, Fighters over the Desert, p.181.
80. Quoted in Shores and Ring, Fighters over the Desert, p.231.
CHAPTER SIX
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nbsp; 1. It was, for example, Rommel’s opinion that the ‘ultra-conservative structure’ of the British Army meant that ‘although excellently suited for fighting on fixed fronts, [it] was far from suitable for war in the open desert’. B.H. Liddell Hart [ed.], The Rommel Papers (New York: Da Capo Press, 1953), p.298. Mellenthin believed ‘The British excelled at static warfare, while in mobile operations Rommel had proved himself master of the field’. F.W. von Mellenthin, Panzer Leader (London: Futura, 1977), p.172.
2. ‘LIGHTFOOT: General Plan of Eighth Army’, 14 September 1942, BLM28/3, Montgomery Papers, IWM Documents.
3. John Harding interview, 8736, IWM Sound Archive.
4. This included Alexander and Montgomery as well as Lumsden, Leese and Horrocks (the latter albeit briefly before being made a prisoner of war). Amongst the divisional commanders, Gatehouse, Wimberley, Freyberg, Morshead, Briggs, Hughes and Nichols had all seen action in France and Belgium. This meant that only Harding, Tuker and Pienaar amongst those of General rank had not.
5. Carol Mather interview, 19629, IWM Sound Archive. Montgomery’s much-praised use of liaison officers like Mather actually resembled a similar practice employed by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig as the British Expeditionary Force commander in the First World War.
6. Brian Wyldbore-Smith interview, 19956, IWM Sound Archive.
7. Brian Wyldbore-Smith interview, 19956, IWM Sound Archive.
8. Brian Wyldbore-Smith interview, 19956, IWM Sound Archive.
9. Quoted in Jonathan B.A. Bailey, Field Artillery and Firepower (London: Routledge, 1989), p.182.
10. Meteorological reports in the desert were notoriously unreliable.
11. Private papers of V.L. Bosazza, 80/2/1, IWM Documents.
12. Private papers of J.B. Scollen, 80/38/1, IWM Documents.
13. Private papers of V.L. Bosazza, 80/2/1, IWM Documents.
14. Private papers of V.L. Bosazza, 80/2/1, IWM Documents.
15. I.S.O. Playfair, The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume IV: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa (London: HMSO, 1966 [Repr. Naval & Military Press, 2004]) (henceforth ‘OH, Vol. IV’), p.5.
16. ‘A Dour Soldier Takes Over In Germany’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 1947. Robertson was the eldest son of Field Marshal Sir William ‘Wully’ Robertson, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff for much of the First World War.
17. Francis Tuker, Approach to Battle: A Commentary – Eighth Army, November 1941 to May 1943 (London: Cassell, 1963), p.16.
18. Jon Latimer, Alamein (Harvard, Connecticut: Harvard University Press, 2002), p.126. For more on Robertson, see D.G. Williamson, A Most Diplomatic General: the Life of General Lord Robertson of Oakridge Bt, GCB, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DSO, MC, 1896–1974 (London: Brassey’s, 1996).
19. Stephen Kennedy interview, 19089, IWM Sound Archive.
20. Stephen Kennedy interview, 19089, IWM Sound Archive.
21. Private papers of F. Hunn, PP/MCR/420, IWM Documents.
22. Private papers of R.L. Crimp, 96/50/1 & Con Shelf, IWM Documents. According to Michael Carver, as a result of this change ‘some curious hybrid animals were seen painted on vehicle mudguards for a long time after’.
23. Mick Collins, ‘One Man’s War’, 92/1/1, IWM Documents.
24. Stuart Hamilton MC, Armoured Odyssey – 8th Royal Tank Regiment in The Western Desert 1941–1942, Palestine, Syria, Egypt 1943–1944, Italy 1944–1945 (London: Tom Donovan, 1995), p.70.
25. Carol Mather interview, 19629, IWM Sound Archive.
26. Carol Mather interview, 19629, IWM Sound Archive.
27. Quoted in Niall Barr, Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein (London: Pimlico 2005), p.267.
28. Ronald Walker, The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945: Alam Halfa and Alamein (Wellington: NZ Historical Publications Branch, 1967), p.194.
29. ‘The Teddy Bear Lancers’, private papers of L. Flanakin, 07/13/1, IWM Documents.
30. Howard Kippenberger, Infantry Brigadier (London: Geoffrey Cumberledge, 1949), p.223.
31. See Bryn Hammond, The Theory and Practice of British Tank Warfare on the Western Front during the First World War (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, forthcoming), passim.
32. Kippenberger, Infantry Brigadier, p.223.
33. Walker, Alam Halfa and Alamein, p.194.
34. Private papers of D.N. Wimberley, PP/MCR/182, IWM Documents.
35. Private papers of D.N. Wimberley, PP/MCR/182, IWM Documents.
36. Private papers of D.N. Wimberley, PP/MCR/182, IWM Documents.
37. Frank Devaney interview, 2699, IWM Sound Archive.
38. ‘LIGHTFOOT: Memorandum No. 2 by Army Commander, 6 October 1942, BLM28/5, Montgomery Papers, IWM Documents.
39. ‘LIGHTFOOT: Memorandum No. 2 by Army Commander’, 6 October 1942, BLM28/5, Montgomery Papers, IWM Documents.
40. Kippenberger, Infantry Brigadier, p.224.
41. Lieut. Col. J.H. Boraston [ed.], Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatches (December 1915–April 1919) (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1979 (reprint of 1919 edition)), Final Dispatch, March 1919, p.319.
42. Montgomery may have consciously amended this model after the battle, reducing it to three stages, in an attempt to distance himself from his Great War influences. See ‘The Battle of Egypt 23 Oct – 7 Nov 1942: Some Notes by Lt. Gen. B.L. Montgomery’ ‘Main Lessons of the Battle’, BLM28/1 Montgomery Papers, IWM Documents.
43. Carol Mather interview, 19629, IWM Sound Archive.
44. Peter Moore interview, 11890, IWM Sound Archive.
45. Peter Moore interview, 11890, IWM Sound Archive.
46. Peter Moore interview, 11890, IWM Sound Archive.
47. Peter Moore interview, 11890, IWM Sound Archive.
48. Private papers of K.E.A. Wilson, 83/25/1, IWM Documents.
49. Peter Moore interview, 11890, IWM Sound Archive.
50. Tuker, Approach to Battle, pp.208–09.
51. Frank Devaney interview, 2699, IWM Sound Archive.
52. Private papers of J.W. York, PP/MCR/97, IWM Documents.
53. Private papers of R.L. Crimp, 96/50/1 & Con Shelf, IWM Documents.
54. ‘The Teddy Bear Lancers’, private papers of L. Flanakin, 07/13/1, IWM Documents.
55. Douglas Covill interview, 18023, IWM Sound Archive.
56. Arthur Reddish, El Alamein: A Tank Soldier’s Story (Wanganui, New Zealand: Wanganui Newspapers, 1992), p.20.
57. OH, Vol. IV. p.10.
58. James Lucas, War in the Desert: The Eighth Army at El Alamein (London: Arms & Armour, 1982), p.110.
59. Kippenberger, Infantry Brigadier, pp.215–216.
60. ‘Fly With Me’, private papers of C.M.S. Gardner, 99/23/1, IWM Documents.
61. Billy Drake interview, 27073, IWM Sound Archive.
62. Billy Drake interview, 27073, IWM Sound Archive.
63. Private papers of G.M.O. Davy, PP/MCR/143, IWM Documents.
64. Later in the war, Clarke was the man behind Operation Copperhead – the use of a Montgomery lookalike – subsequently celebrated in the film I Was Monty’s Double.
65. Heinz Werner Schmidt, With Rommel in the Desert (London: Panther, 1955), p.173.
66. Barr, Pendulum of War, p.270.
67. C.E. Lucas Phillips, Alamein (London: Pan Books, 1965), p.112.
68. Hamilton, Armoured Odyssey, p.70.
69. Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman (eds), Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke: War Diaries, 1939–1945 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2001), p.329.
70. Danchev and Todman, Alanbrooke War Diaries, p.332.
71. Private papers of G.M.O. Davy, PP/MCR/143, IWM Documents.
72. Private papers of D.N. Wimberley, PP/MCR/182, IWM Documents.
73. Private papers of J.R. Harris, 86/5/1, IWM Documents.
74. Reddish, El Alamein: A Tank Soldier’s Story, p.12.
75. Private papers of R.L. Angel, 88/46/1, IWM Documents.
76. Danchev and Todman, Alanbrooke War Diaries, p.332.
1. Gervase Markham interview, 16716, IWM Sound Archive.
2. Although Eighth Army had 892 guns of all calibres under command, a good proportion were with X Corps waiting to deploy after the breakthrough or, in the case of a sizeable percentage of the total, in a similar state with XIII Corps.
3. Sir Francis Tuker, Approach to Battle: A Commentary – Eighth Army, November 1941 to May 1943 (London: Cassell, 1963), p.233.
4. Cyril Mount interview, 13123, IWM Sound Archive.
5. Gervase Markham interview, 16716, IWM Sound Archive.
6. B.L.Montgomery, The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery (London: Fontana, 1960), p.129.
7. ‘The Battle of Egypt 23 Oct – 7 Nov 1942: Some Notes by Lt. Gen. B.L. Montgomery’, BLM28/1 Montgomery Papers, IWM Documents.
8. Douglas Waller interview, 23447, IWM Sound Archive.
9. According to the British Official History, the Germans and Italians had 200 field-, forty medium- and fourteen heavy guns to oppose XXX Corps. I.S.O. Playfair, The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume IV: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa (London: HMSO, 1966 [Repr. Naval & Military Press, 2004]) (henceforth ‘OH, Vol. IV’). p.36.
10. Martin Ranft interview, 23210, IWM Sound Archive.
11. On this day, Panzerarmee Afrika was renamed Deutsch–Italienische Panzerarmee or Armata Corazzata Italo-Tedesca. For consistency, I have continued to use the term Panzerarmee throughout.
12. Private papers of R.L. Crimp, 96/50/1 & Con Shelf, IWM Documents.
13. ‘The Teddy Bear Lancers’, private papers of L. Flanakin, 07/13/1, IWM Documents.
14. Jonathan B.A. Bailey, Field Artillery and Firepower (London: Routledge, 1989), p.180.
15. Alan Newson interview, 2499, IWM Sound Archive.
16. Ron Dorey interview, 19572, IWM Sound Archive.
17. Ron Dorey interview, 19572, IWM Sound Archive.
18. Some of Wimberley’s Great War experiences in 51st (Highland) Division are described in Bryn Hammond, Cambrai 1917: The Myth of the First Great Tank Battle (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008).
19. C.N.Barker, ‘Wielding the Sword: An Autobiography’, 96/12/1, IWM Documents.