CHAPTERS
THE FIRST SKIRMISHS
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Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Hell We Go.....
THE MIDDLE AND FAR EAST - WW2
The RAF Command in the Western Desert was Air Commodore Raymond Collishaw who had little to counter the impending advance. At this time the squadrons were 33, 80 and 12 in Gladiator fighters, 208 squadron in Lysanders, 30, 55, 113 and 211 in Blenheims and 216 squadron in Bombays. Out of necessity to minimize losses they were initially kept to reconnaissance and patrol of the 60 mile front / border between Egypt and the growing Italian forces under Marshal Balbo in Cyrenaica.
As can be seen by the following telegram sent by O'Connor to Creagh on July 04 1940, not everyone was happy with the RAF stance at this time or what role they should be playing:
OCONNOR: 4/1/50 Letter to Creagh referring to policy of 202 Group, RAF including use of bombers to attack enemy aircraft and aerodromes rather than military targets and enemy troops; fighters as escorts in land operations and observation, rather than in strafing missions; and Army Cooperation Aircraft, controlled by Western Desert Force and used for observation, ground strafing and dive bombing.
This was followed by a letter on August 26 1940 :
OCONNOR: 4/1/75 Letter from FO James Gordon-Finlayson of 211 Sqn in Egypt referring to need for cooperation between the Army and RAF.
If it could be said that the RAF were understandably taking a somewhat defensive posture at this moment in time, it certainly was not so of the land forces. Taking a brief respite from the keen sense of fair play and sportsmanship for which the British are noted, and scarcely 24 hrs after Italy declared war, the 11th Hussars (although ill equiped and vastly outnumbered) scooted across the frontier and captured some very surprised Italians who were not yet aware they were supposed to be at war. This undoubtedly being rather appealing to the British sense of humour, the following night June 12, they repeated the stunt and had a similar success. The 7th Hussars and 60th rifles joined them on a foray June 14th and captured the frontier forts of Capuzzo and Maddalena taking 220 prisoners. On the 16th joined by the Royal Horse Artillery, J Battery, they destroyed 12 tanks, intercepted a convoy and brought home "an Italian General".
The only notable Italian offensive at this time was a reoccupation of the ruins of Fort Capuzzo and an advance from here on Sollum which was repulsed, "instead" the Italians at the Fort were made quite uncomfortable by constantly being shelled by the British resulting in notable losses. Throughout the rest of June through July the growing enemy forces lessened the opportunity for harrasement, nevertheless the small British force covering the border continued to inflict large losses with small loss to itself. Incredibly they achieved this through periods of intense heat, sandstorms, lack of supplies, and worn out equipment.
On June 28th the Italian supreme command ordered Marshal Balbo to attack Egypt, however the Italians once again got off to a bad start and Balbo never received the order, his own troops having shot him down earlier over tobruk by anti-aircraft fire. Myth has it that Collishaw had an aircraft fly over and drop a funeral wreath on the Italians base. He was replaced by Marshal Rodolfo Graziani and a new date, hotly disputed, was set for July 15th. This however would drag in to September as Graziani fought with Mussolini for more time. Following a flurry of telegrams between the two, Mussolini in a fit of exasparation ordered Graziani to attack by September 9th or be sacked.
As the land forces tusseled back and forth, the RAF, becomming a little less carefull with their scarce pilots and equipment, was also quite active. Aside from general harrasment raids, ocassional raids were launched against major targets such as the axis supply ports of Tobruk and Bardia. Of particular note was August 17, 1940 when Gladiators covering Admiral Sir Andrew Cunninghams fleet shot down eight SM (Savoia Marchetti) 79 bombers without a loss. Initally, whether intended or not, a seeming effect of Collishaws and Wavell`s early efforts in Egypt was to encourage a somewhat defensive attitude by the Italians, which in turn bought precious time for much needed reinforcements to arrive. Testimony to Collishaws creativity is the well worn story of a single very old Hurricane he had which was juggled back and forth between his airfields to give Italian reconnaisance the illusion of greater strength. Not to be outdone, the land forces were no less creative having made use of phoney tanks strategically placed along the frontier as the need arose. (One can almost imagine the laughter, bad jokes and mixed concerns of these young men as they busily constructed and positioned their phoney tanks while just miles away the Italians were amassing great hordes of the real thing.) Despite these bluffs and combined harrasements by air and ground, the ever growing enemy forces continued to pile up just over the border. Thus the Middle East campaign began. The Italian casualties for the first three months were nearly 3500 men, of whom 700 were prisoners. The British losses slightly exceeded 150.
Sollum- Small harbour, no facilities, no Water. Just east of the Egyptian border an escarpment several hundred feet high runs from Sollum south east for about 30 miles and is passable by mechanized vehicles only at a few places. At sollum itself the road up the escarpment is steep with hairpin bends. Between the escarpment and the sea travel is confined to certain tracks but at the opposite end to the south and west it is easily passable by vehicles.
Sidi Barrani - on the coast road in Egypt East of Sollum and East of Bug Bug, a small collection of houses and a landing ground.
Reinforcement aircraft were an enormous difficulty to get to this new theatre due to the extreme distances involved. Very long range aircraft such as the Blenheim and Wellington could make the journey by air via Gibralter and Malta, however badly needed modern fighters could not. The only practical alternative route involved a sea voyage to Takoradi where the aircraft were unloaded and re-assembled by a team led by Group Captain H.K. Thorold. They were then flown several thousand miles across the extremely inhospitable terrain of Africa using the old landing strips of Imperial Airways as stops. On Sept 19, 1940 the first group of Hurricanes with a Blenheim escort took this route arriving in the Canal Zone seven days later. Squadron leader A. Coningham was to thank for developing this route which ultimately ended up being used for a considerable period. Given the complete lack of accurate weather forecasting and navigational aids, not to mention the reliability of these hastily assembled aircraft under trying conditions, it would be interesting to know how many vintage fighter aircraft litter the jungles along this flight path. One estimate has put this at 10% of all aircraft which used the route but it would be difficult to verify this, undoubtedly it had to be high. The following notes were found on one of the pilots who didn't make it:
................I doubt if I shall live to the morning, I am getting weaker and weaker every minute. I have only three more gulps of water and I have such a terrible thirst, I should go somewhere but where? I am completely lost.
Goodbye, we shall meet where we all have to go some day. Please see that this little money which I have is handed to my parents. I am dying, thinking of them and of Poland. I give myself to God. Time 20:00 hrs., 9th May. Yesterday I walked for three hours towards the West, but I could go no further. It took me five hours to return, I only just managed to do it. So long as it is cool I can still live, but when it gets hot I do not think I shall be able to stand it. Death is very near, I tried to take off I still have 10 gallons but the accumulators are flat. I fixed down the key so that it buzzed all night. I looked for help but now help will not come. I feel that I shall not last long. Time 0900 hours, 10th May. I waited for ten oclock in the morning. I had a feeling that at that time help would come. A dream of a many dying from starvation and thirst. Oh God, shorten my sufferings, there will be no help for me, let nobody land in the desert where there are no people, as there is no way out. Just like me, it is better to be killed. The sand storm was so thick that I could see nothing. Time 1200 hours, 10th May. It is terrible hot, I drink, or rather I lick my scanty sweat. I am suffering terribly. 1345 hours, I hear aircraft flying to the south, to my right, my last hope, I cannot get up to have a look. My last minutes. God have mercy on me. Sgt Pilot Mikolajcak From a War In The Air, pub 1968 Original source unknown. (Personally I believe the authenticity of this note is highly questionable)
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