Lead by Donkeys

Captain Barlow to the Rescue Having seen off the infantry and gunners of Colonna Fabris, Captain Barlow might have been forgiven for wiping his brow, lighting a fag and surveying the battlefield with satisfaction. But the rattle of machine guns, crack of high velocity shells and the ever louder clank of tank tracks to his flank and rear gave him no such luxury. The Dorchester ACVs of Brigadier Vaughan and General Gambier-Parry rumbled into view down the track. Barlow ran to his Brigade Commander's vehicle and banged on the armoured door. The door swung open and Brigadier Vaughan appeared, Webley revolver in hand. "Sir, get out now, my boys will hold the road open as long as we can". Vaughan hesitated for a moment. "All right Barlow, good luck, see you in Tobruk." The door clanged shut and the column of vehicles lurched forward.  The Dorchester ACVs of Brigadier Vaughan and General Gambier-Parry Lead the Column Down the British Escape Route Barlow grabbed his RSM...

The Battle for the Wadi Al Rahmid We left the battle delicately poised at the end of the last post, with Lieutenant Colonel Munro desperately fighting off Streich's Panzers on the Pimple, Captain Barlow's 18th Cavalry Squadron dismounting to do battle with Colonna Fabris, Colonel Montemurro's Bersaglieri battalion forming up to attack the Wadi and Oberst Schwerin wondering where the enemy had gone. The battlefield positions of the various units are shown below. The Battle Approaching Crisis Point Major Rajendrasinhji, commanding the 2 Squadrons of the 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) forming the Rear Guard, now made a fateful and, as it turned out, brilliant decision. Realising that the weight of the assault on the Wadi would fall on his Southern flank, and that KG Schwerin had swerved off to attack the British escape column, presenting no immediate threat to his Northern flank, he ordered the Squadron deployed there to reinforce the hard pressed platoons now facing the Be...

The British Plan The British escape plan was similar to the one agreed by Gambier-Parry and his officers around midnight on 7th April, 1941. An Advance Guard of 2 Squadrons, led by Captain Barlow's A Squadron of the 18th Cavalry (King Edwards Own), the available armour (a Cruiser and a Dingo Armoured Car) and a couple of Portees, would sally forth at dawn and secure the ridge to the East of Mechili overlooking their intended escape route. The Main Body, comprising 4 further Squadrons, Portees and command elements, would follow immediately behind, with the Portees screening the column from a small ridge to the North of the track. A Rear Guard, commanded by Major Rajendrasinhji and comprising the remaining 2 Squadrons, dismounted anti-tank guns and the few available support weapons, would secure the main routes through the Wadi and take their chances once the Brigade was largely away. These dispositions are shown in the Orders Map below. The secret LRDG location was in the Wadi Al Ra...

Axis ORBATs Axis forces are divided into 4 battlegroups, with a certain amount of potential cross attachment (see below). The ORBATs are largely based on those published in Frank Chadwick's excellent Bengahzi Handicap. Stand numbers are shown as a total and then as platoons excluding towing vehicles and transport, divided by a /. German armour was cross attached in the actual battle orders, indicated with an asterisk. KG Schwerin Elements of KG Schwerin Outside Mechili UNITS 1 X IT BERSAGLIERI MG PLATOON 1 X IT 75MM FIELD GUN 1 X L3/33 TANKETTE 1 X GERMAN AT COMPANY • 2 X PAK 36 • 1 X PAK 38 1 X GERMAN COMMAND STAND  1 X SP BREDA 20MM AA  STANDS (14/9) 1 X BERSAGLIERI INF TRUCK 3 X PAK TOW TRUCKS 1 X SP BREDA 20MM AA 1 X GERMAN HQ CAR 1 X BERSAGLIERI MG PLATOON 2 X PAK 36 1 X PAK 38 1 X 75MM FIELD GUN 1 X 75MM FIELD GUN TOW TRUCK  1 X GERMAN COMMAND STAND 1 X L3/33 TANKETTE Colonna Fabris Colonna Fabris Approaches Mechili from the East UNITS 1 X ITALIAN AT COMPANY • ...

Background to the Battle  Rommel Leads from the Front The Second Battle of Mechili fits into the more "amateurish" stage of the Desert War in 1940-41, when relatively small armies charged across Cyrenaica, often with obsolete equipment, without inflicting serious casualties on the other side, if you exclude prisoners. This began to change with the arrival of the Afrika Korps and, I would argue, definitively changed with Operation Crusader, in which some serious and bloody fighting took place.  Mechili is an interesting and unusual battle for a number of reasons. First, it involved a concentric attack by four different battle groups on a fort in the middle of nowhere; second, it was effectively a race against time for the British garrison as they sought to escape a tightening noose of Axis forces; third, there were few armoured vehicles involved in the actual fighting; fourth, although Rommel was present, he curiously decided to fly off in his Fieseler Storch the morning of th...