Chapter XXII: Spectemur Agendo - Let us be Judged by Our Acts.
General Alanbrooke would later recount his first clue prior to the Battle of Fort Capuso was the absence of abandoned equipment. Prior to the Haboob the retreating Italians had been abandoning all their heavy equipment in irregular piles and leaving broken down trucks where they stopped. After the storm cleared and the advance resumed the forward units encountered an abrupt stop to the dumping, this information filtered up the chain of command to Alanbrooke and his staff who immediately saw the significance. Suitably warned the British advanced units avoided an attempted Italian ambush at Musaid and forced the skirmishing units back to their defensive positions around the the fort. That however was the limit of Alanbrooke's advance, the already strong 'Capuzzo Garrison' combined with the recently rallied IX Corps and the Italian's pre-war defensive preparations to make a formidable position that II (Middle East) Corps could not take.
This delay caused considerable consternation throughout the Imperial General Staff, while Fort Capuso was a known strong point the strength of it's garrison and the extent of the defensive positions was an unpleasant discovery. The large force concentration however reinforced the decision to take the position not contain it and the IGS agreed with Alanbrooke's assessment that impressive though the Italian position appeared it was far from impenetrable but would only strengthen with time. Following the chain of reasoning to it's logical conclusion the IGS released the only strategic reserve in theatre, the recently formed V Corps under General Henry Wilson.
Henry 'Jumbo' Wilson as he was affectionately known was an experienced soldier who's army service stretched back to the Boer War where he had been highly decorated. While his peers from that era had gone on to reach the upper echelons of the service, Wilson had not. This was not a reflection of his abilities but a result of his advocacy of armoured forces supported by motorised infantry, in particular his promotion of the concept of a motor-rifle battalion, which earned him enemies throughout the British Army's hierarchy. Periods of half-pay and his time in the early 1930s on the quiet North West Frontier deprived him of opportunities to impress in service and many misleading and ill-intentioned reviews, "dependable rather than brilliant" being a suspiciously common assessment, did not help his cause. The Abyssinian War would also have passed Wilson by were it not for the personal intervention of General Gort in the matter. Gort, who's rise up the ranks had been meteoric in the preceding years, was considered to be one of the rising stars of the Army giving his word considerable weight, his position as head of the Imperial Defence College only added to the pressure for Wilson's appointment. With Gort's recommendation, along with many others from the more progressive elements within the army 'Jumbo' was given his chance.
Major-General Henry Maitland Wilson, as he was at the time of the Abyssinian War. His work on the motor-rifle battalion concept would prove invaluable in both the long and short term.
At his forward headquarters Alanbrooke impatiently waited for the arrival of Wilson and V (Reserve) Corps, partly for the troops but also for Wilson's advice and counsel. As a former lecturer at the the Camberley Staff College Alanbrooke was well aware of Wilson's true abilities and hoped to use his experience with mobile infantry to spring a surprise on the Italian defenders at Fort Capuso. Wilson did not disappoint; taking the most mobile elements of the two corps, the reconnaissance forces and the 11th Hussars cavalry armoured car regiment, he hastily assembled them into WILFORCE and flanked the defences of the fort at a distance. As WILFORCE was moving Alanbrooke began a classic Great War era bombardment, in spirit if not volume of fire, the bombardment continued until Wilson signalled his forces were in position when Alanbrooke launched the remains II and V Corps into a frontal assault on the eastern defences of the Fort.
General Fusci, who had assumed command of the 'Capuzzo Garrison' on his arrival, deployed his reserve and stripped his other fronts of troops to hold the eastern defences, fooled by the bombardment into expecting a bloody frontal assault not a battle of manoeuvre. With the Italians fully committed WILFORCE raced over the horizon and smashed in the lightly held south western sector, routing the forces stationed there, and began to role up the Italian's southern flank. By the time General Fusci was aware of the attack it was too late, Wilson's forces were marauding at will through the Italian rear areas, the 11th Hussars in particular cutting a swathe through the obsolete Italian artillery attempting to shell Alanbrooke's diversionary advance. His force almost totally enveloped Frusci's options were limited to retreating into the desert or surrender, realising that a retreat into the desert meant almost certain death through dehydration Frusci surrendered IX Corps and the Capuzzo Garrison to the advancing British forces.
The work horse of the 11th Hussars, the Rolls-Royce armoured car. Famously described by T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) as "more valuable than rubies in the desert" the Rolls-Royce armoured car was a great-war veteran that had been progressively upgraded in the 1920s and was a mainstay of the British Middle Eastern forces. Still a fast and lethal vehicle, and still capable of incredibly feats of reliability in even the harshest desert conditions, it would once again prove it's worth as a raider and harasser of enemy supply lines.
With the fall of Fort Capuso and the removal of a significant Italian force the overall picture of the campaign looked promising to the Imperial General Staff. The news from General Alexander, that an attempted rally by Italian forces north of Sollum, again centred on a Bersaglieri unit, had been overrun by his forces and that he was confident of taking Bardia within days only improved the mood. The one note of caution was that the only strategic reserves in theatre, Wilson's V Corps, had been committed and while additional troops from the Army of India where in transit they would not arrive in time to influence Operation Vulcan. The operation would fail or succeed with the forces already committed.
Up Next; The Hammer and The Anvil collide at Tobruk.