Chapter 168
20th July 1941
South of Tobruk, British occupied Lybia
“FIRE!”
The gun roared and a seventeen pound shell raced towards the other end of the shooting range. A mile and a half downrange the shell slammed into a old hulk that had used to be an Italian tank and exploded the vehicle in a ball of fire. It had been fired from a Ordnance QF 17 pounder mounted in a Cromwell Tank. Since it was the command tank of the Regimental Commander, it was not an ordinary Cromwell, but rather one that had two extra wireless sets at the priced of reduced ammunition capacity. Lieutenant Colonel Niemczyk VC stood up in the turret and shifted the black beret with the Division's 'Desert Rat' Insignia into the correct position again. Under him the tank shifted forwards again and quickly crossed the expanse of the shooting range and pulled up beside the smoking Fiat M13/40 and the crew disembarked. Jan inspected the tank as closely as he dared and was followed by his crew. “So lads, what do you think?” Jan asked. “Unter den Linden at the very least if we had had that thing in Belgium, Colonel.” Corporal Garside, the gunner said. Jan grinned and had his crew re-mount 'Battleaxe II' and they then drove back to the Regimental headquarters about five miles outside the fought-over fortress. The entire northern coast of Lybia was one huge, gigantic armed camp and growing. On their way back Battleaxe II passed tank parks, vehicle parks for the new cross-country vehicles, lorries, whatever was wheeled or tracked and needed. Once they had reached their own tank park, Jan disembarked again and dismissed his men. He walked over to where he had parked the Army Morris that had been allocated to him as his personal hack, once again thinking that rank had it's perks and drove into town. A downside of the rank was that the river of paper that came with running the Regiment did not solve itself, so he spent almost as much time in his Office or at the Division Headquarters as he did training his men for the landings. He did not know where or when, but they trained all the same, even though the special landing craft were hard to come by. The next exercise was scheduled for September, and it seemed to be that someone in the IGS or the Ministry of Defence wanted the 2nd Royal Hussars for that one to 'test combined Arms procedures'.
As he drove towards the Division Headquarters, he passed a point where he had an excellent view of the harbour past the light ack-ack. Down there he could see a freighter being unloaded and some sort of boxy vehicle standing in rows on the pier. He shook his head and drove towards the town itself. In one of the few undamaged buildings the Division had taken up residence, with the 1st Indian Infantry Division ( motorized ) as direct neighbours. Tobruk had fully taken over by the British Army, as none of the fled Civilians had returned, most of them living in.. somewhere, since Tobruk had been declared a military safety zone, with only British and invited Allied personnel allowed. Jan stopped his car in front of the house and saluted as he walked past the guards in the small sandbag revetments outside and entered. Inside the typical organized chaos of a staff preparing a major operation was evident and it took Jan almost five minutes to localize General Hobart. “Sir, we completed the last rounds of tests with the Cromwell...” “So, what do you think?” Hobart asked. “To paraphrase my gunner, we could have smashed the Gerries had we had them last year. That gun is simply amazing, it's long-ranged, it's got a lot of punch, and it's very accurate even at the longer ranges. I can very much see myself going into combat with that tank. When can we expect more vehicles?” Hobart laughed. “Are you so anxious to have your lads equipped with them, Colonel?” “Yes, General. After all, we are the Desert Rats, and this thing is fast enough to make us worthy of that name.” Jan said. Hobart laughed and walked towards Jan from the spot on the wall he was leaning against. “The next shipment containing the rest of the tanks for our Division is supposed to arrive over the next few days, starting the day after tomorrow.” Jan raised an eyebrow and that was enough to convey his surprise to his very perceptive commander. “Thanks to what has been written about the Division, and in particular your very own Regiment for that matter have made someone at the War O... Ministry of Defence think that we get what we need as fast as possible.” “Egh....Are you sure, General?” Jan said. He had never thought that the Division was this well known back home, never mind his own little command. “Very much so. After all, you have the first RAC Victoria Cross, Colonel.” Hobart said and pointed at the respective ribbon on Jan's uniform. The Colonel refused to blush in the presence of his superior Officer. Brigadier Chelmsford did not like it that one of his regimental commanders was the favourite of the Division Commander, but there was little he could do, since Jan carried the coveted letters VC after his name and with a Division commander who had the tendency to bypass his brigade Commanders when he felt like it. Then however Hobart went down the business. “Exercise Able Charly is laid on for the first week of September....”
The Cromwell Tank was the newest in a long line of British Cruiser tanks, and by far the fastest. It had been developed after the fall of France in order to replace the Crusader series that was clearly falling behind the newest Soviet models. The T-34 was about to start it's rule of the Battlefield. Around that time tests against the few captured German and Soviet tanks and combat experience in north Africa proved that the 6 pounder was adequate against existing designs, but against advice by some of the more conservative minded individuals it was decided to limit the production of this weapon until 'something better' was available. Royal Ordnance was ordered to begin development of a more capable gun to replace the 6 pounder in both the Anti-Tank and vehicle gun role as soon as possible. At the same time work began on what would eventually become the Cromwell Tank. Initially the tank was supposed to be armed with the 6 pdr, but when it became clear that it would be replaced far too soon the initial design, called the Cavalier, was scrapped and taken as a basis for the development of a new tank that was to be designed around the new 17 pdr gun as soon as the specifications for the vehicle-mounted version were put forward by Royal Ordnance. The Cromwell was a logical evolution of previous British Cruiser tank designs, and incorporated many of the lessons learned in France. The Cromwell prototype was first tested around the time when Operation Market Garden was being planned, and by the end of June the first production models were shipped to North Africa where the 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions were the first to be fully converted. Even so, only about half of the Armoured Units within the British Army in North Africa could be converted to the new tank before Market Garden started, the rest being rotated out of the front in the following months to receive their new vehicles. As an Infantry anti-tank gun the 17 pdr was marred by the heavy weight and therefore reduced mobility, but when the front threatened to stalemate in 1942, new and more powerful HE shells for the 17 pdr turned it into an excellent Infantry Support gun that helped the Allied war effort by destroying German, Soviet and Italian pillboxes at very long ranges.
Troop of the 51st Highland Division training with the new gun.
The Colonel and the General had spent another four hours with planning the exercise, much to the annoyance of the Brigadier who felt that the General and the Colonel were stealing his honours, but there was little he could do. “That about covers it.” Hobart said after another hour. “Bonaparte said that armies march on their stomach. I beg to differ.” “What, Sir?” Jan askled. “Armies are swimming on a river of paper, Colonel, and even more so in peacetime.”
Jan grinned and was about to ask for permission to leave when Hobart said: “I want to show you something, Colonel.” Puzzled and tired at the same time Jan took a few seconds to follow the General when he walked down the stairs. When they reached the small courtyard behind the house Jan saw three of those boxy vehicles he had seen this morning arrayed, painted in the same green-ish camouflage paint as his own tanks, meaning they were meant for a unit that would eventually move to the continent. “What the....what are these, General?”
“Apparently someone's son and heir complaned to London that the Army had no decent cross-country vehicles and his daddy managed to do what I tried for the same time. Supposedly these 'Land Rovers' are able to traverse just about any terrain at good speed. From what the report that came with them told me the Army plans to make these standard issue for all sorts of units, including Officers.” Jan realized what was coming at him. Once again he was the guniea pig for the Army's fancies and toys. Still, when he began to inspect the vehicle he saw that it had lots of space between the ground and the body and the suspension seemed to be very much suited to this job.
“The report is probably written by whoever designed this, because it included how apparently he saw the basic idea of a vehicle like this in South America a few years back and designed this one here on his own initiative for use on his farm. When the Ministry of Defence beckoned, he and Rover delivered.” “I see, General. But what has this to do with me?” “Well, the rickety old car you have as your personal transport needs replacement, and as a matter of fact, I'd like to hear your own opinion on how this thing performs. It has been tested of course, but frontline requirements sometimes differ somewhat from those that the staffers back in blighty deem fit.” “I feel honoured, Sir.” Jan said with more sincerity than he felt. “Of course you don't Colonel, and for the same reason for which I am dumping one of these on you. There is merit behind the idea mind, but in the end I don't like being used to field test these any more than you do.”
Later model for use on the Burma Front, identifiable by the distinct two-tone paint.[1]
[Notes: I hope no one minds I am using these updates to introduce some of the new kit the Brits have developed for Market Garden.]
[1] Yup, the one and only. El Pip and others have suggested either the Austin Champ or the Landy. Both would need to be moved up by several years, and in the end I dismissed the Champ for the same reasons why the Army dismissed it, reliability, price and not really multi-role. I went with the Series III because there pictures are the easiest to find.
Rule of Cool applies here.