User:Gunbirddriver/Kursk Order of Battle

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Ford

• Ford, Ken and John White Gazala, 1942: Rommel's greatest victory Oxford ; New York: Osprey, (2008).

• X Corps had arrived to bolster Eighth Army, and was brought up to Matruh.
• Disposition of forces: X Corps with 10th Indian Division at Matruh, and 50th Division 16 km SE at Gerawla. The NZ Division was to be in Matruh, but Freyberg declined, and it was positioned on the lower escarpment at Minqar Qaim. 1st Armoured Division now had both armoured brigades of 7th Armoured Division, and had its losses in tanks made up by the aroumor of 10th Armoured Division, a green unit which was sent back once it was relieved of its armour.
• On 25 June Auchinleck relieved Ritchie and took command of Eighth Army upon himself.
• 26 June Auchinleck gave new orders to his corps commanders, Eighth Army to avoid being trapped at Matruh, to fight a mobile battle
• Gott orders his XIII Corps to pull back.
• Auchinleck orders X Corps to fall back as well, but communication with X Corps failed and the CO did not receive the order to fall back.
• New Zealand Division broke out at night and fell back to the Alamein line.
• Gott's other two divisions withdrew to Fuka.
• Holmes counterattack into the flank of the German advance was checked. The next morning he discovered that XIII Corps had pulled out the previous night.
• Auchinleck ordered Holmes to break out to the south that night. His forces were then to turn east and try to regroup at El Daba, between Fuka and El Alamein.

Starting strength at Mersa Matruh

British

• X Corps

• 10th Indian Infantry Division
• 50th British Infantry Division

• XIII Corps

• 1st Armoured Division
• 5th Indian Infantry Division (one Brigade, the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade)
• 2nd New Zealand Division (large formation)

German

• 90th Light: 1,600 combat effectives Mellenthin p.127
• 21st Panzer Division
• 15th Panzer Division
• XX Italian Motorized Corps

• Arieti Armoured Division

• Littorio Armoured Division

Losses

British

• Garrison Mersa Matruh: 6,000 prisoners
• British columns near Fuka: 1,600 prisoners (Mellenthin p.129)
• 9th Durham Light Infantry Battalion (of 151st Infantry Brigade), lost entirely. (Playfair p.289)(Mellenthin p.127) (300 prisoners taken?)
• 29th Indian Brigade lost entirely.
• Air attack on 1st Armoured (friendly fire)

On 27 June 1942, units of the 7th Armoured Division temporarily under command of 1st Armoured Division, along with units of the British 3rd Hussars, suffered one of the worst friendly fire incidents when they were attacked by a group of RAF Vickers Wellington bombers during a two-hour raid near Mersa Matruh, Egypt. Over 359 troops were killed and 560 others were wounded. (Rommel pp.238-239) (numbers stated are not provided by Rommel in the source citated) June 1942: RAF Wellingtons pummeled Allied troops near Mersa Matruh, North Africa. One of the victims was the 4th County of London Yeomanry, British 7th Armoured Division. Data given on losses was vague, although it was said much damage was caused. The regimental historian thought it was worth mentioning that the officers mess vehicle was destroyed with its priceless whiskey. One soldier earned a medal by saving some of the vehicles from the fires. See p.65, Graham, Andrew. Sharpshooters at War: The 3rd and 4th and 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry, 1939-1945 (London: Sharpshooters Regimental Association, 1964). The British 3rd Hussars were also hit, apparently in the same raid, but their total losses were not specified. See p.95-96, Bickers, Richard Townshend. Friendly Fire: Accidents in Battle from Ancient Greece to the Gulf War (London: Leo Cooper, 1994). The aftermath of RAF raids at this time were also seen by the Germans: "...The RAF had bombed their own troops, and with tracer flying in all directions, German units fired on each other. At 0500 hours next morning 28th June, I drove up to the breakout area where we had spent such a disturbed night. There we found a number of lorries filled with the mangled corpses of New Zealanders who had been killed by the British bombs..." Quote by Erwin Rommel. See p.238-239, Liddell-Hart, Basil Henry. The Rommel Papers (New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, Javanovich, 1953).

German

Starting strength

• Break out attack by NZ 4th Brigade through 21st Panzer resulted in heavy losses among German forces of the 104th Regiment (Mellenthin?)
• 90th Light shelling by 50th British

Notes

Butler p. 335

Jackson pp. 238-244

Lewin p. 132

Liddell Hart pp. 278-279

Mellenthin pp. 122-129

Messenger pp. 98-100

Neillands pp. 127-128

Playfair pp. 284-295

Rommel pp. 233-242

Young p. 109

New source

• The Battle of Gazala

Jackson

• British command chose to fight a major battle at Mersa Matruh.
• Auchenlick offers his resignation (22 June?)
• After Auchenlick took command of 8th Army on 25 June he issued three major directives: the first was that 8th Army was to be kept in being. The second was that the 8th Army was to convert itself to a mobile formation. He intended to do this by taking the infantry in each formation that did not have transport and sending the men back to Alamein or the Nile to work on defense preparations.
• Midday June 27th Auch sends message to his two corps commanders that if they are threatened of being cut off they were to retire, rather than face encirclement and possible destruction.

• Communication from the Corps level on down was poor.
• In the afternoon of 27 June under the cover of an artillery duel 21st Panzer worked its way around to the east flank of 2nd New Zealand, scattering its transport.
• Gott made his decision to withdraw that night and notified 8th Army. Auch sent message to XIII Corps to withdraw as well, but the message did not reach Holmes till 0430 the next morning. XIII Corps continued its attacks to the south in an attempt to take the pressure off X Corps, not realizing X Corps had already left.

• The 29th saw columns of both sides racing to Alamein running parallel to each other.

Playfair

Strong forces under Gott were to delay the enemy at the frontier. In fact the Axis crossed the frontier on 23 June. No time to develop defenses. Gott withdrew XIII Corps.

Neillands

• Columns moving east, great confusion, units mingled and became disorganized. Due to the high number of British and American built trucks used by DAK for transport, it was difficult to tell who was who.
• German columns were sometimes in front of the retreating British columns.
• The episode became known as the “Gazala Gallop”

Neillands, Robin ‘‘The Desert Rats: 7th Armoured Division 1940-1945’’

Lewin

Mersa Matruh was a minor version of Tobruk.

Mellenthin

• “As a result of Auchinleck’s hesitation, the British not only lost a great opportunity of destroying the Panzerarmee but suffered a serious defeat, which might easily have turned into an irretrievable disaster. I stress this point, for to the student of generalship there are few battles so instructive as Mersa Matruh.”
• p.125: Evening of 25 June Recon reach outer defenses of Mersa Matruh. Rommel plan of attack. Dispositions of British forces different than envisaged by Rommel.
• p.126 1st Armoured at 160 tanks. Auch to Gott and Holmes: Give the strongest possible resistance. If one Corps is attacked the other shoulder take the enemy in the flank. Advance began on the afternoon of 26 June. First days conflict described.
• p.127 Dawn 27 June 90th Light annihilated 9th Durham Light Infantry which were posted 17 miles south of Mersa Matruh. 300 prisoners taken. Further advance of 90th Light east was checked by artillery fire (50th British Infantry batteries). Rommel was wth 21st Panzer. Under the cover of an artillery duel 21st Pz (23 tanks, 600 combat infantry) worked its way east over the course of the afternoon across the 2nd New Zealand frontage, getting to the east of the New Zealanders. Afternoon Rommel went over to 90th Light, swung around southern flank of X Corps. Shortly after dark they cut the coast road.
• Lumsden said of 21st Panzer on the 27th "We should have obliterated the lot"

Rommel

• Freyberg injured, Inglis took over command on the 27th. p.238
• 2nd New Zealand attacked at night with bayonets fixed. p.238
• Mersa Matruh the last coastal fortress port held by the British. p.240
• Luftwaffe regrouping, could not put up fighters during the DAK advance into Egypt. p.236

Things of interest to note on Rommel

• Loss of General Baldassare to air bombardment 25 June, Italian commander of Ariete and then XX Corps whose efficiency and capability was much valued by Rommel. Rommel p=237
• At Mersa Matruh the rapid advance of DAK had outstripped the Luftwaffe, and they could do little to provide air protection. Rommel p= ; Playfair pp=283-284 ; Luftwaffe operating at maximum range. Jackson p=240 ; Lewin p=

• Once reaching the Alamein positon, a great number of valuable targets were in range of the Luftwaffe, including Alexandria, the Nile delta, and the port facilities at Suez. Further, the ability of the RAF to operate over the central Mediterranean would be reduced. This did not happen. The air groups on Malta had been reinforced, and this took a great deal of the Luftwaffe’s attention.

Gazala

• “The 8th Army had been out-maneuvered and driven from its chosen battlefields and most of it was reforming eighty miles away. Its force of cruiser tanks had been reduced to one weak brigade of composite regiments, the organization of most of its infantry divisions had been disjointed, and no significant reserves were within reach.”

The Battle

• Attack went in on 26 June. 21st Panzer moved across the short plain between the two escarpments above Mersa Matruh, with 90th Light on its left flank, while 15th Panzer moved across the plain above the second escarpment, intending to brush 1st Armoured Division aside. They cut through the thin minefield and brushed aside two light screening formations, Gleecol and Leathercol, of the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade. Above 15th Panzer ran into the 22nd Armoured Brigade, and a stiff fight ensued.

Lewin p. 14: Rommel was among the first to move over the Meuse. Young p. 49: By nightfall the first tanks were across, with Rommel's tank leading.

Young p. 118 He would not have his orders questioned.

Liddell Hart commenting in a note, The Rommel Papers, p. 233 His journel provides much evidence that his plans were carefully thought out, and that their boldness was based on deep calculation.

Young p. 128 The Afrika Korps did not beat up prisoners. On the contrary, after the first rough pounce it treated them with almost old world courtesy.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Butler, Daniel Allen (2015). Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel. Havertown, PA; Oxford: Casemate. ISBN 978-1-61200-297-2.
• Jackson, Sir William G. F. (1975). The Battle for North Africa, 1940–43. New York: Mason/Charter. ISBN 0-88405-131-5.
• Lewin, Ronald (1998) [1968]. Rommel As Military Commander. New York: B&N Books. ISBN 978-0-7607-0861-3.
• Liddell Hart, B. H. (1970). History of the Second World War. New York: Putnam. OCLC 878163245.
• Mellenthin, Major General F. W. von (1971) [1956]. Panzer Battles: A Study of the Employment of Armour in the Second World War (1st ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-24440-0.
• Messenger, Charles (2009). Rommel: Leadership Lessons from the Desert Fox. Basingstoke, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-23060-908-2.
• Neillands, Robin (2005). The Desert Rats: 7th Armoured Division 1940–45. London: Aurum. ISBN 1-84513-115-0.
• Playfair, Major-General I. S. O.; with Flynn, Captain F. C. RN; Molony, Brigadier C. J. C. & Gleave, Group Captain T. P. (2004) [1960 HMSO]. Butler, Sir James, ed. The Mediterranean and Middle East: British Fortunes reach their Lowest Ebb (September 1941 to September 1942). History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series III. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-845740-67-X.
• Rommel, Erwin (1982) [1953]. Liddell Hart, B. H., ed. The Rommel Papers. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80157-0.
• Young, Desmond (1950). Rommel The Desert Fox. New York: Harper & Row. OCLC 48067797.