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    Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940–43
    Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940–43
    Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940–43
    Ebook285 pages1 hour

    Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940–43

    By Andrea Molinari

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    About this ebook

    Although harsh and inhospitable, the North African theatre of World War II proved to be a perfect environment for irregular warfare and the deployment of Special Forces.

    Following Italy's entry into the war in June 1940, the Western Desert became the background for a long conflict dominated by motorized units. The major combatants - Great Britain, Free France, Italy and Germany - all developed irregular units to exploit the unique conditions of the region with varying degrees of success.

    This book details the genesis, organization and tactics of these forces, including such famous units as the Long Range Desert Group and the Special Air Service.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateFeb 20, 2013
    ISBN9781472802156
    Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940–43
    Author

    Andrea Molinari

    Andrea Molinari has worked as a junior researcher on international defence issues in both civil and military Italian research institutes. He has also worked for major Italian publishing companies as an editor and translator for the Italian editions of military history books, and is currently a managing editor working on military history and modelling projects.

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    • 4/5
      While I realize that the nuts and bolts of military organization are not to everyone's liking, I always liked this series and this is an unusually good number in it. Much of the focus is on the British "Long Range Desert Group," who demonstrated what really could be done with the right resources, and who basically set the example for the other armies covered.

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    Desert Raiders - Andrea Molinari

    Glossary

    Introduction

    Between June 1940 and January 1943 Italian, German, British, Commonwealth, Indian and French troops struggled for control of the Western Desert, their battles being primarily fought in the Libyan province of Cyrenaica and Western Egypt. What is known as the ‘Desert War’ was actually fought in a relatively narrow strip close to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea due to the difficulties of supply and movement in a desert zone.

    But several hundred kilometres to the south, deep in the vast inner desert area known as the Sahara, one of the driest and most inhospitable regions of the world, another desert war was fought, one that might be called the real ‘desert’ war. This war saw Allied and Axis forces involved in a struggle that bore little resemblance to the major conflict unfolding on the coastal strip.

    It was a war that, in its own way, marked the coming of a new style of warfare; a style defined by skilled men bound to their vehicles, men who proved capable of striking well behind enemy lines, men who had to fight against a hostile environment as well as against their enemies. Many lessons were learned during the war, some forgotten, others not. What has not been forgotten, however, is the valour, courage, skill and ingenuity demonstrated by these men during their struggle.

    The Italian fort of Bu Ngem, some 300km north of Hon on the road to Misurata. Nearly all the Italian garrisons were accommodated in forts, whose structure was very simple, with rectangular or square outer walls enclosing quarters for the garrison. As they were mostly built in the 1930s, motor vehicles were not usually catered for. The trellis structure is a radio antenna mast. (Piero Crociani)

    The difficulties of crossing the desert are amply demonstrated here. The first attempt by von Almaszy to reach the Nile was aborted due to travel difficulties. (Carlo Pecchi)

    Combat mission

    The Libyan Desert is a huge area of more than 3,000,000km² stretching for about 1,500km south from the Mediterranean and about 2,000km west from the Nile Valley to the mountains of Tunisia and Algeria. The environment is absolutely inhospitable, with temperatures rising to as high as 60 degrees Centigrade during the day and dropping below zero by night. Water (drawn from artesian wells) can be found only in few oases, where the only vegetation in the area grows. Roads are simply non-existent; what can be found are at best tracks and paths marking the vast plains and depressions. Almost no human being can be found in the huge sand seas of Murzuk, in the Fezzan (as the desert south of Tripoli is called), as well as further to the east in the sand seas of Ribiana and Kalansho, which, along with the Great Sand Sea of Egypt, practically bar the road to eastwards. To the south the Tibesti Mountains, rising up to 3,000m, bar the road to Niger and Chad (the lower heights of Jebel Uweinat also bar the road to the Sudan).

    At first glance, such an inhospitable region would appear to have little military value. However, following the surrender of France in June 1940 the Sahara became an attractive area to control. It offered the Italians a chance to disrupt the Takouradi air route through which aircraft were flown in to Egypt. They could also move from Libya across the desert to reach the lower Nile in the Sudan and try to establish a link with their Eastern Africa colonies.

    A group of Italian officers leading a Meharisti unit in the desert. All of them are riding barefoot and wear the Sahariana. Their only armament is the 6.5mm Mannlicher Carcano Model 91/24 rifle. (Piero Crociani)

    An AS37, modified with a 75mm gun, and an AS42 Sahariana to the rear. The AS37 and AS42 proved very effective vehicles, with good firepower and mobility, and they gave the Italian forces the ability to respond quickly. (Filippo Cappellano – AUSSME)

    From the French point of view, as soon as the Free French forces took control of Cameroon and Chad in August 1941, the Sahara offered them the only chance to fight a war on their own against Axis forces in North Africa.

    For the British, a single officer, Ralph Bagnold, was able to figure out that the Sahara could provide a useful ‘back door’ to move behind Italian lines in North Africa and harass their lines of communication. This concept was not entirely new: during World War I another British officer, Thomas Edward Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’), had successfully waged a war behind the Turkish front line. However, while Lawrence waged a guerrilla war with local tribesmen, Bagnold set out to wage a modern style of warfare reliant upon what would now be called special forces. These forces relied on the ability to travel vast distances unsupported throughout the Saharan wastes, not tied (at least not completely) to the oases, and could therefore operate deep behind enemy lines to gather intelligence and strike at targets, particularly airfields, that had appeared completely secure.

    An LRDG patrol leaving the Siwa Oasis on 25 May 1942. Siwa was the main base for British raiding and scouting forces. (IWM, E 012375)

    A comparison between the combat mission of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and the other forces operating in the Sahara illustrates the groundbreaking developments introduced by the British unit. The Free French forces partly borrowed the LRDG’s means and tactics, but were still bound to the basic concepts of 19th-century colonial warfare. The same was even truer for the Italians who for the first two years of the war only sought to defend their strongpoints. The fact that the Italians, and Germans, belatedly attempted to develop a special forces presence in the Sahara only illustrates how effective the LRDG’s tactics had been.

    Doctrine and training

    European colonial armies in North Africa mostly settled themselves along the coasts and in major towns, rarely venturing into the deep desert. A military presence in the inland regions was established, but only following a defensive pattern. Key positions were the oases, soon turned into fortified positions, which represented the bedrock of the European presence in the desert. These strongholds provided a focal point for garrisons and a shelter for columns and patrols in a way unchanged since Kitchener’s campaign in the Sudan that culminated in the battle of Omdurman in 1898. Unlike the local Arab tribes, European armies were bound to slow-moving supply chains that, coupled with the lack of adequate movement capabilities, slowed the pace of movement right down. A suitable solution was found in ‘hopping’ from one fort to another, a doctrine Kitchener developed by establishing large supply dumps that moved forward with the bulk of the troops. In this way his forces, though still ‘hopping’ from one oasis to another, could be grouped together in a stronger force than the small columns previously used.

    The widespread diffusion of motorization during and after World War I brought a change to the practice of desert warfare. In 1916 British troops had to face a revolt by the Arab Senussi tribe in Libya, where Italian forces only garrisoned the coastal towns. Fast-moving and well-armed armoured cars were used not only to lead the way for regular British forces, but also to perform ‘special missions’ (like the rescue of the crews of two British ships held by the Senussi), which involved deep penetration into the desert. Most noticeably these armoured cars served with Duke of Westminster’s No. 2 Armoured Motor Squadron, whose personnel transferred en bloc from the Navy to the Army and formed up to six light car patrols. Although these patrols never penetrated too deeply into the desert, it is they who are the true antecedents of the LRDG rather than Lawrence and his guerrilla forces in Arabia.

    When the Italian Army undertook the ‘reconquest’ of Libya in the 1930s (actually its first penetration into the deep desert) they made use of a large number of motor vehicles, yet still with a tactical doctrine based on 19th-century colonial principles. Motorized units were still used in the desert in the same manner as fast-moving camel-mounted troops – hopping from one oasis to another and from one stronghold to another.

    An interesting feature of Italian defensive organization in the Sahara was the large number of landing strips spread throughout the area. Originally these were intended to host the aircraft of the Aviazione Sahariana, which were mainly used for reconnaissance; they were later used to bring in supplies to remote locations. Here a group of Libyan soldiers unloads supplies from a Savoia Marchetti SM82 Marsupiale somewhere in the desert. (Piero Crociani)

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