'Strafer': The Life and Killing of Lieutenant General WHE Gott CB CBE DSO*MC by N S Nash

Author:N S Nash [Nash, N S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Leaders, Biographies & Memoirs, World War 2
ISBN: 9781781590904
Amazon: 1781590907
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Published: 2013-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

Lieutenant Colonel Jock Campbell DSO MC, who commanded one of Strafer’s Jock columns, was promoted to brigadier and given command of the Support Group. The two men were close friends and shared a mutual admiration. It was a happy state of affairs that they would continue to campaign together.

Inevitably, there was a post-mortem after Battleaxe and the conclusions were undisputed. In summary and in brief, the principal causes of defeat were firstly the vulnerability of the Matilda, the most heavily armoured British tank, to the German 88mm gun and also to the guns mounted on the German PZKW15 III and IV, which had a longer range that the British 2-pounder gun carried by Matildas. The Germans did not have many of these 88mm weapons but with their tank-killing ability they did not need many. There were estimated to be five 88s on Halfaya Pass, four on Hafid Ridge and four with the 8th Panzer Regiment. These guns could outrange the British tanks and effect a kill at 2,000 yards.

Secondly, the organisation of the armoured brigades was flawed. There was a mix of cruiser and ‘I’ tanks, which were incompatible. Their vastly different performances limited their ability to work together and:

There was no time to practice the combined action of these two brigades [4th and 7th armoured brigades], which would be likely to resemble badly matched partners in a three-legged race.16

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