Disaster in the Desert by Ken Delve

Author:Ken Delve
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: FICTION / Historical
ISBN: 9781784382360
Publisher: Greenhill Books
Published: 2019-07-29T23:00:00+00:00

The Italians, true to their word, were mounting another convoy to relieve Rommel. This was the 7,800-ton tanker Pozarica escorted by destroyers, a flak ship and seven aircraft. Although the convoy was spotted and attacked by a Dutch submarine, the tanker was undamaged and made its way to Tobruk. It was followed a few days later by the 1,500-ton tanker Dielpi. A fourth tanker, the 5,400-ton Istria, sailed by night and fell victim to a Wellington torpedo strike. This highly successful August fuel supply ended with a fifth tanker, the 5,000-ton San Andrea, also reaching port safely. Rommel had received a massive boost to his fuel supplies, albeit at some distance from his front-line positions. The old British railway line from Tobruk was not yet back in full operation, and there was also a shortage of locomotives, which Rommel had added to his urgent equipment requirement and were scheduled as part of a major convoy for the first week of September, which was also due to deliver tank, armoured car, artillery and truck replacements, along with ammunition and general stores. The success of the August convoys, with the loss of only one tanker, had encouraged the Italians to plan three major convoys for the period 1st to 10th September.

In the meantime, Rommel was also expecting one of the German parachute Divisions that had been used in the Malta assault, and 1st Parachute Division had already been brought up to strength by moving troops and equipment from the 4th Parachute Division. The latter was to remain on Malta where it too would be brought up to strength prior to moving to Egypt, with an expected deployment date of the end of September. The Italian 185th Folgore Division (paratroop) had started to arrive in August, and the Friuli Division was also slated to regroup and move to Egypt from Malta “as soon as possible”. These reinforcements, along with the 164th Division from Crete, would give Rommel five additional Divisions, all combat experienced. One major challenge remained: the lack of motor transport, an issue that particularly affected his Italian Divisions and that had caused severe problems. To counter this, the Axis made extensive use of captured British trucks, but this too brought problems, and “Our endeavour now was to have all captured vehicles gradually withdrawn from the transport units and replaced by new or repaired vehicles of our own manufacture.” (Rommel Papers.)

No fewer than 4,000 trucks were waiting to be moved from Italy to North Africa, but despite the convoy conditions now being better, there was still a lack of the large ships that were required. This was in part resolved by repurposing some of the ships which were used in the Malta operation, which, at the instigation of General von Rintelen, the German Military Attaché in Rome, were then included in the September convoy plan. He was also instrumental in ensuring the balance of cargo between Italian and German needs, which had up to this point generally favoured the Italian supply, much to Rommel’s annoyance.

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