Orde Wingate by Trevor Royle

Author:Trevor Royle [Royle, Trevor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War II
ISBN: 9781848325722
Google: ZyHOAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-11-30T02:48:58+00:00

Nine

WITH THE LION OF JUDAH

By the time that Wingate arrived in Khartoum Wavell had taken steps to strengthen his forces for the forthcoming campaign in Ethiopia. The 5th Indian Division had arrived in the Sudan to reinforce the existing British brigade and the Sudan Defence Force. A South African Division had been formed in Kenya to reinforce the local battalions of the King’s African Rifles and, by December, following the success of O’Connor’s counter-offensive, he felt confident enough of the British position in Egypt to transfer the 4th Indian Division to the Sudan. By January 1941 the GOG East Africa, General Sir Alan Cunningham, would have sufficiently strong forces to pursue the war into Ethiopia with the intention of defeating the larger Italian army led by the Duke of Aosta and restoring Haile Selassie to the throne he had lost in 1936–37. Cunningham also had the strategic advantage of being able to use the East African ports to reinforce and resupply his forces from India and South Africa, whereas the Italians’ lines of communication were badly protected and open to attack.

As it turned out, though, the initial stages of the operation to defeat the Italians in Ethiopia experienced mixed fortunes. The attack on Gallabat began on 6 November but the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier William Slim, soon got into difficulties: the light tanks of the 6th Royal Tank Regiment were plagued by mechanical breakdowns and, following Italian aerial bombardment, some elements of the 1st Essex Regiment panicked and ran from the battlefield. Although Gallabat was captured, Slim was forced to retire; his brigade suffered considerable casualties and its difficulties were compounded by a failure of morale. More successful were the activities of Gazelle Force, a mobile column formed from elements of the 5th Indian Division, including the mechanised Skinner’s Horse and the Sudan Defence Force’s 1st Machine-Gun Regiment. Commanded by Colonel (later General Sir) Frank Messervy, its role was to harass Italian forces in Kassala and, according to its commander, to ‘make his life absolute hell… I want it to be so that they [the Italians] are afraid to move by day or sleep by night.’1 In this respect Gazelle Force was similar to the Long Range Desert Groups which were used later against the German forces in North Africa.

At the same time Sandford had begun the task of fermenting the Patriot revolt on 18 September and had formed his forward headquarters at Faguta in a mountainous area south of Lake Tana. With him he had taken Captain Ronald Critchley, 13th/18th Hussars, Major D. H. Nott, Worcestershire Regiment, Captain R. E. Foley, Royal Engineers and Lieutenant Clifford Drew as medical officer; and in Khartoum he also had the services of Major Robert Cheeseman, the former consul in Gojjam, who had a detailed knowledge of the territory. Another element of the mission, led by Major Count A. W D. Bentinck, Coldstream Guards, set up camp north of Lake Tana at Armachaho. Central to the mission’s philosophy was the

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