“I understand, sir.”
“Very well, let us go and see if Admiral Ugaki has taken your First Officer’s head. These events have certainly taken mine, and I must find another if I am to command this fleet from this day forward. This war has only just begun….”
Chapter 32
For Britain, the war was already very old, a weary struggle that had seemed to have no prospect for real victory. The coming of Kirov had been the first ray of hope, and these strange interlopers from another time had come like King Arthur’s Knights returning in time of greatest need. Churchill was delighted and relieved, seeing the arrival of Kinlan in the desert in just that same light. Now he was preoccupied with the shifting of forces precipitated by the withdrawal of the 6th and 7th Australian Divisions to the Pacific. To replace these troops, it had been necessary to call on the services of the South Africans, and they sent two divisions. To these they added the 70th Infantry division, and then began to make arrangements to send another first line unit, the 50th Northumbrian, from the UK. These troops, and the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions, were enough to hold the line in North Africa.
One Brigade of the 2nd New Zealand Division had already been sent to Singapore, and there were rumblings that the other two would soon have to go along with them. Yet Churchill was chafing to get the war moving in the other direction. It was one thing to make a brave stand, as Montgomery had done at Tobruk and Singapore. What he wanted now was some kind of an offensive that could put the enemy on notice and also convince the Americans that Great Britain was going to be a force worth supporting to the very end. Before these able troops from New Zealand were also withdrawn, he therefore began pressuring Wavell to plan yet another major offensive aimed at liberating all of Libya, and finally defeating Erwin Rommel.
“Rommel is weakened by withdrawals to support this German attack into the Canary Islands. We shall have to hold on there as best we can, for the Americans will soon be at our back with strong support. In the meantime, now is the hour to strike at Rommel, and roll him back to Tripoli! If this means that we must employ the whole of our special brigade, then by all means do so. That we should have such an asset in hand, and fail to use it, would be a great error. It has served us well as a steady shield, but now let it become a flaming sword, and the bane of Hitler’s aspirations in North Africa once and for all.”
That letter to Wavell precipitated a major planning session in Alexandria, with General O’Connor, Wavell, and Brigadier Kinlan. It was clear to them all that they could not languish on defense through the long year. Churchill’s urgings would become an operational necessity, and with each day that passed, the importance of that effort would be strengthened.
“The Yanks are in it now,” said Wavell. “I’m to meet with General Eisenhower next month to plan how joint operations can be arranged for this theater. If we’re ever to win this thing we’ll have to join hands with the Americans and start the long road back. The defeat of French forces in Northwest Africa is already being planned, and that will mean we’ll have to also take a crack at Franco and kick the Germans off the Rock. For our part here, the Yanks can send us material support, tanks and planes, but we’ll have to show Rommel the door.”
“My men are ready,” said Kinlan. “We’ve been languishing back near the old railhead for months now, and holding your coat, but we can have a decisive impact in a campaign like this. I agree wholeheartedly with Mister Churchill. Now is the time to act.”
“It’s been four months since Crusader,” said O’Connor. “We’ve got in shipments of those American tanks, and better cruisers from the UK. General Kinlan, the leg up you’ve given us concerning tank design has certainly helped. The Germans have also been reinforcing their three Panzer Divisions with new heavy tanks.”
“That’s been your problem,” said Kinlan. “The Germans were only supposed to have had two Panzer Divisions here at this time, the 21st and 15th. That third division, the 10th, was supposed to be in Russia.”
“If we don’t act soon, and destroy Rommel’s armor once and for all,” said O’Connor, “then he’ll use it to check every offensive we tee up. So if we go again, then I’ll want your full support. I realize there is a question of limited ammunition, but if we must spend it, then why not do it here and win through to Tripoli. That would put us in a very good position to coordinate with any operation the Yanks pony up out west. That’s what it will eventually have to come to. We’ll have to push the French out of their African colonies as General Wavell suggests, and then squeeze Rommel from east and west.”
“You have it exactly right,” said Kinlan. “That, in effect, is what happened in the history I know, and we can write that book again, here and now. Perhaps we can do a little better and box Rommel up in Benghazi.”
“That sounds interesting,” said Wavell. “If we do attack, what would be the plan of operations?” his eyes were moving from O’Connor to Kinlan, a weariness on him now that was evident to them both.
“Rommel has been sitting on his Gazala line ever since Crusader,” said O’Connor. “He’s built up Mechili as his major forward supply depot. Any offensive we plan will have to strike up the main coastal road along the Via Balbia. It’s what Monty advocated all along. Once we take Tmimi, and push on to Derna, then Rommel will have to give up Mechili. But that will be work for the infantry, supported by whatever is left of the Matildas. As for our main armored force. I propose we muster the whole of 7th Armored here at Bir Hacheim,” he pointed to the map. “From there we drive for Tengeder—that’s where Rommel has posted the bulk of his panzers. If we take that, then we cut off Mechili from the south, and we can run right down the Trig el-Abd to Agedabia.”
“Agreed,” said Kinlan. “Only this time my brigade should be the tip of the lance. If you lead, it’s likely Rommel will have just enough to stop you, and then, with your force expended, we’ve nothing to make that run to Agedabia. So I propose that my 7th Brigade should lead. We’ll blow right through them—blow them to hell, and then you can run right on through the hole we make and cut the whole Afrika Korps off in Cyrenaica.”
“And how might Rommel react?” asked Wavell.
“He’s cagey now,” said O’Connor. “He hasn’t had the strength to attack, and I think it has been his plan to hold his panzers in reserve, and to try and use them against our infantry. I agree with Brigadier Kinlan. If I lead, then we’ll just have a repeat of Crusader. We need to supercharge this attack right from the outset. Kinlan’s force is our trump card, and now’s the time to play it out.”
“Once I take Tengeder,” said Kinlan, “then Rommel will have no choice other than to take this inside track, retreating from Mechili to Msus, Antelat and onto Agedabia. It will be a race to the gulf of Sirte, and that’s one I think we can win. If we do win through, then Rommel has no choice other than to fall back on Benghazi. If we can bottle him up there, all the better. Otherwise we’ll have to chase him all the way to Tripoli, and beyond. I can tell you he fell all the way back to Tunis before he was finally cornered and destroyed. On that note, it would be my advice that General Montgomery should be recalled from Java.”
“Montgomery?”
“No offense, General O’Connor, but as you’ll be on the southern flank with me, we’ll need a stogy old warhorse to push up Via Balbia. That’s what Monty would advise if he were here. He’s stopped the Japanese at Singapore, and now he’ll just sit there on Java. He’s another asset that should not be wasted at a time like this.”