[AAR Pz Campaigns:Alamein '42] The Fight for Derna, 1941. (Compass '40 Mod)

[Halsey74]

CHAPTER 1
January 23, 1941

A- The Coast Highway.
At 00:00 hours on January 23, Brigadier Hugh Russell, in command of the 7th British armored brigade rested leaning on his command vehicle, around him the forces at his command were scattered, the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, composed of of 30 Mark VI light tanks and 14 A9 model cruisers. They came chasing the retreating Italian forces from Tobruk, on the map resting on the hood of the vehicle, and illuminated with flashlights by their assistants, the Mediterranean coast and a small town, Derna, were drawn.
It was to be expected that the Italians had evacuated her, but their goal was to verify it. Along the Via Balbia near the coast, several small Australian and British units, elements of the 6th Australian Division and the 13th Corps, advanced in the dark.
At about a quarter to one in the morning a couple of detonations were heard and shortly afterwards it was reported that an Australian exploration unit had fallen into a minefield on the highway to Derna.
Russell gave instructions to abandon the main road and advance along the left flank of it along a dirt track that led from the village of Matube, in order to avoid the minefield.



Change of route

After resting for an hour, Russell's forces set out at dawn, advancing on Derna. At 11 am the Australian scouts in Bren Carrier vehicles fell into a new minefield, behind which there were entrenchments manned by Italian infantry that opened sporadic fire.




Bren Carriers Ambushed It


Was evident that the Italians had units defending Derna.
The British were undaunted, the tanks of the 1st Regiment fanned out and advanced in support of their infantry. For their part, the Italians, totally caught by surprise and without engaging in a real combat, abandoned their position, which fell without a fight into the hands of the scouting forces that quickly occupied the trenches while waiting for the tanks.
The armored vehicles were deployed in the surroundings around 1 in the afternoon and were kept waiting, behind several units advanced, among them the 6th Survey Engineers, necessary to clear the minefields. These did not arrive until nightfall, with which operations were stopped until the next day.



Situation at nightfall, defensive perimeter of cars and engineers ready to start work at dawn on 24

B- The Mechili road.
On the road to Mechili, the 4th Armored Brigade advanced on 23 January under the command of Brigadier Caunter.
This unit had three regiments, the 3rd and 5th Hussars and the 2nd Royal tanks. They were equipped with 80 Mark VI light tanks and 63 Cruiser tanks in their A9 and A13 variants.



The Mark VIBs were light tanks suitable for fighting infantry, but very vulnerable

Caunter had 36 fast Rolls Royce armored cars from Prince Albert's 11th Hussars, which were excellent for scouting tasks.
These forces moved at full speed towards Mechili as soon as it was daylight, with the 11th of Husares leading the way, at 11 in the morning they were only 5km from the town, it was at that moment when the Dust that announced the presence of a group of L3-33 light tanks.
The husars tried to surround them from the north to test their strength and unfortunately they found that from within that great dust cloud a large group of M13-40 tanks appeared, it was an unpleasant surprise, the Italians advanced determined and before the British managed retiring 9 of their Rolls Royces were destroyed, only two managed to escape.




The newly arrived M13-40s in Africa were a nasty surprise to the British.

Caunter promptly ordered the 11th Hussars to fall back and spread out the 4th Brigade in a fan, with the Cruisers concentrated on the road. The cars were distributed in a transverse line to it, camouflage nets were laid over them and orders for total silence were issued.
The Italians, emboldened after the escape of the Rolls Royces, advanced at maximum speed down the road in pursuit and at 4:00 p.m. they went to hit the Cruisers directly. The British tanks, ready and forewarned, opened fire and a bitter fight broke out in which the Italians, now caught by surprise, were the losers.
Almost two hours of fighting as night fell in the desert, the flames of the British two inches illuminated the sand and a dense smoke of dust and cordite drowned the men, when the limp Italians broke contact and left 5 M13-40 and 4 L3-33 on the battlefield without the lucky Brits suffering losses of their own.




Italians are ambushed

The Italians withdrew to lick their wounds and thus ended the fighting on the 23rd on the Mechili road.



[i]Before nightfall Caunter´s Cruisers took control of the road forcing the Italians to retreat

[/i]