Three Kings (Kirov Series) by John Schettler

soon
discovered a weakness in the Italian line.
    “One of my Brigadiers,
Dorman-Smith happened on it,” said O’Connor, “and I’ve gone forward to see the
area personally. We can move along an open wadi through an escarpment masking
the position. I’ll run two brigades of the 4th Indian right through, and
they’ll be behind those encampments you mentioned a moment ago, and taking them
from a most unexpected direction.”
    “But surely they have forces
along the coast road at Azzizya and Bug Bug . You’ll run those Brigades right into the hornet’s
nest, and once they get in how in the world will you get them out?”
    “Yes!” O’Connor said exuberantly.
“Right into the nest, but we are the hornets, and we’ll take them like a bolt
from the blue!”
    Surprise was essential to the
success of his plan, which is why a cloak of secrecy had been thrown over the
whole operation as he worked it all out. He would issue no written orders,
confine planning to key staff members only, and not even the troops knew of the
impending battle until that very night, just three days prior to commencement
of the operation.
    Yet it was more than mere secrecy
as to timing that would create the element of surprise. O’Connor was taking an
otherwise ponderous force in the 4th Indian Division, and giving it a dynamic
new axis of attack. Instead of fighting up the coast road to come upon the
Italian encampments from the most expected direction, he would send his
infantry through an inland gap in an escarpment, and have them drive north,
then east to appear suddenly behind the enemy position. His armor would be on
the left, driving north towards Bug Bug to cut the
main coast road. He explained his thinking to Wavell.
    “I’ll have 4th and 7th Armored
Brigades right beside them on their left. We’ll punch through, and I’ll send
4th Brigade to Azzizya , and 7th to Bug Bug . Meanwhile the Indian Division takes those encampments
from the rear and storms on to invest Sidi Barani .”
    It was a bold plan, even daring
considering how badly outnumbered the British were at that moment. Wavell
looked at the map for some time, thinking. Though he had grave reservations,
and did not yet grasp how an armored force should be fought in these
circumstances, he gave his grudging approval for the plan they would come to
call “O’Connor’s Raid,” Operation Compass.
     “If you can give them a
good beating it will mean the world to us now,” said Wavell. “We’ve got to get
back on our feet. I’ll send the order up through Jumbo just to follow
protocol.” He was referring to General Maitland ‘Jumbo’ Wilson, the nominal
commander of British troops in Egypt at the time. In spite of his caution, he
caught the glint of brilliance in O’Connor’s plan. It seemed rash, even
foolhardy, yet if it worked… He turned to O’Connor, taking a long breath. “You
may have your battle, General, and god go with you.”
    O’Connor was elated. He had planned
everything he would need for this operation, right down to the open desert
supply depots he would create, the night marches the troops would make, and
every other detail of the attack. He had even put his men through a training
exercise where towns were mocked up to mimic the Italian positions as
photographed from above. The only question now was whether the men and material
he had in hand would be enough to do the job. The equipment O’Connor had at his
disposal was not entirely suited to the action he had in mind.
    The 7th Armored Division had only
recently taken that new name, having been simply called “The Armored Division”
before it arrived in Egypt. The divisional commander’s wife took a stroll
through the Cairo Zoo one day, and when she returned home she drew a sketch of
a Jerboa which soon was adopted as the divisional flash. Even as the Armored
Division took its first number, lucky 7, so it also came to be called the
“Desert Rats.” It had only 65 tanks when Italy declared