Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The initial movement to the west from The Wire

This is Robert Crisp's account of the first day of the Crusader Battle.
After they had crossed the border at "The Wire", the British armoured force moved west. Robert Crisp says that they had a reconnaissance screen consisting of armoured cars from the South Africans, the 11th Hussars, and King's Dragoon Guards. He expected that there would be no surprises. By evening, they stopped and the Stuarts had to refuel, as the radial engines used a great deal of fuel, which gave them a rather short range. As the battle progressed, where there were "swift movements", the fuel consumption would become very significant. In any case, on the first day, they moved 65 miles from their last refueling and were south of Gabr Taieb El Esem. They lay at Point 185 on the map. So went the first day of the Crusader Battle. This is based on the account in Robert Crisp's book Brazen Chariots.

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