Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Light on the fourth day of the Crusader Battle

As the sky got light, Robert Crisp and his compatriots could see a rapidly moving column of transport. They must have been German, as they suddenly turned to the west. A battle erupted on the right. Robert Crisp was in C Squadron, 3rd RTR, and by mid-morning, they were moved to support A and B Squadrons. Robert heard that the second-in-command of B Squadron had been killed. Robert later found that his tank had been hit from behind by friendly fire. They found that they could always fight Italian M13/40s, German Pzkw IIs and armoured cars with Stuarts. They learned that they would have trouble with Pzkw IIIs and Pzkw IVs in a straight-on fight. They had to be beat "by subterfuge". Robert learned that the Stuart could take 20mm shot hits from Pzkw IIs with impunity. He also realized that the German tankers "were some very windy soldiers". This is based on the account in Robert Crisp's book Brazen Chariots.

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