Friday, December 01, 2006

Robert Crisp on the third day of the Crusader Battle

By the third day of the Crusader Battle, the British had been able to bring their armoured forces into the planned positions. From this point, the situation was to become worse. The Germans had not reacted the way the British plan had anticipated, so they were forces to make some changes. One immediate problem is that rumours were flying through the armoured battalions that Crusaders and Stuarts were no match for the German Pzkw III and IV tanks. Crews were also starting to dread the German 88mm FLAK guns that were being used in the anti-tank role. Robert Crisp says that after a week into the battle, the calculation became that it took three Stuarts to beat one Pzkw IV. Throughout the battle, the German use of sword and shield tactics, where they used forward anti-tank guns to fight the British tanks and used their tanks against British soft transport and infantry was used with impunity, as the British had not immediate answer about what to do to defeat that tactic. This is base on the account in Robert Crisp's book, Brazen Chariots.

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