Thursday, December 21, 2006

Robert Crisp's gunner gets a Pzkw III

On the sixth day of the Crusader Battle, Robert Crisp had commandeered a 4th Armoured Brigade HQ signals tank, and headed the tank off towards a roaming Pzkw III that had blundered into the 5th South African Brigade "B" Echelon. The driver apparently knew how to drive, as they were headed in the right direction and he heard the gunner load the gun. The gunner was able to fire, although he took three shots to get a hit, but the hit. He saw the "tracer go into the engine louvers", which caused a fire and the German crew to bail out. They wanted to surrender to Robert, but he motioned them towards some nearby South Africans. He reached the rest of the battalion on the south side of the leaguer. He immediately got involved in a fight with some crossing German tanks and vehicles. He saw three German armoured cars nearby and headed for them. He cornered one which surrendered. A South African Marmon-Herrington armoured car approached and they escorted the German into the leaguer. Robert was afraid that someone would fire on them, but they were able to enter the leaguer without incident. This is based on the account in Robert Crisp's book Brazen Chariots.

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