Thursday, February 08, 2007

The night of the tenth day of the Crusader Battle

When Robert Crisp was ready to go to sleep on the night of the tenth day of the Crusader Battle, Dr. MacMillan brought him two pills and some brandy. The idea was to allow Robert to sleep, even after the trauma of earlier in the day. After the war, Robert read the war diary of the German Artillery Regiment 33. They wrote about a sudden attack on "the supply vehicles in the rear of the division". They popped into the area, quite suddenly, and started firing their guns and machine guns into the transport. Two artillery batteries, the 6th and 8th, turned their guns around, but the thick dust obscured their vision. When a tank ran immediately in front, they fired "over open sights". They very quickly knocked out ten tanks. The fighting took place "at point blank range". That was apparently the story of the destruction of the 3rd RTR's C Squadron, which Robert had commanded. This is based on the account in Robert Crisp's book Brazen Chariots.

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