Tuesday, February 11, 2020

The 2/23rd and the 46th RTR attack at El Alamein

There was an attack "to the main road" planned using the 2/23rd Battalion and the 46th RTR. The two units had trained together, so you might have expected the attack to go well, but that was not the case. The infantry commander, Lt-Col. Evans, planned to have his men riding on the tanks and on carriers. They were to be part of a general attack that included a 20th Brigade attack. They were waiting to see that the 20th Brigade attack had been successful. One problem was that the enemy was waiting for them. The attack had a barrage fired first. The the attacker advanced once the barrage was fired. One immediate issue was that they soldiers riding on vehicles were exposed to enemy fire. Another issue was the darkness due to no moonlight. Some tanks got off track and ran onto mines. The vehicles in the attack, when they saw other vehicles mined, swerved "left and right" looking for other gaps. The vehicles then attracted a great deal of enemy fire. The left infantry company lost all their officer, leaving a warrant officer in charge. He led the surviving infantry in a successful attack on the closest enemy positions. They took some forty enemy soldiers prisoner. They were the only success in the attack.

They decided to send the sappers out to widen the gaps in the minefield. One issue that was troublesome was that the 2/23rd commander and 46th RTR lost communications. The same thing happened between the 26th Brigade and the 23rd Armoured Brigade. The two headquarters were situated near each other, hoping to make communication easier, but that did not help. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.

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