Three Kings

“It looks that way,” said O’Connor with a glint in his eye, “but we’ve found a chink in their armor-right here, nearBirEnba.” He pointed out the location for Wavell.

Reconnaissance was an art that O’Connor strongly believed in, and he cultivated the craft through every level of his Corps. His primary recon unit was the 11th Hussars, and they had been roving the no man’s land between British and Italian positions to ferret out information on the enemy’s dispositions. A light armor force with machine guntankettes, they were given much needed support with an ingenious solution put forward by Brigadier W.E. “Strafer”Gott. He assembled ad-hoc groups of lorried infantry, engineers, a few AT guns and 25 pounders for heavy support, and he ran them about on the heels of the 7th Hussars recon groups scouting out the Italian positions. They came to be known as “Jock Columns,” after Lt. Col Jock Campbell of the Royal Horse Artillery, who contributed the 25 pounders. They soon discovered a weakness in the Italian line.

“One of my Brigadiers, Dorman-Smith happened on it,” said O’Connor, “and I’ve gone forward to see the area personally. We can move along an open wadi through an escarpment masking the position. I’ll run two brigades of the 4th Indian right through, and they’ll be behind those encampments you mentioned a moment ago, and taking them from a most unexpected direction.”

“But surely they have forces along the coast road atAzzizya and BugBug. You’ll run those Brigades right into the hornet’s nest, and once they get in how in the world will you get them out?”

“Yes!” O’Connor said exuberantly. “Right into the nest, but we are the hornets, and we’ll take them like a bolt from the blue!”

Surprise was essential to the success of his plan, which is why a cloak of secrecy had been thrown over the whole operation as he worked it all out. He would issue no written orders, confine planning to key staff members only, and not even the troops knew of the impending battle until that very night, just three days prior to commencement of the operation.

Yet it was more than mere secrecy as to timing that would create the element of surprise. O’Connor was taking an otherwise ponderous force in the 4th Indian Division, and giving it a dynamic new axis of attack. Instead of fighting up the coast road to come upon the Italian encampments from the most expected direction, he would send his infantry through an inland gap in an escarpment, and have them drive north, then east to appear suddenly behind the enemy position. His armor would be on the left, driving north towards BugBug to cut the main coast road. He explained his thinking to Wavell.

“I’ll have 4th and 7th Armored Brigades right beside them on their left. We’ll punch through, and I’ll send 4th Brigade toAzzizya, and 7th to BugBug. Meanwhile the Indian Division takes those encampments from the rear and storms on to investSidiBarani.”

It was a bold plan, even daring considering how badly outnumbered the British were at that moment. Wavell looked at the map for some time, thinking. Though he had grave reservations, and did not yet grasp how an armored force should be fought in these circumstances, he gave his grudging approval for the plan they would come to call “O’Connor’s Raid,” Operation Compass.

“If you can give them a good beating it will mean the world to us now,” said Wavell. “We’ve got to get back on our feet. I’ll send the order up through Jumbo just to follow protocol.” He was referring to General Maitland ‘Jumbo’ Wilson, the nominal commander of British troops in Egypt at the time. In spite of his caution, he caught the glint of brilliance in O’Connor’s plan. It seemed rash, even foolhardy, yet if it worked… He turned to O’Connor, taking a long breath. “You may have your battle, General, and god go with you.”

O’Connor was elated. He had planned everything he would need for this operation, right down to the open desert supply depots he would create, the night marches the troops would make, and every other detail of the attack. He had even put his men through a training exercise where towns were mocked up to mimic the Italian positions as photographed from above. The only question now was whether the men and material he had in hand would be enough to do the job. The equipment O’Connor had at his disposal was not entirely suited to the action he had in mind.