Operations in North Africa and the Middle East, 1939–1942

Tobruk, Crete, Syria and East Africa

John Grehan, Martin Mace

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781783462179
• eBook ISBN: 9781473852358
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

The Middle East Command in the SecondWorld War covered a vast region, stretchingacross Egypt, Libya, Malta, Palestine andTransjordan, Cyprus, Sudan, Eritrea, most ofSyria and a small part of Iraq, and includedsome forty different languages. At one pointit also oversaw operations in Greece, Kenyaand British Somaliland. Its campaign area ranfor a thousand miles from the Jordan to theHorn of Africa.Initially under the leadership of General SirArchibald Wavell, Middle East Commandsearly actions were in contending with theItalian forces in Libya and Italian East Africa.He was soon distracted by the Germaninvasion of Greece and the subsequentdefence of, and withdrawal from, the Islandof Crete. With his attention turned fromNorth Africa to the gean, Italian forces inNorth Africa were able to hold their groundand even receive reinforcements in the formof Rommels Afrika Korps .Wavells despatches detail all of thesecampaigns up to July 1941, when he wassuperseded by General Claude Auchinleck.The Auk had to deal with the Anglo-FreeFrench invasion of Syria and Lebanon and thenationalist uprising in Iraq. His mainconcern, though, was with stoppingRommels advances through Libya. The Axisforces were eventually held close to theborder of Egypt at El Alamein. It was as faras Rommel would go and it marked the endof the long run of Axis successes in NorthAfrica.The despatches presented here form aunique collection of original reports from thecommanding officers in this widespread anddifficult region. This is the first time thesedocuments have been brought together in asingle volume

1

GENERAL WAVELL’S DESPATCH ON OPERATIONS
AUGUST 1939 TO NOVEMBER 1940

The War Office, May 1946
OPERATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
FROM AUGUST, 1939 TO NOVEMBER, 1940.

The following Despatch was submitted to the Secretary of State for War on 10th December, 1940, by GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD P. WAVELL, K.C.B., C.M.G., M.C., Commander-in-Chief, in the Middle East.

1. This despatch covers the period from the formation of the Middle East Command in August, 1939, to the middle of November, 1940, when the war with Italy had lasted approximately 5 months.

2. The Middle East Command, with a staff of five officers, was formed at the beginning of August, 1939, as a planning staff for the Middle East. Its original Charter is given as Appendix A. General Headquarters Middle East now comprises over 225 graded staff officers, exclusive of attached officers and non-graded officers.

September, 1939, to April, 1940.

3. On the outbreak of war with Germany on 3rd September, 1939, the Middle East Command assumed operational control over the troops in Egypt, Palestine, Sudan and Cyprus. It was responsible for military plans in British Somaliland, but did not assume full operational control of this theatre till 13th January, 1940. The garrison of these countries at the outbreak of war consisted of the following:-

A.	Egypt.
	(i)	7th Armoured Division –
		Two Armoured Brigades (each of two regts. only).
		One Armoured Car Regiment.
		One Motor Battalion,
	(ii)	4th Indian Division –
		One Regiment of Artillery.
		One Infantry Brigade.
	(iii)	R.A. Group –
		7th Medium Regiment.
		3rd Regiment R.H.A. (A.T.).
		4th Regiment R.H.A.
		31st Field Regiment R.A.
	(iv)	Eight British Infantry Battalions.
B.	Palestine.
	(i)	8th Division –
		Two Brigades – each of three British Battalions.
		No artillery.
	(ii)	Two British Cavalry Regiments.
	(iii)	Four additional British Battalions (less one Company of one Battalion in Cyprus).
C.	Sudan.
	(i)	Three British Battalions.
	(ii)	Sudan Defence Force consisting of 20 Companies in all, of which the greater part were employed on internal security over the vast area of the Sudan.
D.	Cyprus.
One Company British Battalion.
E.	British Somaliland.
H.Q. and three Companies of Camel Corps.

The fighting forces in the Middle East thus included no complete formation of any kind. There were in all twenty-one battalions of infantry, but only 64 field guns. There were only 48 A/T guns and 8 A.A. guns.

4. The Egyptian Army comprised:

One Light Tank Regiment,

One Light Car Regiment,

One Horsed Cavalry Regiment,

One 2-pdr. Anti-Tank Battery,

Two Fortress Anti-Tank Batteries,

Two Anti-Aircraft Regiments,

One Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment,

Two Searchlight Regiments,

Four Heavy Coast Defence Batteries,

Nine Regular Battalions,

Nine Reserve Battalions,

Two Machine Gun Battalions,

Eight Light Car Squadrons (Frontier Force),

and was in many respects much better equipped than most of the British forces. But Egypt did not declare war on Germany and the amount of support to be counted on from the Egyptian Army was problematical.

5. Since Italy did not enter the war with her ally Germany, the Middle East was not immediately engaged in operations. During the first months of the war I was concerned largely with establishing relations with the neighbouring French Commanders in Syria, in North Africa and in French Somaliland, and later with the military authorities in Turkey after that country signed the Treaty of Alliance on 19th October, 1939. I also visited Aden, Iraq, the Sudan and British Somaliland.

The winter of 1939/1940 was mainly occupied with three-cornered discussions between the French in Syria, the Turks and ourselves on the means of implementing the military clauses of the Treaty with Turkey. Conferences took place at Ankara in October, 1939, in Cairo in February, 1940, at Aleppo in March, and at Beirut and Haifa in May. A plan was drawn up for assistance to the Turks in Thrace if attacked by Germany. This plan was, however, conditional on Italy remaining neutral.

6. In December I paid a short visit to England to discuss the problems of the Middle East with the C.I.G.S. General Weygand from Syria was in Paris at the same time and an inter-allied conference on Middle East problems was held in Paris.

7. A conference was also held in March with the Chief of the General Staff India and other representatives on a plan for the landing of a force at Basra in case of necessity.

8. Preparations against the eventuality of Italy’s joining in the war were impeded by the desire of His Majesty’s Government to do nothing which might impair the existing relations with that country. I was not even permitted to set up a proper Intelligence service in Italian territory, or to get in touch with patriot chiefs in Abyssinia.

9. During this time the responsibilities of the Middle East Command were growing rapidly. It soon became obvious that operational control could not be exercised without at least some control over administration, and the Command gradually began to assume a considerable measure of administrative responsibility. Complete administrative responsibility was assumed in June, 1940. The Command also had to watch closely the political situation in Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and the neighbouring countries, and the work of the Middle East Intelligence Centre was considerably enlarged. It was also necessary to form a number of Training Establishments.

10. The only reinforcements received in the Middle East between September, 1939, and March, 1940, were:

5th Indian Infantry Brigade, which arrived in Egypt on 4th October, 1939;

2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry, which arrived in Egypt from China on 31st January, 1940;

1st Cavalry Division (Horsed), which completed arrival in Palestine on 24th March, 1940. It was incomplete in training and equipment.

16th Australian Infantry Brigade and a portion of divisional troops of 6th Australian Division, who arrived in Palestine in the middle of February.

4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade with some divisional troops of the New Zealand Division arrived in Egypt at the same time.

These Dominion contingents were magnificent material, but were only partially trained and equipped.

The Secretary of State for War, Mr. Anthony Eden, paid a special visit to Egypt to greet the arrival of these contingents.

11. On 3rd February, 1940, the East African Command, which had previously been directly under the War Office, was placed under Middle East for operational control, though administration remained under the War Office.

In March I visited the East African Command and then went on to South Africa and Southern Rhodesia for discussions with the Governments and Military Authorities of those countries. The Union Government decided to send a Brigade and an Air Force contingent to Kenya. These actually reached Kenya during June. Their quality was extremely high, and they are proving themselves excellent troops.

12. At the end of April a valuable reinforcement of 24 officers and 666 men had been received from Southern Rhodesia. These were posted to various arms and units in which they formed, as far as possible, separate sub-units. The quality of the personnel was high and a considerable number have since received commissions. Southern Rhodesia had already, in September, 1939, sent a number of officers and N.C.Os. to reinforce the Camel Corps in British Somaliland. These were of great value.

13. Other British Colonies are also represented in the Middle East. Malta has supplied an efficient A.A. battery which forms part of the defences of Alexandria, and many Maltese are serving in the R.A.S.C. and technical units.

Cyprus has made a very considerable military effort. A Cyprus Regiment has been formed which includes an infantry battalion, Pioneer companies and Pack Transport companies. Some of these, which served with distinction in France, have now returned to the Middle East. A number of Cypriots have also enlisted as drivers in the R.A.S.C. and are doing good service.

Mauritius has sent a valuable draft of 100 tradesmen for the R.A.O.C. The British Mandated Territory of Palestine has also contributed a large number of men, both Arabs and Jews, for service with the British forces, either as combatant companies or in various Services. A Palestinian Pioneer Company served in France, where its work earned high praise, and has now returned to the Middle East.

May to June, 1940

14. Meanwhile our relations with Italy were deteriorating, and during May, as a result of the success of the German attack on France, it became obvious that Italy was likely to enter the war. On 10th June Italy declared war.

The military situation at the time of the entry of Italy into the war was as follows:

There were estimated to be over 215,000 Italian troops in Libya and over 200,000 in Italian East Africa. Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, and British Somaliland, which had frontiers with these countries, became at once liable to attack. Their garrisons at the time of Italy’s entry into the war were as follows:-

Egypt.
	(a)	7th Armoured Division – comprising:
		4th Armoured Brigade, of two regiments, only partly equipped.
		7th Armoured Brigade, of two regiments, only partly equipped.
		Support Group (two Battalions).
		3rd R.H.A. (Anti-tank regiment), and
		4th R.H.A.
	(b)	4th Indian Division – comprising:
		Two Regiments of Artillery.
		Two mixed Infantry Brigades (5th and 11th).
	(c)	Part of New Zealand Division – comprising:
		One Cavalry Regiment (less one squadron).
		One Field Regiment New Zealand Artillery.
		Three Infantry Battalions.
		One Machine Gun Battalion (incomplete in training and equipment).
	(d)	Fourteen British Infantry B...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: General Wavell’s Despatch on operations, August 1939 to November 1940
• Chapter 2: General Wavell’s Despatch on operations, December 1940 to February 1941
• Chapter 3: General Wavell’s Despatch on operations, February 1941 to 15 July 1941
• Chapter 4: General Auchinleck’s Despatch on operations, 5 July 1941 to 31 October 1941
• Chapter 5: General Auchinlek’s Despatch on operations, 1 November 1941 to 15 August 1942