Posted on 08/23/2006 6:45:57 PM PDT by blam
British to adopt the tactics that beat Rommel
By Oliver Poole in Amarah
(Filed: 24/08/2006)
The soldiers of the Queen's Royal Hussars will today board a fleet of stripped-down Land Rovers, festooned with weapons and equipment, bound for the depths of the Iraqi desert.
Their mission is to adopt tactics pioneered by the Long Range Desert Group, the forerunners of the SAS, more than six decades ago in the campaign against Rommel in North Africa. They will leave Camp Abu Naji, the only permanent base in Maysan province near the local capital of Amarah, and head into the remote region near the border with Iran.
Rather than staying in a fixed spot well known to enemy fighters in the most violent of all the Iraqi provinces under British control, they will live, camp and fight on the move. Roaming through the sparsely populated areas of Maysan, an area as large as Northern Ireland, they will travel without heavy armour that would become bogged down in the sand dunes and sleep under the stars.
advertisement Resupply will come from air drops or transport aircraft landing on temporary runways. Lt Col David Labouchere, the regiment's commander, said that when they needed to act they would "surge" from the wilderness.
"Maysan is and will always be a problem child," he said. "These people are a little like Texans - armed and against anyone who is not one of them. They do not like foreigners and we are a foreign tribe in their midst."
The men are stoical about the prospect of living in gruelling desert conditions. One captain said: "Those who have been on desert training exercise are less keen. They know that after six days, you realise this is not so special after all. But it is good not to be a fixed target any more. Being here is very wearing on the nerves."
The Army stresses that this redeployment is not linked to constant mortar and rocket attacks on the old base of Camp Abu Naji. There, troops have endured a sustained attack, shredding nerves and marking their time with blood and lost limbs.
At least 281 mortars and rockets have hit the camp since the Hussars arrived in April. In the early months of the British presence, attacks were limited to one or two rounds a night. Now the Shia militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the fiercely anti-western cleric, have taken to firing barrages. One night in May, 54 mortar rounds detonated one after another.
On Tuesday, while the troops worked to pack up the camp, 17 more 122mm mortar shells came in, causing such fires that the camp ran out of fire-suppressant foam. The exact number of injured has not been made public.
Today the Union flag that has fluttered over the camp since the British arrived in April 2003 will be taken down and the base handed over to the local Iraqi authorities.
Brig James Everard, the commander of British forces in south-eastern Iraq, stressed that responsibility for security in Maysan province would not be transferred to Iraqi control.
The adoption of tactics from an older era of British desert warfare would allow proper control of the border area for the first time, he said. America has frequently alleged that weapons and volunteers are being brought in by Iran. One of the first tasks of the Queen's Royal Hussars will be to discover whether this is true.
The Desert Rats are back...
Didn't Monty win just one battle without Patton running interference for him?
But it is good not to be a fixed target any more
The British had their butts kicked by Rommel for 2 years or so. They finally won at 2nd Alamein by having overwhelming superiority in men and material (including a few hundred Sherman tanks courtesy of the US). The Long Range Desert Group was just a fly annoying Rommel. Special forces never win major conflicts- they just assist.
Let's see: El Alamein....
Hang on, I'm thinking....
These guys, quite simply--rock. Godspeed and good hunting lads. Stay safe.
Rat Patrol?
Excellent, go get 'em limeys! Stop Iran and you stop al Fat Boy Sadsack.
At least 281 mortars and rockets have hit the camp since the Hussars arrived in April.
That's about 56 hits a month
At Dong Ha in 68 we were receiving at least 250 a month.
God only knows what Khe Sahn was getting.
No kidding. They're hunting rats...
ping
'Rat Patrol'
Christopher George .... Sgt. Sam Troy
Gary Raymond .... Sgt. Jack Moffitt
Eric Braeden .... Capt. Hauptman Hans Dietrich (as Hans Gudegast)
Lawrence P. Casey .... Pvt. Mark Hitchcock (as Lawrence Casey)
Justin Tarr .... Pvt. Tully Pettigrew
If the old base was coming under such extremely-heavy barrages from that nemesis militia...
....then why didn't our British brethren have some heavy counter fire [MC-130 "Spectre" gunship, 105 howitzers, etc.] ???
If you count the Normandy landing, It would make 3. Montgomery was commander of ground forces. Patton was doing some minor "1st Army Group" decoy work.
The British proposed a night landing, to be well ashore before the defense began. The US preferred an afternoon landing, so US naval firepower could weaken the defense before the landing. They compromised on dawn, so there would be only momentary surprise, and no chance for firepower to take effect before the first wave. Gerow, Commander of US V Corps had a plan to rush masses of troops through the draws where the German fire was concentrated. It may have worked in the afternoon, but was no good at all in the morning.
Omaha nearly failed, until a destroyer parked off shore, and shelled the German defenses at point blank range. The remaining US forces learned by doing, to avoid the draws, and to go up the sheer sides, and then attack down from the hillsides to the flanks and rear of the German positions.
The current moved all the forces to the left, so all attacks had to be improvised. Teddy Roosevelt Jr was the only General to land in the first wave, and saw the problem immediately. His message "We start the war from here." cut out a lot of confusion.
Two victories in North Africa, both located at El Alemain. One in defense, one on the attack.
And Montgomery's name is now "Lord Montgomery, Vicount of El Alamein."
Bear in mind, while the Brits were getting their buttes kicked, Rommel had been gaining inteligence from the American Embassy radio codes. Semper Fi,
Yep.
I don't think they're going to scrape up 800 field guns and 900 tanks like they did at El Alamein.
THE RAT PATROL followed the adventures of an elite team of commandos of 111th Armor Recon, attached to the Long Range Desert Group, as they wreaked havoc with Rommel's Afrika Korps during WW II.Led by the charismatic Sergeant Sam Troy, our heroes often found themselves pitted against their German nemesis DAK Hauptmann Dietrich.
The Rat Patrol-ran for two seasons, a total of 56 color episodes, on ABC from September 12, 1966 to September 16, 1968.
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