One Man's War: Rommel & Gazala (Part 3)

How did Rommel reverse Allied fortunes in North Africa? What was the importance of The Gazala Line in WW2? When was The First Battle Of Alamein? Join Jim and Al for part 3 of a new series focussing on one man's war, as they follow the exploits of Sam Bradshaw in 6th Royal Tank Regiment in North Africa and Italy. Start your free trial at ⁠patreon.com/wehaveways⁠ and unlock exclusive content and more. Enjoy livestreams, early access, ad-free listening, bonus episodes, and a weekly newsletter packed with book deals and behind-the-scenes insights. Get your ticket for We Have Ways Fest 6 here! Get your WHW Merch here! A Goalhanger Production Produced by James Regan Editor: Charlie Rodwell Assistant Producer: Alfie Norris Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Social: @WeHaveWaysPod Social Producer: Harry Balden Email: [email protected] Membership Club: patreon.com/wehaveways Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• 0:02Speaker 00

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• 1:42Speaker 00

  You've got to understand about managing men. Some men can command and have the common touch, and some men can only command by establishing their authority with their rank. And it takes a good man to do both, and some can't do it. You have to win respect. And they don't just respect you because you're an officer, they respect you because of who you are. And that's the difference. And if you come through the ranks and win your Spurs that way, you automatically have that right. My fellows called me Brad. I was known as Brad. When I was a corporal, my troop officer called me Brad, and I called him Peter, only when we were together. He'd been his schoolmaster. He used to lean on me a good deal because I had the experience. Those are the words, again, of Sam Bradshaw, describing his understanding

• 2:25Speaker 00

  of command and authority. Welcome, everyone, to We Have Ways of Making You Talk with me, Al Murray, and James Holland, of course. And we're looking at the life of one man in the Second World War, Sam Bradshaw, who you interviewed, Jim, many years ago.

• 2:36Speaker 06

  Yeah, I did. And what a lovely fellow he was. He was one of my favourites. And as I think I said when we were recording this first episode, you know, the thing about him is just, he was just so articulate and moving about it, and frank, and he'd obviously, you know, he had a brilliant memory, he hadn't forgotten anything, it all felt very, very real. He was a young man in a hurry when he went off, and he quickly became quite jaded, as we will discover in the next couple of episodes. But anyway, we left Sam, didn't we, at the beginning of Operation Compass in the last episode, which is the first major British offensive against the Italians in the Western Desert in North Africa, beginning in December 1941. And they, obviously, you know, the Western Desert Force under Dick

• 3:21Speaker 06

  O'Connor, absolutely rout the Italian 10th Army. What we should also do is tell his story, but we should also pause here and there to kind of consider his own reflections on the experiences and his attitudes to other people, and to rank, and to the people he came up against, and not least, the Italians, which I think is kind of interesting.

• 3:43Speaker 00

  I mean, in the last episode, we touched on that the Italians don't, they don't really put up much of a fight, and they've got their lovely leather luggage and their loafers, and they're ready to leave after Compass. There is something slightly different about the British attitude to the Italians, because after all, they had been allies in the previous war, hadn't they? You know, it's not like the Germans, where it's all right, you want it again, do you? That sort of, that sort of attitude, it's, oh, you've changed sides, have you? And there's a, there is a sense of betrayal, isn't there? And a sense of...

• 4:12Speaker 06

  Stabbing the back.

• 4:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly, exactly. Italy, soon after the First World War, becomes to resent its position in the, amongst the world powers, doesn't it? Because it feels it's been sort of double-crossed by the, by its senior partners in the, in the, in the alliance against the Central European powers. But, you know, that doesn't mean, that doesn't translate to a British point of view, where you think, well, hang on a minute, I thought we were pals. And we're not. It's interesting, isn't it? Because Sam doesn't, he's not, he's not really, you know, he's shocked by what he sees, isn't he? Because he sees infantry bayoneting Italians through their tents and stuff, doesn't he?

• 4:48Speaker 06

  Yes, and he thinks that it's his resentment has led to a kind of degree of cruelty. He thinks it slightly crosses, crosses the line. But, you know, but he also points out that, you know, lots of bad things do happen. And he always, and I remember him saying that, you know, it didn't take much, you know, someone's brother's been killed or something, so they want revenge, and it kind of percolates through. And, and I remember him talking about this, this time where, you know, when, when he was in Tobruk at the end of the Gazala battles, and, you know, he remembers being attacked by Stukas, and they hit a hospital. And, you know, whether they were diving on it deliberately or not, or just hit it, you know, who knows? But, but as far as air conditioning, it was deliberate, and it was, you know, proves that they're all evil Nazi bastards and all the rest of it. And one Stuka gets

• 5:32Speaker 06

  hit, and the pilot bails out, but he's shot to pieces by the Aussies below, and killed before he hits the ground.

• 5:38Speaker 00

  You know, he's philosophical about this. He says, "In wartime, you have to make your own rules. And often you make them according to the way you dealt with yourself." That was a terrible thing. That sense of reciprocity in combat, I think, is very interesting, isn't it? If they treat you badly, if they cross the line, well, then we'll, we'll give it back to you. You can look at, say, in Normandy, where the Canadians have no time for the SS because men are murdered. And they, they, you know, Abbe d'Arden, you know, once word about that gets around, the Canadians, Canadians stopped taking prisoners. And this sort of idea of reciprocity is, I think, all part of it. He recognises, though, if you're a young, as a young man, you're hardy, and you can cope, and you can handle it, and you have

• 6:20Speaker 00

  the emotional resources to handle it. He says, "Nothing is too difficult. It's amazing how you can adjust to your conditions." And that is, I think, that's another thing you see in the story of combat, of wars. It's amazing what people can get used to, and amazing how they blunt themselves to what's around them.

• 6:36Speaker 06

  But he's interesting, because he's also got the wit to take note of others more experienced than him. He recognises that, and recognises that, you know, the more skilled he is as a soldier and a tank man, the better his chances are of survival. You know, that reminded me a little bit of kind of, you know, Stanley Kristoferson. Do you remember him? And, you know, it's all been larks when they first go out to Palestine, and then he, you know, they get out and they train on tanks, and suddenly they're at Almehal, and he thinks, oh, this is serious, you know, we need to actually get with it and really try hard. And it's kind of the same, same level. And, and he's conscious of there's one fellow in the, in the, in the, you know, in the squadron, who's a regular soldier. He's also from Liverpool. He's a fine athlete. He's a big giant of a man, brilliant sportsman,

• 7:20Speaker 06

  brilliant at cricket, rugby, you know, everything. And, and he says...

• 7:26Speaker 00

  "He was a wonderful gunner. Probably had the best knowledge of guns in the regiment. He could tell you about ballistics. When I was in action with him, he was a troop commander like I was in the same troop. I used to watch his gunnery. And when we saw a German tank go up, we knew he was responsible. I used to say, 'That's Dowie again.' His name was Baker, so we called him Dowie. You're not going to get a palm door for that nickname, I'm afraid."

• 7:51Speaker 06

  No, definitely not. But anyway, anyway, after Operation Compass, you know, the next sort of major engagements, obviously, there's fighting all the time, there's patrol workers, all that kind of stuff. He did talk about being real quick with Crusaders in June 1941.

• 8:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:05Speaker 06

  And initially, he's not sure. He thinks they, he thinks they look great, and he likes the speed, and, you know, there's more room than some of the tanks he's been in before and all the rest of it. But he feels they're not quite up to the job, and hadn't been properly tested. And two weeks after getting them, they start getting suspension problems, you know, some of the suspension just breaks. So then the fitters come up, and they have to reinforce them with suspension, suspension with steel bars. And they first go into action with them during Operation Battleaxe, which is in June 1941. So they barely had them, and barely had time to train on them before they're in action.

• 8:40Speaker 00

  And, and he says, "It was chaotic. It was terrible. There were three regiments attacked, and we'd been told by reconnaissance that there were no enemy opposition. We made a frontal attack with 52 tanks at the battle line, and the tanks were going up left and right and centre, like a steam hammer had hit them." The Crusader, you know, gets a bad press, let's be honest, as a, as a tank, as a piece of kit.

• 9:02Speaker 06

  Looks cool, though.

• 9:03Speaker 00

  But it does look cool. And it's got, it does not have the Liberty Engine, which is the First World War aeropostale engine that there happened to be absolutely stacks of still kicking around from the First World War. And it's, it's that idea that you use...

• 9:15Speaker 06

  It's what you got.

• 9:16Speaker 00

  It's what you've got, but it's, it's, it's underpowered, essentially. So there's a, you know, until they, until really, they iron that out and stick Meteors, which are, which are downgraded Merlins in British tanks, there's this, there's this endless problem. And it's underarmed, and which we talked about, I think, in the first episode, the armament gap that exists. But he survives Battleaxe, doesn't he?

• 9:38Speaker 06

  He does. I mean, he does also say, a lot of the officers, officers that have been moved into the Royal Tank Regiment had come from cavalry units.

• 9:45Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 9:46Speaker 06

  And they're still kind of thinking like horsemen, you know, which is why they get these sort of cavalry-esque charges.

• 9:51Speaker 00

  There's a reshuffle at the top with the Western Desert Force. So Wavell is out, despite his ability to recite poetry.

• 10:00Speaker 06

  And what were they thinking?

• 10:03Speaker 06

  And despite his comatose presence in, in meetings.

• 10:07Speaker 00

  Oh, man. And his wife, it doesn't approve of anyone as well.

• 10:11Speaker 06

  Well, I know that feeling.

• 10:20Speaker 00

  But enter the orc, Orcinlet comes in and with that you have the creation of the Eighth Army and the RAF's Desert Air Force. So it's, it's, it's the classic British thing to do, have a bit of a reshuffle, rebadge people, reinvent people, out with the old boss, in with the new boss, see what you can get. And then following that, following that reorganisation, you get Operation Crusader, which is in November 21st is when the kit fighting kicks off for six RTR. And we looked at, we looked at the jock columns and all that sort of stuff.

• 10:52Speaker 06

  Yeah. Well, and of course the 21st of November is when Sam gets wounded. And, and actually we left the last episode, didn't we, with him still in the hospital? We should probably finish off that story. Now we've got there chronologically and given him a bit of background and all the rest of it. But, but he hears, while he's, while he's still in the, that American hospital, he hears that most of his brigade has been wiped out. And he's then put on another train with Red Cross markings and no lights and it's full of wounded, all nationalities. So it's, it really is proper, properly Duke, you know, Indians, South Africans, you know, you name it, they're all there. And, and all through the night, people are screaming and shouting for orderlies, for water, for pain relief,

• 11:35Speaker 06

  and no one ever comes. And lots of people are cursing and sort of shouting, oh my God, I bloody shoot the bastards and all this kind of stuff. But anyway, eventually, eventually they reached the Suez Canal and the stretchers are taken off the train and they're laid out by the road for the ambulances. The ambulances come up, put them, you know, they're, they're slotted in, they have those sort of slots in the back of the, the back of those Humbers and Chevrolets and what have you. And they're taken to a tented hospital and there Sam is greeted by nuns. And they see that Sam's got a crucifix on and they ask him if he's Catholic. So he says, yes, yes, he is. And, and they say, are you bad, are you badly wounded? And Sam says, yeah, I reckon, I reckon I am. And the nun says, have you had

• 12:17Speaker 06

  a difficult time? And Sam says, you could say that. And you'll be all right now.

• 12:23Speaker 00

  He's in a very bad way, isn't he? He's, he's lost loads of weight, his hair's falling out, the wound is really bad, he needs a new dressing every day. And he's basically got a great big hole in his leg, as well as a wound in his side. And the shrapnel that that struck him had almost gone right through his leg. And they'd cut it out from the other side, they'd cut him open the other side to get it out, rather than fish it out the way it went in. I mean, ow, God. And, you know, that's all done and under not ideal circumstances in a, in a, in a field hospital. So that's proper battlefield medicine right there. And he says, the nurse explained that they couldn't let it heal up with a hole behind it. So they had to put a dressing on with Vaseline, packing it in until gradually

• 13:06Speaker 00

  it healed from the back. Christ, it was terrible. They used to have to hold me on the bed. I used to dread it. Took about 10 minutes. I would say, go to the dressing cabinet and then the orderlies would come and hold me down. God, it was terrible. And you can see why I thought he had a blighty wound, if he's been that badly hurt, why he thought maybe I'm going home.

• 13:23Speaker 06

  Well, yeah, you can also see why he's scarred, scarred psychologically as well as physically, can't you?

• 13:29Speaker 00

  Yeah. And so he's in hospital over Christmas of 1941. For, and he gradually, he starts to recover and gets up on one leg, and then eventually can put his weight on both, stand properly. He's in hospital for 12 weeks. I mean, three months in hospital, I mean, you'd go, you'd go crackers, wouldn't you?

• 13:46Speaker 06

  I'm not surprised at those wounds. Aren't you impressed by how that isn't a blighty wound? I mean, what, what they're doing to keep people in theatre?

• 13:55Speaker 00

  I'm amazed. And it, it also indicates that the British Army, after all, what it really wants, once it's trained you, if it thinks it can get you upright and pointing in the right direction, they'll, they'll use you one way or another. They will, they will do what they can to get you back. They've invested in him as a, as a tank crewman, they're gonna, they're bloody well gonna use him, rather than stick him on a ship and send him home to get better. Well, they're gonna do it here. Interestingly, when he's discharged, he's given the chance to go to a convalescence hospital, but he's warned, warned off it. He wants to go back to six RTR, doesn't he? Because it's endless PT and then you're sent somewhere else. And he doesn't want that, does he?

• 14:29Speaker 06

  So he's, he's sent before the Colonel, the Colonel MO, says, you know, please let me join my mates. And he says, well, you know, okay, well, you can do that, but just at least have five days leave in Cairo first. So he goes, okay, fine. So he goes off with one of his mates, he's, he's made in hospital, he's also on the way out. So he has five days in, in, in Cairo, having larks and what have you. And then he heads back to the depot in Cabrit, you know, which of course is where the SAS were training and everything, and where six RTR are currently based.

• 15:01Speaker 00

  Yeah. And he says, that was the tragic part, the faces I had known were almost all gone. That was really devastating. I mean, that's an interesting thing is that he wants to go back to the regiment, but he, he must have known virtually everyone was gone. He's been told it, it's been wiped out. He's been told it's been destroyed. And yet, that's the thing he's, that's the thing he regards as his home. I mean, it's a very, it's very difficult, that, isn't it? But he gets into trouble, doesn't he, Jim?

• 15:24Speaker 06

  Oh, absolutely. This is just, it's just hard to believe this episode. But, but you also know it's true. And this, this goes down to these individual officers and some are martinettes and some, they're trying to throw their weight around and some are very empathetic. Some think that the way to do it is to have the iron rod of discipline, which is usually to make up for their own personal shortcomings. And this is what happens here. So he's got this new squadron CEO, who's obviously trying to, he's probably, I don't know, I'm, I'm guessing because he didn't say it, but, but, you know, perhaps he was promoted and he's trying to kind of impose himself. Sam's come back, he's this veteran, he knows it all, all the rest of it. And so this, he's, Sam's having a drink with his

• 16:08Speaker 06

  mates, so he's told to report to squadron CEO the next day. And the major tells him he's being charged for losing his pistol on active service. And Sam can't believe it. He goes, you know, what? And he goes, yeah, you know, you, you, you, you're in the desert and you, you, you lost your pistol. It says here on your report that you were, you, you arrived unarmed. You know, what happened? And he says, well, you know, I was, I was wounded and, you know, I was in really big trouble and I was eventually picked up and I don't know where my pistol was, but, you know, I was given a shot of morphine and when I woke up, it wasn't there.

• 16:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:40Speaker 06

  And, and, and Sam says,

• 16:43Speaker 00

  On my record, it will be in red that I lost my arms on active service. People might interpret that like I've thrown them away. This is a blight on my character.

• 16:51Speaker 06

  And the major goes, you're found guilty, a good soldier never loses his arms. What have you got to say?

• 16:55Speaker 00

  Are you suggesting I'm not a good soldier, sir?

• 16:58Speaker 06

  And the major just says, march him out and fine him three pounds. You know, and he thinks that's the end of the matter. But Sam is absolutely fuming. And he's still fuming the next day. He can't get over this slight, he just thinks, hang on a minute, you know, I've done nothing but my duty. I've tried to be a really good soldier. You know, I've just been wounded. I, I've, I've asked to come back and rejoin this, this unit. And you're punishing me for something that is completely beyond my control. And, you know, he's absolutely just steaming at the injustice of this. So he, he goes in and sees the major again and says,

• 17:31Speaker 00

  I'm reverting to the ranker trooper.

• 17:33Speaker 06

  And the major goes, that's just being stupid.

• 17:35Speaker 00

  And Sam replies, I know, there are a lot of stupid things being done at the moment, so I'm going to play silly buggers like other people.

• 17:42Speaker 06

  There's no need for that kind of talk. Remember who you're speaking to and treat me with respect. Anyway, so he leaves. And then the sergeant major takes him aside and says, you know, don't be an idiot, you're a senior NCO, this guy's a twat, just, just let it go over your head. Before you know it, you'll be a sergeant. And before you know that, you know, before you know it again, you'll, you'll get a commission in the field. He says, just, just think about it. And Sam said, you know, Sam is, you know, what is he? 21. You know, he's young and he's, he's really, really pissed off about this.

• 18:09Speaker 00

  So he says, I've, I've thought about it, they won't change my record. They've made me into a bad soldier, so I'm going to be a bad soldier. And he tears off his stripes. It's extraordinary, isn't it?

• 18:20Speaker 06

  It's not long before he's, he's picked up by a new lieutenant who called Peter Phelps. And he's new to the, to the regiment and he's a former school teacher from Bath. He's much more empathetic, recognizes that, that Sam has got a bucket load of, of experience, that he's a bright young man, and that he's been treated badly. So he says, look, come on, I know you've been treated badly. I can't do anything about your record, but, but don't, don't, don't throw this away. I could really use your help. Come, come and work with me. Be my radio man in my tank. And, you know, we'll work together and you can help train my troop. Sam realises he's being a bit truculent. So they do shake hands and, and he becomes the lieutenant's radio operator. And he quickly ensures he's promoted and then gets up to sergeant in no time. So.

• 19:05Speaker 00

  There's an officer earning his respect rather than demanding it. And the, whereas the major is saying, there's a lot of stupid things being done at the moment, so I'm going to play silly buggers. I mean, saying that, that, saying that to a senior officer or your commanding officer is, is going some, isn't it?

• 19:18Speaker 06

  Yeah, but you're young and you're proud and you feel you've, you've been done an unnecessary injustice and you're, you're, and you are being truculent.

• 19:25Speaker 00

  But it has been done in just injustice. I think it's terribly unfair, all that. Pretty soon, six RTR are posted at the front at Gazala. We're rolling on because Crusader is a pyrrhic victory really, isn't it? They do, they, they do well, but they get as far as they possibly can. In the combat that we described, the, the cost is too great. And, and the, and the Germans also figure out that they have the upper hand in terms of the armament gap that, that exists at this point. Well, you know, the window, the window's beginning to close because the six pound anti-tank gun is beginning, will be coming online very, very shortly in the events we're talking about. But in late March 1942, they're back at the front. After Crusader, they've only got one tank left. So they've had to rebuild completely. I mean, it's extraordinary, isn't it? Take that kind of

• 20:10Speaker 00

  kicking and pick yourself up and carry on. It's of a different order, isn't it, to the, the defeat in France, isn't it? Because the defeat in France is a sort of like a lightning strike, isn't it? Whereas this is combat with doctrine and people working out what to do and figuring out how to take the Germans on and trying to fight a mobile mechanized war properly. And, and it, and it hasn't panned out. Siege at Brooke is lifted, so British morale is, is doing all right. And German and Italian forces have been pushed back after Crusader over 300 miles. So as far as Alagilia, where Rommel had begun in North Africa, the previous February. So this is a, this is a British victory that lasts, the spoils of which last a couple of

• 20:52Speaker 00

  months because it's the 21st of January, 1942, that the Germans decide to counter-attack. We talked before about Rommel's very efficient Y service. So he's quite good at, he's, he's quite good at listening in on the, on British phone calls. And he's also, there's soon to come online is the trickle of information from, from the, the good source as well, Bonifela's. The British, however, are pushed back to, to this place called Gazala, which is almost at Tobruk. Everything they've achieved in, in Crusader, gone, squandered.

• 21:23Speaker 06

  Basically, they've got to the Gazala line. We talked about this in previous podcasts. I think when we were doing the Alamein series, weren't we? We talked about the Gazala line and what a shower it was. And clearly the most sensible thing to do is, is not build a line in the desert because at this point it's outflankable. So how long should your line be? And, and how do you do it? And, and you know, what they do is they create this, this line, which is infantry brigades, protected by mines and wire, not linked to the next one. And these are called boxes and they're not linked to the next one. And everyone's having slight arguments about who should do what because Cunningham's been sacked and Neil Ritchie's been promoted and he's a desk waller from Cairo, working under Orkin

• 22:05Speaker 06

  Leck, and he doesn't really have their respect. So everyone's sort of having their two pennies. It's a bit like being on a cricket field where you haven't got a very strong character and everyone's saying what the fielding position should be. It's that kind of thing. And except obviously a lot more serious. And clearly what they should have done is just reinforce Tobruk, which after all had held out for 242 days. Rommel would not be able to bypass this. And you've got a port that's accessible from the sea and be resupplied and all the rest of it. They, they have to turn and face this and they would have done nothing. So it's a terrible, terrible mistake. And nor do they take the offensive. So they're doing something and nothing because if you're going on the defensive, get behind Tobruk, where the defence is already really good. But if not, go on the offensive and strike

• 22:48Speaker 06

  at Rommel. But they don't. So they do this halfway house of this Gazala line of its boxes and it's an absolute shower. And on the morning of the 26th of May, 1942, the Africa Corps sweeps round to the south, outflanking the, you know, 35 miles or whatever it is of the, of the Gazala line, running straight into the French. You're out on a limb at Bir Hakima. The Italians attack in the north and it's an absolute mess up. And all the armour is behind these boxes, in, you know, mobile units. What, what they're thinking is the, the, the German Italians are going to attack, they'll repel them and then the armour will burst through and crush them. But of course, it just doesn't work like that. And Rommel starts sweeping round the back and towards Knightsbridge, this area on the map, this,

• 23:31Speaker 06

  this sort of marshalling area of the armoured corps called codenamed Knightsbridge on the 11th of June. And basically it's like a sort of massive giant sandwich.

• 23:40Speaker 00

  What it allows Rommel to do is, is defeat each piece of Eighth Army in detail. He can bring everything to bear on, say, any formation he wants. He can bring everything to bear on, destroy that, move on to the next one. And that because, because they're not, they're not probably interconnected, they can't come to each other's aid.

• 23:57Speaker 06

  Which is exactly how they defeat the French in 1940, by the way.

• 24:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, they've offered themselves up to, to be defeated, really, at the Gazala line. No two ways about it. It is an absolute disaster, isn't it, for, for the British? The nadir really of British fortunes in the, in the desert.

• 24:14Speaker 06

  It's the nadir of the British Army in the war in the West. Absolutely no question about it.

• 24:18Speaker 00

  And in the meantime, what's happened to six RTR is they've been sort of broken up, haven't they? And, and they're going to be, they're going to be filling gaps. And, and Sam Bradshaw regards this, he says, we consider this an insult, right? And then that plan is cancelled and they're re-equipped with Grants and Honeys, which are the M3 chassis tank, which is, which has a twin gun arrangement where there's a turret on top with a 37mm cannon thing, and then a 75mm sort of field gun in the hull. They're roomy and spacious compared to British types. When the, when the British soldiers get these, they're going to go on about how roomy these things are. And they are sort of big, bulky, upright, high-profile tank, kind of modeled on a French idea where you have two, two guns, a field

• 25:02Speaker 00

  gun and a, and a cannon in them, like, like, you know, the, the Americans have looked at what the French are doing. And then the Honeys, which is the, the Stewart, which is the smaller recce tank, which is basically nice and quick. And it's called a Honeys because it starts every time, isn't it? That's why they call it a Honeys, because it's reliable. And these are regarded throughout, aren't they, as both these types, as a, as a real improvement on what's gone before, without a doubt. And the 75mm that the Grant has got, has got, you can stand off and shell people with that in a way that you couldn't with the two pounder in the Crusader and its predecessors and, or the Matilda. It's, it's a, it's actually a more viable battlefield weapon in the battlefield therein. First

• 25:42Speaker 00

  RTR and six RTR lined up in, in readiness as Rommel sweeps towards this Knightsbridge lozing on the 11th of June.

• 25:50Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 25:51Speaker 00

  First RTR, they received three more Grants that evening, all by my, by American crews. Isn't that amazing?

• 25:58Speaker 06

  First American ground troops in the war against, to fight the Germans in the war.

• 26:01Speaker 00

  There's your pub quiz question. In which battle are the first American troops fighting against the Germans in the whole of the Second World War? That's very good.

• 26:10Speaker 06

  I bet they wish they hadn't.

• 26:14Speaker 00

  Gee, how bad can it be? But nothing happens throughout the night. Rommel brings his sort of legend of unstoppableity with him. And by the time he's got to Knightsbridge, he seems to be unstoppable, doesn't he? Even though actually he's kind of beginning to run on fumes and he's burning through people and stuff at quite the rate.

• 26:32Speaker 06

  It's not quite as rosy as it makes out.

• 26:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's the Rommel problem, isn't it? They know that they're going to be up against the combined armour and anti-tank guns of the Italian Chiesti, who the Italians who will fight.

• 26:42Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 26:42Speaker 00

  And the 15th Panzer Division as well, plus 90th Light behind them. So basically the Africa Corps are coming at Knightsbridge from both sides and squeezing them like, like a vice. This is an epic encounter. First and six RTR, they come under heavy attack at 06.30 the next morning. And we will take a break there to tell you how that then proceeds.

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• 28:00Speaker 00

  Welcome back to We Have Ways to Make You Talk with me, Al Murray and James Holland for our third episode in the life of Sam Bradshaw, Sam Bradshaw's War. And for those who, those in the know, we're about to talk about the Knightsbridge battle. For those who don't know, buckle in because this is very unpleasant, particularly if you're a fan of people in khaki drill shorts.

• 28:21Speaker 06

  So it's the 12th of June now, isn't it?

• 28:22Speaker 00

  06.30 hours, the, the Germans and the Italians get stuck in, don't they? Fire starts coming in on first of six RTR from 288 and 105mm field guns and 70 tanks, straight away. I mean, there's no cover, there's nowhere to hide, there's nowhere to get away from it. You're sort of in these conglomerations of troops on you. And many of the six RTR guys are wounded by shelling. One tank's completely destroyed, which bursts into flames and it's, there it is, burning with black smoke pouring out of it. Everyone can see it. That's the thing. Everything's laid bare in this environment. Meanwhile, 21 Panzer are approaching behind, attacking the rear of 7th Armour Division. And the tanks of the 22nd Armoured Brigade, who are north-west of Knightsbridge, they get, they get smashed

• 29:07Speaker 00

  up, they get mauled by 21st Panzer. German armour and artillery are, are really crushing the Knightsbridge position in a vice with armour and artillery, meaning there's no way out and, and the pressure's just going to increase. And they're under attack.

• 29:24Speaker 00

  All day from south east and west.

• 29:26Speaker 06

  Oh, completely. I mean, Sam hasn't got a faintest idea what's going on, nor does anyone, and frankly, nor do many of the commanders in Eighth Army, least of all Neil Ritchie, the Eighth Army commander. There's dust and smoke everywhere. There's a sickening stench of burning tanks, German shells, damage to Allied tanks and guns and knock their tracks off. I mean, it is absolute mayhem. The tank brigade is forced to withdraw northwards, which is the only direction open to them. And the entire Gazala line is now crumbling. And that night, from the heights of the Riguel ridge escarpment they've withdrawn to, Sam looks down at the remnants of the British armour dotted throughout the desert and to seize this sort of mass of twinkling fires of burning tanks. And, you know, you can

• 30:10Speaker 06

  feel that the air is thick with smoke and probably with the acrid stench of cordite as well. But anyway, they're done. I mean, they're done. So now it's the 13th of June and he and the rest of the regiment set off, what remains of them, set off to Brooke early the next morning and tank shortage is a massive, a massive issue. Three of the regiments, Honey's Need, urgent overhauling, and there's nothing like enough grants to go around. So Sam is given the job of taking the tanks to the workshop into Brooke and is picking up some replacements. He hasn't been into Brooke since the siege last year and he's really impressed by its defences.

• 30:50Speaker 00

  He says, "It was like a fortress with minefields everywhere and concreted positions wired up electronically."

• 30:56Speaker 06

  Which is precisely why they should have made their position there. I mean, this is the point. But anyway, he rejoins his regiment, once this is all sorted out, picks up free chocolate and cigarettes from a NAFI wagon en route and rejoins them at El Adam, which is an airfield just to the south east of Tobruk. But the next day, by now it's night time on the 16th of September June, and that's when El Adam is evacuated. And the next day, 17th of June, the Panzers rout an Indian brigade. And the 4th Armoured Brigades get particularly damaged, including Sam's 6 RTR, which now has no artillery support at all, is really down on numbers. They battle throughout the afternoon but are massively

• 31:41Speaker 06

  outgunned and outnumbered by the Panzers, which in this instance are personally led by Rommel, and they're forced to retire. And this is the last action of the 6th RTR and the 4th Armoured Brigade in Libya, because what they need to do now is scuttle back to the Alamein line, but that's a long way to go.

• 32:03Speaker 00

  That's a long, long way to go. What's going on behind the scenes, of course, you know, is that as Sam is leaving El Adam, he's given this order to take 80 vehicles back to Alamein. And he's been up and down the desert road loads of times, has never paused at Alamein before, he's never given it a second thought, no one has, until he sees it on a map and he's given the grid reference. And it takes him three days to get there. But this is somewhere everyone's been through on their way west, somewhere that everyone's been through, they don't know it. But what's going on behind the scenes is Rommel may well be in pursuit, but this whole thing, this whole Gazala line offensive of his has been really costly. This German style of pressing hard, you take losses to achieve it.

• 32:44Speaker 06

  CFR series on Operation Barbarossa.

• 32:47Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're a trit. And the other thing that's happening is that we talked about, you know, the British have reorganised into Eighth Army and the Desert Air Force, is the Desert Air Force is properly organised and is properly figuring, has figured out how to work as a tactical air force.

• 33:03Speaker 06

  Leapfrogging.

• 33:04Speaker 00

  It's leapfrogging its way back. So it's moving its air crew back, its ground crew back, even as sorties fly to further, you know, airfields further in the rear. But what it's doing is hammering Rommel's supply lines, hammering Rommel's line of communication. Not necessarily these people at the front, which is always the complaint of the frontline soldier, why aren't you attacking the things that I can see right in front of me? They're interdicting behind enemy lines and being very, very effective. And it's really the Desert Air Force who actually win this battle.

• 33:36Speaker 06

  They save Eighth Army from annihilation, is the truth of it. And they do so because it's such a slick operation. So they're, you know, they're fighter planes and they're medium bombers, they're taking off, they're hammering the pursuing Italians and Germans, and as you say, their supply lines too, and their oil trucks and all the rest of it. And then while they're airborne, their ground crews are packing everything up and going and going back 10 miles, it might only be 10 miles, and then creating the new airfield. So when they come back, they land back at this new place. And so they're able to just keep this pressure on. That means they're spending much more time over the target because they're keeping themselves really close to the front. And it's incredibly effective. And the Luftwaffe and the Red Air in Antarctica, which is the Italian air force, aren't as

• 34:18Speaker 06

  strong as the RAF here. This is an absolute deciding factor, very much to the good of Eighth Army. But what it means is that by the 26th of June, Sam and 6 RTR are behind the Alamein line, which is only 60 miles west of Alexandria. So it's really a long way into Egypt. And the key thing about the Alamein line is it does, it can't be outflanked because 45 miles or so south from the coast, you've got the Qatar Depression, which, you know, an odd vehicle could maybe traverse it, but not more than that. You certainly can't do an outflanking sort of lightning charge with the Deutsche Afrika Corps or anything like that. So it's a very strong position and it's interesting because it's got these sort of very, very low ridges in the north. But then as you push south,

• 35:01Speaker 06

  it's got more escarpments and little ridges and all sorts of things, which makes it quite a strong place to defend and a difficult place to attack.

• 35:08Speaker 00

  Because the battlefield's going to be congested. You don't have the room for the manoeuvre that Rommel's into. And he can't defeat you in detail because there you are all in one big sort of plug. There's lots of rumours, obviously, that, you know, here come the enemy, there's 2,000 tanks coming and a thousand are reporting to be approaching, but they don't show. The following morning, on the 27th, there's just 12 enemy tanks sighted at dawn. B Squadron opens fire at them, the enemy respond with tanks, artillery, anti-tank guns, et cetera, and several grunts are knocked out. But the regiment withdraws to hold down positions. They're shelled later that afternoon and then are withdrawn with First and Eighth Royal Tank Regiment. And they spend the rest of the day refuelling, re-equipping, hurrying up and waiting for something to happen. But

• 35:51Speaker 00

  the thing is, Rommel's attack, yes, there were those 12 tanks at dawn, but Rommel, by this point, has attrited himself. Yes, he's done well. And yes, he's had the Eighth Army on the run. But the price is that he now only has 37 tanks left.

• 36:07Speaker 06

  And the whole of the Afrika Corps.

• 36:08Speaker 00

  He's unable to finish the job. He's unable to get any further and get through the line. And rather than a sort of big German splashy breakthrough, you've got an attritional battle where the British can stop him and soak up their losses and he can't afford the losses he's experienced. The desert fox has outfoxed himself.

• 36:30Speaker 06

  And the next sort of couple of days, it's all a bit inconclusive and attritional. And there's not much action on the 1st of July, but they still lose five more grunts the next day, on the 2nd of July, during the big battle with the 90th Light Division, which they do inflict a huge amount of damage upon, it has to be said. The ORK, Orkin Lake, wants to plan another battling round against the enemy straight away and decides to launch a strike at the Italians in the centre of the Axis line, which is mainly conducted by the 5th Indian Division and the New Zealanders, plus the 2nd and 22nd Armoured Brigades, which by this point includes Sam's 6th RTR. So 6 RTR has now merged with 1 RTR because

• 37:10Speaker 06

  both are so badly depleted after the recent battles. And journalist Alan Moorhead, who we've mentioned a couple of times, he's watching the RTR's activity from Alum Nile, which is one of the very low ridges in the middle of the Alamein line. And he says, "He was hot and there were no shade. Sitting there in the sun, smiking and drinking a mug of tea and occasionally looking through binoculars, you fell as though you were sitting in a grandstand waiting for a cup tied to begin." And the planned operation, which becomes known as the First Battle of Ruwaiset, the Ruwaiset Ridge, begins during the night of the 14th of July. And the early successes against the Italian divisions are short-lived. The New Zealanders in the dark bypass a Panzerliga and some Germany infantry positions. And

• 37:53Speaker 06

  these tanks then attack unprotected New Zealanders as it starts to get light the following morning from behind, and 350 men are captured. The 2nd Armoured try to help but get bogged down in a minefield. So Sam and the rest of B Squadron try in vain to find gaps through the mines and don't really get there. And Joe Madley, who's an Aussie, finally fighting there, goes, "Oh, I was out of a scrap all day. Dive bomb, shell, bullets everywhere." And 6 RTR is one of the first armoured units to try and help as a Panzer army counter-attack. And they come under really, really intense fire. But Sam and his fellows still manage to retaliate against the enemy vehicles and infantry. And although 6 RTR are forced

• 38:36Speaker 06

  back through the minefield gap later that evening, they do manage to knock out two more enemy tanks, silence a big self-propelled gun. And although a later grant is lost, they withdraw to reserve positions well behind the front line. Over a thousand men are lost in the fighting that day. I mean, this is really attritional stuff. This is the First Battle of Alamein. So the famous Alamein battle with Montgomery and everything, that's the Second Battle of Alamein. This is the First Battle fought, you know, throughout much of July in sort of pretty big phases. And of course, 6 RTR has once again taken a hammering. It's taken a hammering in the Crusader battle, it's taken a hammering in the fall of Tobruk battle, Gazala battle. And it's taken a hammering here. And now

• 39:20Speaker 06

  it's only got 12 tanks left out of 52. And Sam says, you know, admits that this is pretty tough, doesn't he?

• 39:26Speaker 00

  Yeah, he says, "We did feel though, the regiment had almost ceased to exist. Although I think we'd also lost a lot of confidence in the commanders. Gazala had been a mess." One way of looking at it, certainly. I mean, it's that summer of fiasco on the part of the British, isn't it? Poor decisions. And it's bad luck what happens to the Kiwis, you know, missing those Germans and ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that is what happens. That's the run of the green in battle, isn't it? Is that no one knows where they are. No one knows.

• 39:56Speaker 06

  No one knows.

• 39:57Speaker 00

  No one knows. Most people in the wrong place all the time. Anyway, we hope you've enjoyed that episode. I have to say, it's really, really fascinating, his sort of, his approach to it all and his candour about it. Because, you know, Jim, when you spoke to him, you got a lot more out of him than very often you might think. His feelings about talking about fear and talking about leadership and all that sort of stuff.

• 40:23Speaker 06

  Well, I think we're all in for a treat in the next episode because there's some really great stuff that he talks about in our final episode with Sam, where we'll be finishing off his time in North Africa, which actually is coming to a close fairly soon. And then we'll be moving to Italy, where he's very heavily involved before he gets wounded again, and again really badly. And eventually gets home. Well, we'll take it from there. I mean, it's because his war still isn't done, even when he finally gets back to Liverpool. He's got a little way to go yet.

• 40:53Speaker 00

  If you need to hear that now, then it's dead simple. What you do is you become a Patreon member. We have ways of making you talk Patreon and you can listen to this immediately, ad-free. There's ticket offers, there's live casts, there's audiobooks, tonnes of that sort of stuff to go with a lot of this material. And we look forward to you joining us there. We'll see you soon. Cheerio.

• 41:16Speaker 06

  Cheerio.

• 41:17Speaker 00

  Cheerio.