3rd Indian Motor Brigade
1940-1943

S-3 Operations

by Greg Novak

HISTORY

This unit experienced what was called by the British, a "sticky" war, having the misfortune to be overrun by the Afrika Korps twice in two years. It is unique in both its history and its organization, and deserves its page in Command Decision.

It was formed from three Indian Army cavalry regiments in 1940. All three had only been "de-horsed" in that year, and their experience of vehicles, let alone mechanized warfare was minimal.

To make things worse, the 11th Cavalry, the only regiment with armored cars, was ordered not to take them outside India! As a result, each regiment was in effect a battalion with three squadrons consisting of infantry with trucks, but no heavy weapons. The Brigade arrived in Egypt in February 1941 and a month later were ordered to the front just in time to meet Rommel's first attack. Its organization at this time is shown in Part A of the section of this article dealing with OBs and scenarios.

On the 7th, April elements of the Brigade stood at Mechili, tasked with the forlorn hope of holding off the German attack aimed at Tobruk. Only two of its regiments were complete, and they lacked their complement of such basic weapons as LMGs and AT rifles.

The only "heavy" weapons were some Australian and Royal Horse Artillery 2lbs AT guns. As an added handicap, the headquarters of the 2nd Armored Division (but nothing useful from it) were also present. The Germans, desperate to avoid delays and expenditure of supply and ammunition twice suggested that the Brigade surrender. Early the following day, the Germans attacked just at the moment the Brigade was attempting to breakout. The result was chaos both the Division and Brigade Headquarters were captured, and the fighting elements took some 50% casualties.

However, the delay imposed on the Germans proved just enough to allow the 9th Australian Division to retreat into Tobruk. The organization of the forces engaged at Mechili is shown in Part B of the scenario section.

The remnants of the Brigade refired to Egypt for reorganization, leaving the two squadrons of the 18th Cavalry, which had not been involved at Mechili, to join the Australian garrison of Tobruk. For the next year, the unit was in garrison in the Middle East, losing its veterans to train new formations in India, but picking up new assets and equipment. The most sigriificant changes were the addition of the 24 25 lb field guns of the 2nd Indian Field Regiment and a Brigade battery of 16 2 lb AT guns. In addition, C Squadron of each regiment converted to an AT squadron of 16 2lb, while the other two reformed with 15 Bren carriers each.

The result was a truly unique unit, which can best be described as an "Antitank Artillery Brigade'. There was nothing like it in the Commonwealth and Empire Armies, and the only organization with a similar concept I know of was late war German Assault Gun Brigades with their integral infantry component. Even these lacked the massive artillery power of 3rd Motor Brigade.

Had the theory matched practice, the 3rd Motor Brigade would have been a most formidable force in defense. Its organization in this period is listed in Part C of the OB/Scenarios section.

However, the theory was never to be given a fair chance of proving itself. In May, 1942 the Brigade was in reserve behind the boxes of the Gazala line. Had it been allowed to fight in prepared positions all might have been well. But this was not to be.

British generalship was at its very worst at the time, and when the news of Rommel's attack finally sank home, the Brigade was ordered to rush to an empty spot called point 171. This proved to be directly in the path of the 500 plus tanks of the Afrika Korps! To make things worse, the move to point 171 was so hurried that only half of the AT guns were present, there was no time to dig entrenchments and the promised support of two squadrons of Valentine tanks got mislaid!

When daylight came the horrified members of 3rd Motor Brigade saw, less than two miles away, the whole of Ariete Armored and 21st Panzer Divisions! The result was obvious and the Brigade was overwhelmed in half an hour, with 500 killed and wounded and 600 prisoners. The Indian Official History claims that some 50 Axis tanks were destroyed, mainly Italian, which was confirmed by investigation of the site a few days Later. This is obviously a most one-sided scenario.

However, even the short delay compromised the Axis advance which bogged down at Bir Hacheim, and the tank battles with 7th Armored Division Later on the same day. The organization of the form involved in the battle of Point 171 is to be found in Part D of the OB/Scenarios section.

Had the complete Brigade been present, with the addition of the promised tanks the situation might have been different. Part E of the OB/Scenario section explores this possibility. The Battle of Point 171 finished the war of 3rd Motor Brigade. The shattered remains went to Syria where they were rebuilt to form the Motor Brigade of the 31st Indian Armored Division. In 1943 the unit was renamed the 43rd Lorried Infantry Brigade, but all the Cavalry regiments left to return to India, being replaced by three Gurkha battalions. Much later, the 11th Cavalry at last got back the armored cars it had to give up in 1940 (though rather better ones), and fought the Japanese in the plains of Burma.

In 1947 the British Indian Army was disbanded, and the 2nd and 18th Cavalry became part of the Indian Armored Corps while the 11th went to Pakistan. All three fought in the various Indo- Pakistan wars of the next decades, but that is for Combined Arms not Command Decision.

Sources

The Indian Official History contains the only hard data on the unit--most others just use extracts. A recent work "The Indian Armored Corps 1941 - 1971" by Maj. Gen Gurcharn Singh Sandhu is also most informative.

More 3rd Indian Motor Brigade

Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Newsletter #7
To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1992 by Greg Novak.

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com