Now the general staff in London ordered Wavell to make one final push. The objective was Benghazi, and the total destruction of the Italian Tenth Army.
O'Connor, fast as ever, ordered the Australian division to move along the coast while the the tanks rolled inland to Mechili. He intended to destroy the enemy tank force at Mechili and then swing on south of Jebel Achdar to attack the Italians at Derna and Benghazi. To the dissapointment of O'Connor, General Babini, who was commanding the Italian forces at Mechili, withdrew north-west into the Jebel Achdar. But that was actually a blessing in disguise for their were many topographical faults around Mechili. The slopes were too steep which could had made it impossible for armour to deliver the strokes on the flanks. If Babini had given O'Connor a determined fight at Mechili, he might had stopped him or at least slowed his timetable. But, since Babini retreated, O'Connor now had the chance to reach the Gulf of Syrte.
But the desert terrain was taking a much more heavier toll of his army then the Italians. Many tanks and vehicles became unserviceable because of the terrian and the want for fuel. Ammunition and fuel were close to finished. The 7th Armoured Division was down to fifty cruisers and ninety-five light tanks. Two regiments of the 2nd Armoured Division had landed in Egypt, but it would be a while before O'Connor would receive them at the front. In the meantime, the Italians were slipping away. Marshal Graziani, decided to abandon the rest of Cyrenaica and concentrate his forces around syrte to defend Tripolitania. Derna had already fallen on the 30th, to the gallant Australians.
Now once again, O'Connor had two options open to him. Either he could wait and build up his reserves of men, material, and fuel and then attack, or he could put everything at risk and attack the enemy with the forces at hand. If he had chosen the first option, nobody would had blamed him, for he already had three spectacular victories behind him. Any cautious general, for example like Montgomery, would had chosen the first option. But O'Connor was not cautious. He was always decisive, like Rommel. so he risked everything for one final great victory.
He ordered the 7th Armoured Division to move from Mechili into the west. while the 6th Australian division kept on moving along the coast towards Benghazi. in the afternoon, the 11th Hussars reached Msus. Creagh told O'Connor that Colonel Combe had reached Antelat and found it empty. Armoured cars, along with C Battery, royal horse artillery and the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment went towards Beda Fomm and Sidi Saleh and reached the coast road and blocked road. All this time, O'Connor was always with his troops leading them from the front. Like Rommel, he had tremendous energy. The Italian kept trying to break through but were stopped by concentrated British artillery fire. On the 6th the Italians made a determined break through attempt but were stopped by the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and Combe's force.
By midday, forty Italian tanks had been destroyed. Then some thirty tanks pierced through 2nd Royal Tanks but were but were stopped by Combe's gallant force. Most of the attacking tanks were destroyed and only four Italian tanks and lorries got through. The final attempt by the Italians to break through to Tripoli was destroyed by concentrated artillery bombardment. At the same time, the 6th Australian division was attacking the Italian rear. This was the total end of the Italian Tenth Army.
By 7th February, 1941, O'Connor had won, for Britain, the most amazing total victory in second world war. It has few rivals in the history of warfare. The prize in this victory was big. Twenty thousand Italian prisoners were taken, plus a hundred and twelve medium tanks, two hundred and sixteen guns and fifteen hundred wheeled vehicles were captured.
Overall, General O'Connor's had advanced over five hundred miles in ten-weeks, destroyed an Italian army of ten divisions, taken a hundred and thirty thousand prisoners, four hundred tanks, one thousand two hundred and ninety guns, all for the cost of four hundred and seventy-six killed, and one thousand two hundred and twenty-five wounded plus forty-three missing in action. This all was achieved because of the daring and courage of General O'Connor and his staff and the gallantry of his army formations.
O'Connor wanted to advance against Tripoli, but Churchill intervened. He disbanded O'Connor's excellent and efficient army to send its men to help the Greeks. This was a major blunder on part of Churchill for the British expeditionary force sent to Greece, soon retreated, and the Greek army was easily defeated by the Germans. The newly formed British Cyrenaica command was put under the command of General Neame. O'Connor was made the general officer commanding of all troops in Egypt.
On 12th February, 1941, Lieutenant-General Rommel arrived in Tripoli. He attacked on March 31st, 1941, and surprised Neame whose static command and his troops fell into confusion. A concerned Wavell sent O'Connor to assist Neame. On 6th, O'Connor and Neame got lost and ran into German petrols behind British forces. Both were captured. It is an immense speculation as to what would had happened if O'Connor had faced Rommel in battle.
More General Richard O'Connor: British Western Desert Force
Bibliography
Barnett, Correlli: The Desert Generals: Indiana University Press, 1960.
Cooper, Matthew: The German Army 1933-1945: Scarborough House, 1990.
Fuller, J.F.C: The Second World War: Da Capo Press, 1993.
Pitt, Barrie. The Crucible of War: Wavell's Command. Cassell and Co., 2001.
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© Copyright 2001 by Shahram Khan.
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