9th Armoured Brigade

[enigma]

Just wondering if anyone has any info on the 'Cavarly charge' the brigade was ordered to untake during Operation Supercharge.

Ive read that they started with around 155 tanks during the morning, an unknown number undertook the charge to destroy the German AT screen and that by late morning there was 33 left.

So as i said anyone got any more info on the unit and that days attack?

[OliverMarshall]

PHASE 4: Operation Supercharge

Operation SuperchargeThis phase of the battle began on November 2 at 1 a.m., with the objective of destroying enemy armour, forcing the enemy to fight in the open, diminishing the Axis petrol, attacking and occupying enemy supply routes and disintegrating the enemy army. Its intensity and the destruction was greater than anything witnessed so far during this horrific battle. The objective of Supercharge was Tel al-Aqaqir along the Rahman track, which was the base of the Axis defense.

This attack started with a seven hour aerial bombardment focused on Tel al-Aqaqir and Sidi Abd al-Rahman, followed by a 4.5 hour barrage of 360 guns firing 15,000 shells. The initial thrust of Supercharge was to be carried out by the battle-scarred New Zealanders. The commander, Freyberg had tried to free them of this chore, as they were under strength and weary, but that was not to be, so on this cold November night with the moon on the wane, the New Zealanders moved out.


As dawn came on November 2, tank after tank was hit by the German 88 mm guns that kept firing through seven air attacks. The 9th never made it to their objective. In fact, they took 75 percent casualties and lost 102 of its 128 tanks. Nevertheless, they had breached the gun line and the 1st Armoured Division of X Corps, under the command of Raymond Briggs, was now about to be engaged. In the heat of the noon day sun, 120 Italian and German tanks advanced for the biggest, most critical and, to all intents and purposes, the final tank battle of al-Alamein, the Battle of Aqaqir Ridge.

This battle continued all day.

"The desert, quivering in the heat haze, became a scene that defies sober description. It can be discerned only as a confused arena clouded by the bursts of high explosives, darkened by the smoke of scores of burning tanks and trucks, lit by the flashes of innumerable guns, shot through by red, green and white tracers, shaken by heavy bombing from the air and deafened by the artillery of both sides."


Rommel called up Ariete from the south to join the defense around Tel al-Aqaqir in the last stand of the German army. By nightfall, the Axis had only thirty-two tanks operating along the entire front. While the Afrika Korps was fighting for its life at Aqaqir, Rommel began the withdrawal to Fuka.

Hope that helps :)

[enigma]

It does it gives tank figure which the book did not! Excellent!

thanks :)


(although thinking about it makes me feel ill :( )