Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign : The Eighth Army and the Path to El Alamein PDF
Preview Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign : The Eighth Army and the Path to El Alamein
This page intentionally left blank Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign Militaryprofessionalsandtheoristshavelongunderstoodtherelevance ofmoraleinwar.Montgomery,thevictoratElAlamein,said,following thebattle,that‘themorefightingIsee,themoreIamconvincedthatthe big thing in war is morale’. Jonathan Fennell, in examining the North African campaign through the lens of morale, challenges conventional explanations for Allied success in one of the most important and con- troversial campaigns in British and Commonwealth history. He intro- ducesnewsources,notablycensorshipsummariesofsoldiers’mail,and an innovative methodology that assesses troop morale not only on the evidence ofpersonal observations and officialreports butalso on con- temporaneously recorded rates of psychological breakdown, sickness, desertionandsurrender.Heshowsforthefirsttimethatamajormorale crisisandstunningrecoverydecisivelyaffectedEighthArmy’sperform- ance during the critical battles on the Gazala and El Alamein lines in 1942. jonathan fennell is Lecturer in Defence Studies with King’s College London, at the Airmen’s Command Squadron, Royal Air Force,Halton. CambridgeMilitaryHistories Editedby HEW STRACHAN Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford and FellowofAllSoulsCollege,Oxford GEOFFREY WAWRO MajorGeneralOlintoMarkBarsantiProfessorofMilitaryHistory,and Director,CenterfortheStudyofMilitaryHistory,UniversityofNorth Texas Theaimofthisnewseriesistopublishoutstandingworksofresearchonwarfare throughouttheagesandthroughouttheworld.Booksintheserieswilltakeabroad approachtomilitaryhistory,examiningwarinallitsmilitary,strategic,political andeconomicaspects.TheseriesisintendedtocomplementStudiesintheSocial andCulturalHistoryofModernWarfarebyfocusingonthe‘hard’militaryhistory ofarmies,tactics,strategyandwarfare.Booksintheserieswillconsistmainlyof singleauthorworks–academicallyvigorousandgroundbreaking–whichwillbe accessibletobothacademicsandtheinterestedgeneralreader. Alistoftitlesintheseriescanbefoundat: www.cambridge.org/militaryhistories Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign The Eighth Army and the Path to El Alamein Jonathan Fennell cambridge university press Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown, Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress, NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521192705 ©JonathanFennell2011 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2011 PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata Fennell,Jonathan,1979– CombatandmoraleintheNorthAfricancampaign:theEighthArmyandthe pathtoElAlamein/JonathanFennell. p. cm.–(Cambridgemilitaryhistories) ISBN978-0-521-19270-5(hardback) 1. WorldWar,1939–1945–Campaigns–Africa,North. 2. ElAlamein,Battle of,Egypt,1942. 3. GreatBritain.Army.Army,Eighth. 4. WorldWar, 1939–1945–Psychologicalaspects. 5. Morale. 6. Combat–Psychological aspects. 7. Psychology,Military. I. Title. D766.82.F46 2010 940.5402321–dc22 2010030395 ISBN978-0-521-19270-5Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents Listofillustrations pagevi Listoffigures viii Listofmaps ix Listoftables x Acknowledgements xi Listofabbreviations xiii Maps xvi Introduction 1 1 Moralecrisisandrecovery 12 2 Technology,firepowerandmorale 50 3 Qualityofmanpowerandmorale 95 4 Environment,provisionsandmorale 124 5 Welfare,educationandmorale 151 6 Leadership,commandandmorale 188 7 Trainingandmorale 219 8 Insearchofatheorytoexplaincombatmorale inthedesert 241 Conclusion 281 Appendix:Battlemaps 290 Bibliography 301 Index 333 v Illustrations 1 AnRAFLysanderfliesoveraconvoyoflorriesduringthe retreatintoEgypt,26June1942.IWM,E13767. page23 2 Asisteronherroundschatswithasoldierconvalescing inatentedwardofabasehospitalintheMiddleEast, April1942.IWM,E10657. 30 3 BritishprisonerscapturedbytheGermansduringthe siegeofTobruk,1942.IWM,MH5577. 40 4 Troopsareshowntheeffectsofanti-tankroundsona knocked-outGermanMarkIVtank,March1942.IWM, E9997. 66 5 AMartinBaltimoreofno.55SquadronRAFfliesoverthe targetareaassalvoesofbombsexplodeontanksandmotor transportofthe15thPanzerDivisionduringthebattleof ElAlamein,October1942.IWM,CM3844. 93 6 Anewrecruitundertakesageneralintelligencetest, February1942.IWM,H17184. 107 7 Troopschargingwithfixedbayonetsonanassaultcourse atthe51stHighlandDivisionbattleschoolintheUK, May1942.IWM,H19518. 120 8 Asoldierwatchesanapproachingsandstormfrombeside hisjeep,October1942.IWM,E17825. 130 9 Granttankcrewssitdowntoabrewneartheirvehicles, Libya,June1942.IWM,E13016. 135 10 TwomembersofaCrusadertank’screwwritehomewith mosquitonetsroundtheirfacestokeepthefliesaway, August1942.IWM,E16270. 142 11 Asoldierof50thBattalion,RoyalTankRegiment,shaving besidehisValentinetank,October1942.Aphotographofhis wifeandnewbabyisproppedupalongsidehismirror. IWM,E17880. 166 12 AnArmyBureauofCurrentAffairscourseatthe AmericanUniversityinBeirutforofficersstationedin vi Listofillustrations vii theMiddleEast,April1943.Amedicalofficerisshown givingalectureonplansforapost-warhealthservice. IWM,E23887. 180 13 GeneralClaudeAuchinleck,Commander-in-Chief, MiddleEast,andMajor-GeneralJockCampbellVC, intheWesternDesert,February1942.IWM,E8454. 198 14 GeneralNeilRitchie,Commander-in-ChiefEighthArmy, withhiscorpscommanders,GeneralsCharles Norrieand‘Strafer’Gott,duringthebattleofGazala, May1942.IWM,E12630. 199 15 FieldMarshalErwinRommelwithhisaidesduringthe NorthAfricancampaign,1942.IWM,HU5625. 204 16 GeneralBernardMontgomery’smessagetotheEighth ArmybeforethebattleofElAlamein,October1942. IWM,MH6005. 210 17 GeneralBernardMontgomeryissuinginstructions, August1942.IWM,E15788. 213 18 AdetachmentoftroopsnewlyarrivedinEgyptleaving theircampforaroutemarch,October1940.IWM,E740. 222 19 Infantrynegotiatingbarbedwireduringanexerciseinthe WesternDesert,November1941.IWM,E6362. 226 20 GranttankstrainingintheWesternDesert,August1942. IWM,E16133. 227 21 Amortarsectionundersimulatedartilleryfireatthe51st HighlandDivision’sbattleschoolintheUK,May1942. IWM,H19515. 236 22 Casualtieslieintheopenonstretchersata51stHighland Divisionadvanceddressingstation,ElAlamein, October1942.IWM,E18629. 253 23 Britishinfantryadvanceinopenformationtowards Germanpositions,ElAlamein,October1942.IWM, E18511. 263 Figures 1 Averagedailysickadmissionsrateper1,000togeneral hospitalsandcasualtyclearingstations.NAWO177/324 MedicalDiariesDDMS8thArmy,OctobertoDecember 1942.FiguresforDecember1942andJanuary,February andMarch1943extrapolatedfromtheknownNovember 1942andApril1943Figures. page28 2 2ndNewZealandDivisiondesertionstatistics.ANZ WAII/8/Part2/BBBMorale,‘DesertionCases’, Freyberg’sPAtoHQ2NZDiv,10December1944. 37 3 Courtsmartialconvictionsforabsenceanddesertion overseascommands,1941–1942.Chartderivedfrom NAWO277/7ComparativeChartof‘Absence’and ‘Desertion’HomeForcesandOverseasCommands from1September1939to31August1945. 38 4 Axisproportionofmissing/surrenderedcomparedtototal casualties,Crusaderandsummercampaigns.NAWO 163/51TheArmyCouncil,DeathPenaltyinRelation toOffencesCommittedonActiveService,11August1942. 43 5 EighthArmyproportionofmissing/surrenderedcompared tototalcasualties,Crusaderandsummer campaigns.NAWO163/51TheArmyCouncil,Death PenaltyinRelationtoOffencesCommittedonActive Service,11August1942. 44 6 2ndNewZealandDivision,NYD(N)casualtiesinrelation tobattlecasualties,June1942toMay1943. ANZWAII/8/Part2/BBBFreybergPapers,Morale. 47 7 Crusadercasualties.I.S.O.Playfair,TheMediterraneanandthe MiddleEast,volIII,p.97;NAWO201/2834MiddleEast Command:BattleCasualties,LibyaCampaign,AGStats. 247 8 2ndNewZealandDivision‘front-line’cumulative casualties,December1940toNovember1942. W.G.Stevens,Problemsof2ndNZEF,p.292. 249 viii
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