The Way of War Pt. 02

Chapter 5

Shaun lit the burner and put the pan on for tea before waking the rest up at 5am, the sun had not risen yet but the skyline to the east was lightning up.

After a quick breakfast, they struck camp and set off, knowing they would be passing into enemy territory now.

At two they stopped for a brew and to let Sue cool down. They'd covered fifty miles by Prof's reckoning, and had been skirting the sand dunes to the south. The dunes stretched out to the horizon, rolling mounds of sand whose glare hurt the eyes to look at them. Titch had pulled up in the shade of a sandstone buttress so they didn't need to rig the camouflage net over them.

Jack came over and sat beside him by the wheel with his mug, excepting a cigarette.

"I don't suppose there'll be many patrols this far south but they may have aircraft out," he murmured.

Shaun nodded. "I'm more worried about running into the Bedouin, they'd report us for the reward. We'll keep heading west for another 150 miles and then turn north to pass between Tengeda and Bir-Hacheim."

With the tea break over they continued their journey.

The ground became increasingly strewn with rocks and boulders the further they progressed. Speed dropped down to five miles an hour has Titch navigated around them.

At six he came to a halt in a wadi and the men climbed of the truck weary from the jolting drive. They fell into the usual routine for making camp.

Shaun rubbed the stubble on his chin, waiting for Prof to establish their position.

Eventually he came over to him, "By my reckoning, we've covered 76 miles today Boss. I'll pass on the coordinates to Sammy to let base know."

Shaun nodded, knowing the Prof would be making a note on his map of the course they had been following.

Sammy picked up the 7pm GMT signal, and they all checked their watches. After the meal Shaun shouldered his Cartwright .303 and made his way to the top of wadi, he would be on first watch that night.

He sat with the fur collar of the flying jacket up around his ears has the stars appeared in the sky and the temperature plummeted. He could hear the night sounds of the desert as nearby rocks cracked, contracting as they cooled from the burning heat of the sun to the near freezing of the night.

It took over three days before Prof announced they could turn north. With the exception of Titch everyone was on the lookout now, their safety now depended on them seeing any danger before being seen by others. At night they took special care to find places that offered the best concealment.

They passed between Tengeder and Bir-Hacheim, crossing the track that linked them. It had taken a further two days to arrive at this point.

Shaun had been keeping an account of fuel, water and ration supplies in his notebook has they had progressed.

Now they changed course heading North West to pass between Mechili and Bir-Halegh. There were numerous tracks now to cross. Each had to be reconnoitred for safety before crossing.

Although the going was easier now Titch kept the speed down to prevent any dust clouds that could give away their position.

They had seen plenty of air activity away to the north the further they got to the coast, finally arriving at the base of Jebel-Achdar mountain, less than twenty miles from Dena.

Shaun held a council of war with the men that night.

"Tomorrow Jack, Prof and myself will go forward to scout the airbase from the top of the escarpment." He looked at them letting that sink in. "We have been lucky so far, no one expects any danger this far west. Let's keep them thinking that way."

That night he and Titch scouted ahead to find a spot for Sue to hold up in. Finally locating a wadi two miles from the airbase.

They moved into it while it was still dark, taking great pains to camouflage Sue. Shaun warned Titch, Sammy and Cookie they would be gone for a few days. Taking their canteens and a supply of biltong and binoculars, Jack, Prof and Shaun set off to the airbase.

They found a place just below the top of the escarpment in some rocks that offered a perfect view of the base.

As the sun rose they could make out the details of the base. Prof began sketching it whilst Shaun and Jack looked through their binoculars.

The base had only one runway, with access roads either side of it. On one side a mixture of Heinkel and Dornier bombers and ME109s were lined up, on the far side Savda-Marchetti bombers and Maechi C202 fighters were lined up.

Shaun counted 88 aircraft, 48 German and 40 Italian, Prof dually noted it in his note book.

At 6-30am, men began to load bombs into eight of the Heinkel aircraft, Shaun noted were the trailers carrying the bombs came from. At 8am, two trucks deposited flight crews at the bombers and at four of the ME109s.

The planes taxied to the start of the runway, and took off, climbing up over the sea.

"Gone to pound Tobruk," Jack murmured.

During the course of the day, four further flights took off. The returning flights took up a position in the flight line, where they were refuelled. Ground Staff would come out and work on some of the aircraft. Flak damage Shaun surmised.

He paid particular attention to where the fuel bowser returned too, a heavy camouflaged area well away from the main buildings.

By the end of the day Proff had an accurate sketch of the base, with anti-aircraft gun emplacements detailing the type of weapon, the buildings and their suspected use, all noted in his neat precise handwriting.

The last flight returned just before 6pm. By now they knew which barracks were used for flight crews, and ground staff. They'd established when the guards were changed and their barracks, noting that the guards were Italian.

They watched as the base settled down, men going to their respective mess halls, whist they chewed on the biltong.

Then at 7:30 four trucks loaded with personnel left the base heading down the coast road to Dena eight miles away.

They returned just before mid-night, with raucous shouts and laughter coming from them.

"At least someone has had a good night," Prof observed mournfully.

The following day was a repeat of the last, when the trucks arrived back with their load at midnight. They left the concealment of the rocks making their way back to the truck.

Cookie in short order had a hot meal and a brew ready for them.

Sitting around the burner, Shaun held council. "It's doable regarding the raid, but to be quite honest the chances of getting away with it are pretty slim. Every Axis asset, aircraft and motorised patrols will be out searching for us. They'll flood the South East to get their revenge.

The group sat in silence digesting this.

"What if we hole up for a few days until things quieten down?" Jack murmured.

"We might get away with it with one truck, but there's four to hide. They'll know how many took part in the raid."

They lapsed into silence thinking.

"Wadi El-Kuf," Prof suddenly said. Five pairs of eyes looked at him.

"Wadi El-Kuf, it's in the Jebel Akhdar, the green mountain. I remember reading about it, there's a series of large caves that prehistoric man lived in. It may be possible to hide the trucks in them."

Prof rushed away to get his maps, returning he handed it to Shaun.

"If memory serves it's about there," he said pointing to a spot on the map.

"Around thirty miles away," Shaun murmured, "how's our fuel Titch?"

"We still have three cans left, it will be close but we could do it."

It took four hours to find the wadi, and a further two hours to pick their way through the bolder strewn wadi to reach the caves.

The men started exploring them, deciding on one that had an entrance that Sue could just squeeze through but opened into a cavern that could easily house four trucks. At the back of the cave was a small pool of fresh water, fed by a drip from the roof.

Shaun clapped Prof on the back "Prof you're a genius, your education was not wasted."

That evening they reviewed their plans.

"We'll establish the cache here of petrol, ammunition and supplies, thankfully we don't have to worry about water." Shaun looked at the map, "we can strike due south from here until we hit the dunes and then east back to base." He looked around the group watching them nod in agreement

Chapter 6

It took only four days to get back to base. Once clear of the wadi they were on limestone rock with a thin covering of sand, able to average over two hundred miles a day, before slowing when they hit the dunes.

They had been gone fourteen days.

After a shower and a shave, Shaun reported to Ted. He showed him the note book regarding the airbase, and the Wadi on Teds map.

Ted listened to what Shaun had to say, before adding, "So you will need to position your cache in the cave?"

Shaun nodded, "Basically it will consist of petrol, ammo and food, when we attack ammo will be the prime load. We can load up with petrol and grub for the return after keeping our heads down for seven days or so to be on the safe side. Do you know when the convoy is due?"

"Latest estimate is in three weeks, it's forming up in Gib at the moment, its bringing tanks and aircraft for the proposed counterattack on the Axis positions, so it's critical that it gets through."

"So we need to start building up the cache right away. It's an eight day trip to the wadi and back," Shaun murmured.

"We'll get Tim, Bill and Bobby in and brief them, your navigator can brief their blokes on the route to take. The Sergeants can start organising weapons for it."

Two days later Tim set out loaded with petrol, two days later Bill left also loaded down followed by Bobby in 'Anne' two days after that.

In the interim, Jack had visited Ali's shack and returned with two more M2HB 50 calibres.

"The problem is there's no ammo for them Boss," he said mournfully.

Ted solved the problem by getting 3 thousands rounds of .50 API (armour piercing incendiaries), from the RAF which used them on their Kittyhawks.

Sue made an uneventful trip loaded with ammunition and grenades, Shaun had looked with satisfaction at the heaped jerry cans of petrol, ammunition and food. A camouflage net now hid the entrance to the cave now.

Tim and Bill did one further trip out to the cave, after which Shaun said they had enough.

Work began on the trucks, the 50cals were mounted on Tim and Bobby's trucks. Bill had a Vickers .303 Medium Machine Gun, mounted in the central mount. Twin Vickers Ks where to be mounted either on the nearside or offside of the truck near the front. It had been decided that at the end of the runway the Vickers could be changed to the other mount for the return trip up the runway if need be. They practiced changing the guns on the mounts to establish the best way of doing it.

Shaun inspected each truck, they all carried two twin Vickers Ks, one in front of the passenger seat and the other on a mount behind them, with either a 50cal in the central mount in the middle of the truck or a Vickers Medium Machine gun. The magazine feeds for the Vickers Ks and Vickers Medium guns had armour piercing and incendiary's every five rounds.

In a briefing with the other Officers and Sergeants along with Ted in attendance, Shaun outlined his plan of attack using a large scale sketch of the airbase.

Sue would crash the guard post barrier, making its way to the runway, in-route he would grenade the flack positions on his right. Tim following, would grenade the flack positions on their left. Shaun and Tim would proceed down the left of the runway destroying the aircraft lined up there. Bill would go down the right hand side. At the end of the runway, Bill would turn coming back up the side Shaun and Tim had come down, Whilst Shaun and Tim would go up his side destroying any he had missed.

Shaun continued, "Bobby will take up a position just inside of the guard gate and cover the barracks. Someone in his crew will have to place plastic explosives in the fuel depot. It will have a twenty five minute fuse pencil. He will also keep the barracks under fire and any other troops that may engage him. When Tim, Bill and I returned, he will then follow us up the coast road over the escarpment and then on to the cave."

Shaun scanned each of the men's faces, "The time for the attack will be 3:00am gentlemen, we should be all done by 3:55 and on our way back. Any questions?"

One or two question were asked clarifying points of the attack.

"Finally," Shaun said, "after the attack there will be radio silence apart from the signal to say success or failure. The code word for success will be Khana, for failure, Betty. We will not communicate again until we are on the way back to base. They are bound to have their radio detection vans out looking for our signals. Also, should we have casualties, it will be up to the medics to cope."

Ted looked round the men present, "I'm reliably informed gentlemen that the convoy will sail in three days' time. They will be in range of the enemy bombers by the sixth day at sea, on the 13th. The attack must be on the 12th."

"In that case we need to leave to be on the safe side in four days' time," Shaun murmured.

The following day a briefing of all the men involved in the raid was carried out. By the end of it each man knew what he was supposed to do. They began to get the trucks ready.

On the 7th they set off, crossing into Libya below Fort Maddalena on the evening of the same day.

Shaun kept the speed down knowing four trucks could kick up quite a dust cloud if not watched.

Twice they had to hide when aircraft were spotted but they were well to the north thankfully.

They arrived at the entrance to the wadi on the 11th, Shaun pulled over to the side to let the others pass, whilst Sammy sent the code word for arrival. Once inside the wadi radio transmission was useless.

Once inside the cave the men climbed down weary from the journey, the burners were broken out and a brew was quickly made for them all. With what was left of daylight, nonessential items were removed from the trucks to make way for the ammunition boxes and grenades.

As the light faded, they enjoyed a corn beef curry cooked by Cookie who had somehow brought a big bag of rice with them.

Shaun was settled into his usual spot, resting against Sue's front tyre having a cigarette, when Bobby came over to join him. He accepted a cigarette from Shaun sitting down along side of him.

Bobby hailed from Christchurch New Zeeland and like Shaun had been in the LRDG the longest of the Officers. In Chivvy Street he had been at university studying law when the war broke out.

"What time do you recon to pull out tomorrow night?" He asked.

Shaun thought before answering, "At eleven, to give us plenty of time to reach the escarpment. We'll rest up just off from the coast road. At 3-20 we'll move on to the road, I'm counting on the guard at the gate thinking we're a late convoy."

Bobby nodded, "We should be due for some leave after this little lot. How about Cairo again?"

Shaun smiled, remembering the last time they had been in Cairo was five months ago and Ken had been there with them. They had hooked up with some WAAFs from the Officers Club. He frowned trying to remember her name and face. They had been only semi sober for the entire five day leave.

"Yeah, sounds good to me." He replied to Bobby.

The men were finding places to put their bedrolls out, has Bobby walked away.

Chapter 7

The next morning the men began to check the weapons, the pan shaped magazines for the Vickers Ks were clipped into place and spare magazines placed within easy reach. The boxes of .50 API were placed near the middle mounting, whilst Cookie checked the fuses of the Mills grenades.

Shaun checked and cleaned his personal weapons, the MP40 and Cartwright .303. Then drew his 1911 .45 automatic removing the clip he checked the action before reloading it again. Spare magazines for the MP40 were at the side of his seat, alongside the bandolier his grandfather had used for the rifle.

Satisfied, he looked around at the other troops, all similarly occupied.

He lit a cigarette drawing on it nervously, knowing that the lives of these men was now in his hands. He thought for the thousandth time, worrying if he had overlooked anything in the planning. He was interrupted from his thoughts by Sammy handing him a mug of tea.

"Here Boss, get this down you, it will all be all right on the night," he said cheerfully." Shaun nodded and smiled accepting the mug. Sammy's job would be to hand out the magazines and boxes of 50cal when needed by the gun crews.

Titch had his head inside the bonnet tinkering with the engine. "Everything all right Titch?"

"No problems Boss, Sue won't let us down," he replied.

Shaun had a walk around the other trucks, asking if there were any problems, finding none. They were ready.

By 3pm everything had been done that could be done.

He gathered them all around and went through the briefing once more with them. Ending by saying "Sue will be tail end Charlie as we leave the base, we will pick up anyone whose truck has bought it, no one will be left behind. No matter how badly wounded, the Gestapo would soon ring the truth out of them as to our location. He let that sink in, looking at their faces. In the event I buy it, Bobby will take command and get you home. So, to recap; we will leave the base as follows, Bill first followed by Tim, then Bobby and then me. We will form up again back at the place where we joined the coast road. At that point I'll take the lead back to the cave, we'll stop at the entrance to the wadi and let you pass. Sammy needs to send the signal of success or failure. That will be the last transmission we send until we are on our way back. It only remains to wish you all good luck gentlemen."

He watched as Titch bolted on the 4 inch angle iron upright to the front of Sue that he had made back at base.

"So you reckon that should do the job, Titch?" he asked.

Titch chuckled, "If it doesn't, we're going to have a bad headache Boss."

The angle iron was to break the wooden bar that crossed the gate entrance to the base. It had a counterweight that allowed the guard to raise or lower it across the road. The trucks didn't have windscreens on them, and the guard post bar was at head height of the driver and passenger.

They had an early meal, then the men began to put on warmer cloths against the cold that was invading the cave has night fell.

Shaun shrugged on the sheepskin lined flying jacket, zipping it up. He glanced at his watch, it was 10:50.

"Mount up," he commanded.

One of the men moved the camouflage net to one side as the cave reverberated with the sound of truck engines. Taking his place alongside Titch, he nodded, "Let's go."

The moonlight cast a silvery glow on the desert, as Titch navigated the rocky wadi floor. He kept the speed down to 5 miles an hour, as the other trucks fell in line behind them.

They arrived at point were the coast road was in front of them at 3:10, and switched off the engines. Shaun knew the drivers would have been memorising the route they had taken to arrive here, ready for the return trip.

He sat back in his seat and lit a cigarette, masking the glow with the palm of his hand. He glancing at his watch, trying to hide his nervousness as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. When the minute hand moved to 3:18, he stubbed out his cigarette. Shaun reached forward and cocked the two Vickers Ks in front of him, hearing others doing the same with their weapons. "OK Titch, you know what to do," he murmured.

At the sound of their engine starting the others started theirs, following Sue out on to the coast road. They started down the escarpment, the airbase coming into view. Only the side lights were on, the trucks bunched tightly together.