Chapter 27

Fall 1940: British Night Patrols Find A Gap

Bibliography with Notes plus Bonus Content

Latimer, Jon. Operation Compass. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000. Kindle.

Chapter: The Campaign

“The armoured cars were particularly vulnerable to air attack and the Italians had formed a squadron specifically to hunt for them. Subjected to over 20 air attacks that day, 11 H (Hussars) eventually had to be withdrawn from action.”

Moorehead, Alan. The Desert War: The Classic Trilogy on the North African Campaign 1940-1943. London: Aurum Press Ltd, 2013. Kindle.

BOOK ONE—The Mediterranean Front: The Year of Wavell 1940-41: One

“Our patrolling was done in small groups, sometimes a single vehicle, and nearly always at night. A lieutenant and a dozen men would drive far out into no-man’s-land in the darkness, camouflage their vehicles with net and salt-brush before dawn, and lie motionless on the floor of the desert during the day. More often than not, aircraft would fail to spot them, but at the first sign of superior land forces on the desert horizon they would try to identify the enemy and then quickly escape back to our lines. Thus a considerable amount of information was always coming into British Corps Headquarters.”

Moorehead, Alan. The Desert War: The Classic Trilogy on the North African Campaign 1940-1943. London: Aurum Press Ltd, 2013 Kindle.

BOOK ONE—The Mediterranean Front: The Year of Wavell 1940-41: Five

“But the British Intelligence colonel began to notice among the reports which patrols were constantly bringing in that those scouts who penetrated the area between Nibeiwa and Sofafi invariably returned with no news at all. No contact was made with the enemy. Puzzled, he went out himself, just he and a driver, and lay in the desert just south of Nibeiwa getting the same result. He returned on the succeeding night. And then again and again. Each time going a little deeper into enemy territory. Still he struck nothing. Could it be possible that there was a gap…?”