What the General Saw
Bibliography with Notes plus Bonus Content
Cooper, Artemis. Cairo in the War 1939-1945. London: John Murray (Publishers), 2013. Kindle.
Chapter: Disaster in All Directions
“In the Western Desert that same night, after two days of fruitlessly trying to co-ordinate the movements of the British and Australian forces, Neame and O’Conner decided to pull back their headquarters. Since O’Conner had no car of his own, Neame gave him a lift in a huge white Cadillac that he had inherited…They set off in the main stream of British vehicles pouring east…but before nightfall realised they were on the wrong track. After midnight the car suddenly hesitated, and stopped. O’Conner woke up. Lights were flashing in their direction, and voices behind the lights were German. Of all the commanders who might have been captured, O’Conner was the one who could least be spared; and it was not until Montgomery arrived a year and a half later that the British had a general of his calibre…”
Jackson,W.G.F. The Battle for North Africa 1940-1943. New York: Mason/Charter Publishers, 1975, p. 106.
“…After seeing the final withdrawal was well under way, Neame and O’Conner had set off in a staff car for Timini where their next headquarters was to be established. The driver lost the way while the two generals snatched what sleep they could in the back of the car. He veered too far north towards Derna, and ran into one of Ponath’s patrols. There was no escape, Both O’conner and Neame were captured before they were fully awake. The loss of O’Conner was a serious blow for the British. He was one of the few men who might have been able to destroy the Rommel myth…”
Mead, Richard . Churchill’s Lions: A Biographical Guide to the Key British Generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount, (2007), p. 333.
(from Wikipedia).
“O’Connor spent the next two and a half years as a prisoner of war, mainly at the Castello di Vincigliata near Florence, Italy. Here he and Neame were in the company of such figures as Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart and Air Vice Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd. Although the conditions of their imprisonment were not unpleasant, the officers soon formed an escape club and began planning a break-out. Their first attempt, a simple attempt to climb over the castle walls, resulted in a month’s solitary confinement.”
Rainier RE, Major Peter. Pipeline to Battle: An Engineer’s Adventures with the British Eighth Army. Auckland: Pickle Partners Publishing, 2013. Kindle.
PART TWO Chapter 3: Bright Prospects Recede
“…O’Conner, with three other senior officers in his car, was well toward the rear-guard but O’Conner was burning to get on to Tobruk…they swung out to the southward to cut across country and bypass the convoy on the tarmac road. What they did not know was that a German patrol was pushing along the desert, parallel with our retreating columns.
“The German patrol was only a few armoured cars and a handful of motorcycle troops armed with tommy-guns. The Germans were too weak to attack the massed columns on the road but they were watching them. When General O’Conner’s staff car turned off it was scene by a German scout on a motorcycle who followed and waited his chance. The staff car was suddenly surrounded and confronted with the muzzles of tommy-guns at a few yards range.”
Bonus Illustrations
WWII in North Africa 