Bir Hacheim: May 27th - June 11th, 1942

[Trommelfeuer]

How about some scenarios / an operation of the battle at Bir Hacheim ? Especially the attack of the Ariete Division with their M13/40s on May 27th, the attack at point 186 on June 8th, the counterattack of the Bren carrier sections on June 9th, and the final outbreak on June 11th should be very interesting...

What do you think ?

May 27th, 1942..

As dawn breaks at Bir Hacheim, the 1st Free French Brigade is dug in. This colorful force consists of two battalions of white-kepied Foreign Legionnaires, Marines, colonial infantry, Senegalese and Chad infantry. The French are backed with obsolescent but quick-firing 75mm guns, the "soixante-quinze" of World War I, overhauled in Beirut workshops, and British Bofors guns. Worried about gas attack, Gen. Jean Marie Koenig, 1st Brigade's CO, has ordered his Foreign Legionnaires to shave their beards so they can fit on gas masks.

At 4 am, the French can hear the squeaky rattle of advancing tank treads. The battle is on.

The French are standing to at 8 a.m., when the Italian Ariete Division shows up. 50 M13/40 tanks crash the southern French defenses at 9 a.m., attacking with determination and panache. The French hit back with mines and Boyes' anti-tank rifles, but six tanks bear down into the French positions. Legionnaires deal with those with their 75mm guns and by scrambling onto the rivetted monsters, firing revolvers into the tanks' observation slits.

The Italians try again with 30 tanks, and fail. They pull back at 10 a.m., having lost 32 tanks, and 60 PoWs, including the CO of Ariete's 132 Armoured Regiment, who had to change his tank three times. Only one Frenchman is wounded.

The Italians don't attack again that day, having used up their supplies, and the French troops take time to pillage the wrecked Italian tanks, finding them well-stocked with blankets, ham, preserves, and eau-de-cologne...

May 28th..

The Luftwaffe tries to pound Bir Hacheim into submission, but the RAF fights back.

May 29th..

The French shell passing German convoys. Gen. Koenig apologizes to his captive officers for the poor accommodations. And 600 Indian troops stagger into the position, from 3rd Indian Motor Brigade. These men have been captured by the Germans, but as the Germans lack supplies to feed themselves, have turned the captives loose. Koenig sends them north through the fluid battlefield to Tobruk.

May 30th..

Bir Hacheim still holding out and preventing DAK's supplies getting through from the south...

May 31st..

A supply convoy arrives with congratulations for the French defenders. It takes out the 600 Indians from 3rd Motor Brigade, 170 Italian PoWs, and various wounded men.

June 1st..

The French advance with probes, their Marine-manned Bofors AA guns shooting down four Ju 87 Stukas.

June 2nd..

Rommel despatches two motorized divisions, the German 90th Light and the Italian Trieste, to take Bir Hacheim.

There, the French find 50 tanks and 100 other vehicles heading towards them, so the French dig in. No attack comes. Instead, two Italian officers show up under flag of truce, who are taken to headquarters. One gives a long speech in Italian. Nobody can speak Italian. The French officers figure out that the Italians are demanding the French surrender. Gen. Phillippe Koenig answers the demand by saying, "Gentlemen, thank your generals for their pleasant conduct, but tell them that there is no question of surrender." The Italians are led back to their lines.

Koenig sends a message to his troops about the incident, saying, "General Rommel has asked us to surrender and threatened us with extermination. I have refused. Do your duty."

The RAF hits the Luftwaffe hard, too. Koenig signals RAF Air Vice Marshal Coningham, a New Zealander, "Merci pour la RAF." Coningham signals back, "Merci pour le sport."

Well-placed French defenses minimize the effect of German artillery. Rommel applauds the French defenses, saying, "All a direct hit can do is destroy one small slit trench or so. A very high expenditure of ammunition is needed to inflict real damage."

The Italians start shelling Bir Hacheim later that day, and before the artillery duel can get properly started, war is called due to sandstorm.

June 3rd..

The Germans move in 105 mm guns, superior to the French 75s. Rommel sends in two captured British officers with a surrender demand, reading "To the troops at Bir Hakim. Any further resistance will only serve to shed more useless blood. You will suffer the same fate as the two British brigades which were exterminated at Got el Ualeb (the Cauldron) two days ago. We shall cease fire when you raise the white flag and come towards us without arms." Koenig does not reply, and tells his men "Our task is to hold the ground, whatever the cost, until our victory is complete. This order must be clearly conveyed to all ranks. Good luck to you all."

Rommel sends in the Stukas at 11:30 am and 12 of them arrive just as RAF Hurricanes do, which is bad timing. The Luftwaffe loses seven dive bombers.

June 4th..

Heavy artillery bombardment at Bir Hacheim...

June 5th..

The French are still holding out, after 48 hours of continuous bombardment. A German truck drives up under a white flag to demand a parley. The Foreign Legionnaire on guard is a German and he gives the Afrika Korps officer some choice vocabulary. The German drives off, quite angry, and hits a mine, flipping the truck in the air. Officer and driver escape the blazing truck and flee on foot, as the Foreign Legionnaires add more derisive commentary in German.

Rommel reacts by sending in the 15th Panzer Division. The Germans and French trade artillery salvos, but the German 155 mm guns have the range. German Infantry of the 90th Light Division try to attack, but are stopped 1,500 yards away by French 75 mms and mortars.

June 6th..

The Germans send infantry with tanks against the French Battalion du Pacifique, drawn from French Polynesia. The French hold on, but take heavy casualties. Artillery are reduced to firing one round per minute.

June 7th..

Both sides take a breather in the stifling desert heat.

June 8th..

Dawn begins at Bir Hacheim with something unusual for the desert, tick fog, blinding the French defenders.

The Germans attack through the fog with Stukas and 15th Panzer Division. The Afrika Korps' target is Point 186, held by the Bataillon de Marche.

The Germans fling 60 Stukas against the French, and attack as soon as the bombers have left.

The situation is grave, as the Stukas have wrecked the French 75mm guns.

French General Philippe Koenig tells his Foreign Legionnaires to stay put. The French hang on, firing their guns at the tanks, and are still in position at dusk.

Despite heat and French shortages of men, ammunition, and medical supplies, their morale is high, as they have taken all the Afrika Korps can throw at them, and not flinched.

June 9th..

The exhausted French garrison, short of water, food, and ammunition, endure yet another Stuka bombardment. This bombing cuts all the phone lines for good.

There's no wire left. The Germans attack at 1 p.m. with tanks and infantry, and drive between two French battalions. The fighting is hand to hand...one German is shot down yards from a 75mm gun.

Just as the French seem ready to collapse, one of the brigade's Bren gun carrier sections rattles up, plugging the gap.

By day's end, Bataillon du Pacifique counts 250 German corpses, but the Germans are 200 yards from Bir Hacheim's Beau Geste fort.

At 8 p.m., the Stukas come back, blasting trucks and unissued rations. Bir Hacheim can't hold out much longer. Koenig decides to break out the following evening....

June 10th..

Col. Gunther Baade, an English-speaking officer who keeps a dress in his bags (in case he has to make a sudden escape) is ordered to attack Bir Hacheim. Despite his eccentricities, Baade

is a fierce fighter, and he hammers the French back. 110 Stukas drop 130 tons of bombs on the position. Rommel reports that he can take the fort the next day. The French have no mortar ammunition left. Koenig orders the breakout by night, making detailed plans. Units in contact with the enemy are to stay in position until the last moment. Two companies will remain behind as a deception party. All secret documents are carried out. The

retreat heads southwest, to fool the Germans.

At 10:30 p.m. the convoys move out. German artillery opens up, burning several vehicles. The breakout becomes a nightmare of bursting shells and parachute flares, machine gun fire, and

infantry battles. French troops run into German minefields.

June 11th..

By dawn at Bir Hacheim, the French are still struggling to break out from their positions. More than 1,500 Frenchmen have reached British lines, a number that rises to 2,000 by 8 a.m., and includes General Koenig by noon. 2,700 of the original 3,600 Frenchmen have successfully withdrawn in the face of the Afrika Korps, an impressive military feat, as a withdrawal is one of the most difficult of all operations. Rommel pays tribute, writing

that "In spite of all our security measures, the greater part of the garrison broke out...under the leadership of their commander, General Koenig."

That morning, the 90th Light Division finally occupies Bir Hacheim. The Germans capture 500 wounded men and 1,200 separate positions for infantry and heavy weapons.

The 14-day defense of Bir Hacheim has bought time for the 8th Army. Rommel cannot resume the offensive until late on the 11th, which gives the British time to start withdrawing their

infantry west of Tobruk. French casualties are 900, 24 75mm guns, and most of the brigade's transport. The Germans have lost 51 tanks, five self-propelled guns, 15 armored cars, and seven

planes.

But now the southern half of the Gazala Line no longer exists, and the British, down to 250 tanks, must retreat in the face of Rommel's 160 German and 60 Italian machines.

SOURCE

http://www.usswashington.com/dl_index.htm

Defenders of Bir Hacheim after their succesfull retreat - or: "How many guys can you fit on a Bren carrier?":

Greetings, Sven

[ November 22, 2003, 05:34 PM: Message edited by: Trommelfeuer ]

[Trommelfeuer]

BUMP!

After a brief conference with Colonel Bayerlein, he [Rommel] ordered Group Baade (the bulk of Lt. Col. Ernst-Guenther Baade's 115th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 15th Panzer Division) down from the Cauldron area. Baade -- a highly capable officer despite his eccentricities (he occasionally went into battle dressed in a Scottish kilt and carrying a broadsword) :eek: -- led his regiment into the attack with Koenig's Free French Brigade with his usual skill. Well supported by the Stukas, he stormed Point 186, the high ground north of Bir Hacheim, overlooking the main French positions.

Although Renton's battered 7th Motor Brigade had been running convoys of supplies, ammunition, and water to the garrison at night, and taking out wounded, the loss of Point 186 made Bir Hacheim untenable in the long run. The British XXX Corps tried to take some of the pressure off the garrison on 9 June by sending columns from the 7th Motor, 29th Indian Infantry Brigade, and 4th Armoured Division to distract Rommel, and they did force him to divert part of 90th Light to deal with them, but he continued to tighten his grip on the fortress. The next day forty Stukas and twenty Ju-88 bombers dropped some 130 tons of bombs on Bir Hacheim. This time, the RAF could not break through the fighter screen. Meanwhile, on the ground, the grenadiers of the 90th Light Division (attacking without tank support) broke into the main defensive perimeter, and Rommel signaled OKW that Bir Hacheim would finally fall the next day. For some time, Field Marshal Kesselring had been pressuring Rommel to bring down stronger forces (including panzer battalions) to speed up the capture of the fortress, but, with British armor bruised but still intact, the Desert Fox wanted to save his tanks for fighting in more open terrain; he did not want to waste them in the minefields around Bir Hacheim. Events were to prove him right.

That evening, Pierre Koenig signaled Ritchie: "Am at the end of my tether. The enemy is outside my HQ." The Eighth Army commander knew that the end had come; he ordered the French garrison to break out that night.

Early on the morning of 11 June, the German wireless intercept unit picked up the news that the garrison was about to break out. The 1st Free French were attacked as they worked their way through a narrow gap, but, even so, more than half the brigade managed to escape, although it lost twenty-four guns and many of its motorized vehicles. Out of an original garrison of 3,600, about 2,300 or so made their way back to friendly lines, including 200 wounded. General Koenig was among those who got away. Ironically, he would become the military governor of the French Occupation Zone in Germany after the war.

Greetings, Sven

[Thin Red Line]

I'm pretty sure there will be at least one Bir-Hackeim scenario on the cd

[winkelried]

And you can be sure that you'll see some additional ones coming from an old legionnaire like me

I just need the game in my hands to do the programming. Research is done

"Nous ne sommes pas ici pour nous rendre!" (We are not here to surrender) the reply of Gen. Koenig on the first request to surrender.

[Xavier]

Nice reading

[second amendment]

Ditto good read!

[Keith]

The "dress" Col. Baade had was a Scottish kilt, which he wore in battle. Baade was an Anlgophile and also carried a claymore around in battle.

[winkelried]

Originally posted by Xavier:

Nice reading

Yep, but to be read with care. E.g. there are very different figures on the losses occured to the FFL:

The 900 casualties don't hold probably. There are 193 graves at the Bir Hakeim memorial (this includes also losses occured during the escape) and the 90. leichte Division's war diary (Ia = Chief of Staff) lists 350 wounded and dead.

For the prisoners the 90. leichte mentions 25 Officers and 820 NCOs and men. Also the material found by the Axis was significantly lower, they state 15 75mm guns, 5 25 pdrs, 6 4cm (47mm ATG or Bofors AAG) and 2 AAGs. They also laid hand on 130 trucks, 60 of them still in useable condition.

Also the date of June 8th for the first attack of the 15th Panzer division's KG Baade cannot be established without doubt. There is a report from 15. Panzer which states that Baade departed only on June 9th. (Report of Lt. Dr. Kämpf to 15. Pz Ia). The attacks in the North of the French position on June 8th were probably the work of Kampfstaffel Kiehl (a relatively small combat group of Rommel's personal staff) together with Italian infantry (Pavia and Trieste). Eventually supported by some tanks of Ariete.

To my knowledge KG Baade did not muster any tanks at this time (it consisted basically of KG Dedekind). Something like 1 reinforced batallion of Panzergrenadiers, 1 Artillery battery (105er) and some light Flak (Report of Lt. Kämpf to Ia 15. Pz). Maybe somebody has better source material.

[Berlichtingen]

Sorry for the off topic post.

winkelried, did you recently send me an e-mail through Der Kessel?

[winkelried]

Originally posted by Berlichtingen:

Sorry for the off topic post.

winkelried, did you recently send me an e-mail through Der Kessel?

Yes I did. The next is on the way.