Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign : The Eighth Army and the Path to El Alamein

363 Pages·2011·4.831 MB·English

by  Jonathan Fennell

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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
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Combat and Morale in the
North African Campaign
The Eighth Army and the Path to El Alamein
Jonathan Fennell
cambridge university press
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©JonathanFennell2011
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
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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