DAY THE SAS POSED AS NAZI STORMTROOPERS
British troops dressed in German uniforms mounted a daredevil raid to take the Libyan port of Tobruk during the Second World War, reveals a fascinating new book
EVERY Allied rifle at the checkpoint was targeted on the haggard man. As he slowly staggered through the barren desert towards the British lines, the only distinguishing feature was the uniform of the Afrika Korps, the German unit under the command of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
In the searing heat of North Africa the man was starving, weather-beaten and close to death but every soldier wondered what was he doing alone in the middle of the dusty Sahara. Was he a German deserter? An injured Nazi surrendering? Or was it a trap?
Once he was revived a remarkable story emerged – not of a Nazi prisoner but a British officer. Captain Henry Buck, of the 5th Battalion, 1st Punjabi Regiment had been leading a group of men near the frontline at Derna in northern Libya when they made contact with the enemy. After a firefight he and his men had been taken prisoner by the Germans.
The ever industrious Buck, 25, and a small number of colleagues had escaped, scavenged Afrika Korps uniforms from dead Germans, commandeered a truck and headed for the Allied-controlled area to the east. The journey had seen them bluff their way past German checkpoints before making good their escape.
Buck was awarded the Military Cross but the intrepid escape had given birth to a bigger idea in his mind. If he could deceive the Germans to get out of territory they controlled, was it not possible that an Allied unit similarly disguised could get behind enemy lines and cause untold chaos?
The Allies had faced a series of setbacks in 1941 and the first half of 1942, particularly in Africa. Rommel, the Desert Fox, had inflicted a series of defeats on the British, forcing them to pull back. His light armoured divisions were forcing the Allies to retreat across the sand dunes and scrubland of the desert.
Among the German victories was the taking of the port of Tobruk in 1942. Strategically vital and with a deep harbour, it was where Rommel made his headquarters.
DESPERATE to turn the tide against the Germans – and with the blessing of Winston Churchill – the Allies came up with arguably the most extraordinary mission of the Second World War. Outrageous, suicidal and going against almost every known rule of African warfare, Operation Agreement was to be a four-pronged attack on Axis bases in Libya, with Tobruk the ultimate aim.
And while part of the attack would be an aerial bombardment and an invasion by sea, the key to its success was a land attack as deceptive as it was daring.
Captain Buck worked tirelessly on his great idea. Under the cover name of a Special Interrogation Group (SIG), he brought together a team of fluent German speakers, mainly Palestinians of German origin. They were equipped with German vehicles, weapons and uniforms. Their passes and papers matched those of the soldiers they were trying to impersonate, even down to love letters from pretend girlfriends back in the fatherland.
Dubbed the Ghost Patrol, they were also deliberately kept apart from other British soldiers so that they could live and breathe the life of the Afrika Korps. Captured German soldiers were even brought in to help provide the vital minutiae of life in Axis camps.
In the days and weeks before the attack in September 1942, a number of special operation units made their way across hundreds of miles of desert to their targets. One was a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) of volunteers whose reconnaissance and raiding skills made them ideal for the long journey. Their target, the town of Barce along the coast, was a diversionary attack to draw attention away from Tobruk. A unit of SAS soldiers was to carry out a similar attack on the major centre of Benghazi. However the final group’s task was the most daring and dangerous. Buck’s SIG volunteers would attempt to sneak straight into the centre of Tobruk by pretending to be German soldiers who had captured an Allied unit of commandos. Their aim was to take control of Tobruk so that backup from the sea could land before they released thousands of British and Commonwealth prisoners of war to join the fight. After a brutal journey through blistering heat the attack was set for the night of September 13. The Allies were relying on the element of surprise against the huge numbers of Axis forces and the early skirmishes led to significant victories. The LRDG surged into Barce airfield and, as panicked Italian guards struggled to respond, destroyed more than 30 aircraft.
Along the coast the combined forces of the SIG and commandos had penetrated the German security perimeter, the ruse of guards and captured troops appearing to have worked perfectly. Having sneaked past camps of hundreds of enemy soldiers, the Allied convoy made its way to the seafront where, after negotiating a minefield, they overwhelmed Italian troops tasked with safeguarding the port.
As the RAF bombarded Tobruk and the signal to the Allied sea forces to come ashore was sent out, it seemed a brilliant victory was within grasp. But as quickly as the opportunity for a decisive triumph appeared so just as swiftly it was lost. The Germans had prepared. A major force of crack troops was sent to reclaim the coastal area and the big guns of the Axis sea defences were aimed at the Allied landing craft as they tried to make land.
Despite the valiant efforts of the commandos, the failure of reinforcements to make it to land meant the Allies were repulsed. Losses were substantial with about 750 men lost in the attack. The stories of those who made it out alive were remarkable. Among them was a group who covered more than 375 miles on foot across the desert through heavily occupied enemy territory.
BUCK himself made a daring attempt at escape by heading into the centre of Tobruk, again with the aim of deceiving German troops by pretending to be one of their own. He was wounded as he fled, captured and despite serial attempts at escape was finally released at the end of the war. He married in November 1945 but tragically was killed in an air crash just two weeks later.
The War Cabinet later concluded that although the raids failed in their initial objectives the effect on the enemy in terms of damage and resources was considerable. Rommel’s forces were driven out of Africa in May 1943. The longerterm lessons of the Tobruk assault were also never forgotten and the concept of bluff, deception and masquerading as the enemy remain a key feature of the SAS.