Agheila

I am interested to find out the British troop dispositions in Agheila when the DAK arrived in North Africa.

According to WS Schmidt (Rommels ADC) the main German attack was conducted by two armoured cars and a halftrack against units of the Scots Guards, resulting in the destruction of five British trucks. After this 'armoured attack' the British force retreated en mass .

This leads me to suspect that the forces in Agheila were not at all equipped to defend against an armoured attack and possibly had no anti tank guns or tanks of their own and/or might have been critically short of ammunition and other supplies.

 

On 20 February, a troop of the King's Dragoon Guards commanded by Lt Williams(Later Brig Williams GSO1(Int) 8th Army) exchanged fire with German Armoured Cars.

On 23 Feb, two troops of the KDG plus a troop of Australian AT guns(2 pdrs) were patrolling near Agheilia when they were fired upon by a force including Tanks.(7 tanks, 3 armoured cars & 14 motorcycle combinations)

From "To Benghazi" by Gavin Long

On March 23, the Australian & British covering force fell back from El Agheilia to Marsa Brega, a position covered by salt marshes.

I believe that the Aussies pulled back further to join 9 Aust Div and were replaced by 1/Tower Hamlet Rifles from Support Group 2 Armoured Division.