Parts 1 to 6.
Broadcaster Doug Laurenson [Military Service no. 34957] of the New Zealand Mobile Broadcasting Unit introduces a talk by a British officer of high rank, who commanded the Long Range Desert Patrol Group. Wartime censorship regulations did not permit the announcement of the officer's name or rank at the time of recording or first broadcast. [The speaker is Major Ralph Bagnold of the British Army.]
The LRDG operated for many months through thousands of square miles behind Italian out-posts. Individual troops of our motorised columns harassed, attacked and invaded enemy positions until the enemy transport system was disorganised and the outposts demoralised.
As Officer Commanding the LRDG, he has worked, surveyed, explored, invaded and fought in the company of a selected band of New Zealanders. To describe the activities of the group he presents a report, written by himself, on the group from its inception to today.
Communiqués have to date been confined to operations along the Mediterranean coast. Secrecy has prevented light being thrown on the activities of the LRDG who kept the Italians in the Middle East on their toes. Phantom motor patrols appeared like a "will o' the wisp" pirated Italian transport on the roads, attacked isolated forts, blowing up dumps and burning aircraft on the ground.
He then goes on to describe the rugged desert country in which the LRDG has had to operate in, including the biggest continuous sand dune field in the world. [audio breaks mid-sentence].
The persistence of the tell tale tracks of vehicles in the sand of the
desert was one of the chief difficulties which LRDG patrols had to
face. The tracks from a motor column can be followed from the air and
the column can be traced and bombed.
Shortly after the initial crossing of the Great Sand Sea barrier it was
again crossed, for the first time by a military patrol. The New Zealanders in the patrol quickly adapted to the new unfamiliar conditions they found themselves in. One truck fell over the brink of a mighty dune and rolled for over 100 feet but without any harm. After the patrol passed through the "sand sea", a hot wind began to blow over the dunes which muffled the force in a blanket of sand. For three days the heat of the wind made more than one man delirious.
After the wind had abated the patrols separated, each going on a 1,000-mile reconnaissance trip of its own into enemy territory, and they were given up for lost. After a month, three bands of bearded and un-washed men turned up in Cairo with a batch of Italian prisoners, captured documents and information about enemy activity in the interior. One patrol had penetrated 300 miles into Libya and surveyed all the roads leading to Kufra. Another patrol had made contact with the Free French forces in Chad.
The terrain of the country combined with 200 miles of barbed wire and
fortifications, the Italians had stretched from the sea southward along
the border with Egypt, cut off the the interior of Libya.
The presence at Kufra of enemy troops and aircraft was disturbing to the
Allies. There existed a distinct threat by land and air to upper Egypt and
the Nile communications with Sudan. It was imperative to find out what
was going on behind the sand barrier.
General Wavell called together three British men who knew the desert country well from their hobby of exploring the Libyan desert. They were already close friends from expeditions together into the desert. Within six weeks the Long Range Desert Group was in being. Patrols of picked men from New Zealand and the Royal Armoured Corps were equipped, trained and able to serve in the middle of the desert out of the reach of any help, supplies or assistance.
While this was happening in August 1940, one of the three men together with five New Zealanders in two light cars breached the Italian shore at the "Great Sea of Sand" by a route only known to himself. He struck out westwards across Libya through unknown country to Kufra. He discovered another huge range of sand dunes, which had previously been unknown. By studying wheel marks which remain in the sand for long periods of time, he was able to determine a lot about the enemies' movements. In some places, car tracks from patrols of 1916 can still be seen.
The terrain of the country combined with 200 miles of barbed wire and
fortifications, the Italians had stretched from the sea southward along
the border with Egypt, cut off the the interior of Libya.
The presence at Kufra of enemy troops and aircraft was disturbing to the
Allies. There existed a distinct threat by land and air to upper Egypt and
the Nile communications with Sudan. It was imperative to find out what
was going on behind the sand barrier.
General Wavell called together three British men who knew the desert country well from their hobby of exploring the Libyan desert. They were already close friends from expeditions together into the desert. Within six weeks the Long Range Desert Group was in being. Patrols of picked men from New Zealand and the Royal Armoured Corps were equipped, trained and able to serve in the middle of the desert out of the reach of any help, supplies or assistance.
While this was happening in August 1940, one of the three men together with five New Zealanders in two light cars breached the Italian shore at the "Great Sea of Sand" by a route only known to himself. He struck out westwards across Libya through unknown country to Kufra. He discovered another huge range of sand dunes, which had previously been unknown. By studying wheel marks which remain in the sand for long periods of time, he was able to determine a lot about the enemies' movements. In some places, car tracks from patrols of 1916 can still be seen.
The terrain of the country combined with 200 miles of barbed wire and fortifications, the Italians had stretched from the sea southward along the border with Egypt, cut off the the interior of Libya.
The presence at Kufra of enemy troops and aircraft was disturbing to the Allies. There existed a distinct threat by land & air to upper Egypt and the Nile communications with Sudan. It was imperative to find out what
was going on behind the barriers.
General Wavell called together three men who knew the desert country and within six weeks the LRDG was in being. Patrols of picked men from New Zealand and the Royal Armoured Corps were equipped, trained and able to serve in the middle of the desert, out of the reach of help.
While this was happening in 1940 one of the three men who had headed the setting up of the LRDG with 5 New Zealanders, breached the Italian shore at the "Great Sea of Sand" by a route only known to himself.
The persistence of the tell tale tracks of vehicles in the sand of the desert was one of the chief difficulties which LRDG patrols had to face. The tracks from a motor column can be followed from the air and the column can be traced and bombed.
Shortly after the initial crossing of the Great Sand Sea barrier it was again crossed, for the first time by a military patrol. After the patrol passed through the "sea" a hot wind began to blow over the dunes which
muffled the force in a blanket of sand. For three days the heat of the wind made more than one man delirious.
After the wind had abated the patrol separated, each going on a trip of its own into enemy territory, and were given up for lost. After 3 months a bearded and un-washed group with a batch of Italian prisoners turned up
in Cairo.
Other expeditions followed through the Autumn of 1940. On one occasion a patrol ended up at the gates of an Italian fort, their sentry thought our men were Italians and was seized by the patrol. Three shells were
put through the walls of the fort driving the garrison out enabling the enemy armament to be removed and then the raiders disappeared into the desert. The Italians searched for them but they were never found.
On the same day 600 miles further south, another group of the LRDG attacked a post with dozens of Italians wounded or killed.
After these attacks the Italians stopped all normal traffic along the desert routes. By December the LRDG had distracted the enemy from the decisive battle area in the North.
It was decided to raid Italian garrisons at Fezzan far away in east Libya. On Christmas Eve two patrols set out to raid posts 1,200 miles distance. The LRDG patrols met up with a Free French Commander, at the foot of the Tibesti mountains on the boarder of Chad, and together with him and a detachment of Free French troops continued into Fezzan. Marzuq was taken by surprise and the interior of the Italian fort set on fire.
The Free French Colonel was killed at Marzuq while attempting to silence a machine gun. The force then moved onto the town of Traghan and another two towns were taken before they turned back for their base in Egypt.
The Long Rang Desert Group had, up to the end of this journey, covered 500,000 truck miles without the loss of a single vehicle.