On the night of November 17-18, 1941, a thunderstorm raged in the small Libyan village of Beda Littoria, and interesting events took place near the local prefecture building - a group of British commandos were preparing to storm it. Several fighters headed for the front entrance, led by the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Case. The task of the special forces was to destroy the commander of the tank group "Africa", General of the Panzer Forces Erwin Rommel.

In the spring of 1941, the situation in North Africa began to change again in favor of the Italo-German troops. This was largely due to the new commander of the African Corps, Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel. The British were forced out of Cyrenaica, the Germans surrounded Tobruk and thwarted all attempts to unlock it. Thanks to his non-standard tactics, the ability to quickly move from defense to offense and constant maneuvering, Rommel received the nickname "Desert Fox". On July 1, 1941, he was promoted to general of tank troops, and in September he headed the Africa tank group.

Panzer General Erwin Rommel, commander of Panzer Group Africa. November 1941.

British generals developed a plan to release Tobruk and defeat the armored forces of the enemy, known as Operation Crusader. Subversive operations were part of this plan. Lieutenant David Stirling's Special Air Service (SAS) units were to strike at Ghazala and Tmimi airfields, and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Laycock's 11th Commando Detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Laycock's Layforce Combat Team was to kill General Rommel.

Soldiers of the 11th Commando Detachment.

The main developer of the special operation to destroy Rommel, code-named "Flipper", was 24-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Case, the son of Admiral Roger Case (head of the Special Operations Center), who had poor eyesight and lacked command initiative.

Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Case.

According to Case's plan, the special forces were supposed to approach the Cheskem el-Kelb beach (30 km from Beda Littoria) on the Torbay and Talisman submarines, land behind enemy lines, complete the assigned tasks, return to the beaches and again dive into the submarines . The plan was approved by the commander of the British 8th Army, Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham, Lieutenant Colonel Laycock and the headquarters of special operations in London, although Laycock emphasized that there would be very little chance for the commandos to return to the submarines. Based on intelligence data, Keyes was sure that the Desert Fox was at Beda Littoria.

On October 10, the sector of the future operation was explored by an experienced intelligence officer, Captain John Heiselden, who was told by local residents who collaborated with the British that Rommel was stationed in the building of the Beda Littoria prefecture.

Captain John Hayselden.

On October 25, another reconnaissance group was sent to the sector, led by Captain Thomas McPherson (Kase's adjutant), but the commandos fell into the hands of the enemy.

Case did not have reliable data about Rommel's stay in Beda Littoria, but nevertheless decided to act. The commandos were to be delivered to the enemy coast by the Torbay submarines (commander - Lieutenant Commander Anthony Myers) and Talisman (commander - Lieutenant Commander Michael Willmott.

Submarine Torbay.

On board the Torbay were 28 fighters led by Case, on the Talisman - 28 fighters and Laycock. Each submarine also had two members of the special boat service, who were ordered to help the commandos during the landing (on the Torbay - Lieutenant Robert Ingles and Corporal Clive Severn, on the Talisman - Lieutenant John Pryor and bombardier John Brittlebank). Among the participants in the operation were an interpreter from the 51st Palestinian commando detachment, Corporal Abshalom Drori, and two Arab guides.The commandos were supposed to strike at four targets: Rommel's residence, the radio station in Apollonia, the headquarters of the Italian Trieste division at Slonta and communications at Cyrene. Captain Hayselden was waiting for the commandos on the shore, where he had previously been taken by the Desert Long Range Intelligence Group.

Northeastern Libya.

On November 13, the submarines approached the Cheskem el-Kelb beach, 400 km from the front line. Lieutenant Commander Myers scanned the shore through the periscope, but found no signals to land. All night the submarines stayed under water near the shore. On the morning of November 14, the submarines surfaced, but the Italian Caproni Ca.309 aircraft appeared in the sky, and both ships sank again. During the day, the weather deteriorated: it began to rain, the wind increased, large waves formed on the sea.

The landings began on November 14 at 19:56, when Hayselden signaled with a torch. Waves overturned rubber boats, part of the ammunition was lost, subversive charges got wet, but the commandos did not give up and fought against the elements. Myers recalled:“Magnificent was the spirit of the soldiers who did not lose their heads in frightening conditions. They were completely immune to failure and still continued to work".

On November 15 at 00:35 Myers informed Willmott that the landing from the Torbay had been made, and it was the turn of the Talisman. The commandos on the shore were met by Hayselden (with him were two Arab guides - Hussein Taher and Mahil Hamed) and gathered around the fire in an abandoned house east of the beach, where they dried clothes and drank tea.

At 1:37 the Talisman approached the beach. Willmott sent Pryor and Brittlebank ashore first. They found Heiselden and the men from the Torbay, and then, using a lantern, signaled to the submarine that it was possible to land. Because of the excitement, the submarine almost ran aground, a large wave washed away more than a dozen commandos into the sea, and Lance Corporal Peter Barrand drowned. The rest of the fighters were hardly lifted onto the ship, but they could no longer continue the landing. Only nine servicemen landed from the Talisman.When Lieutenant Colonel Laycock was on the shore, he gave the command of the submarine a signal to land the rest of the soldiers, but since the signalman from him was a bad one, the ship's commander did not understand what was required of him. Until 4:00 the submarine stayed at the beach, after which it went to sea.

On the shore were 34 fighters who lacked food and ammunition. Due to a shortage of personnel, Keyes adjusted plans: now he, at the head of a group of 25 fighters, was to attack Rommel's headquarters, and Lieutenant Roy Cook, with eight soldiers, stormed the headquarters in Cyrene. Captain Heiselden's mission was completed and he was evacuated by members of the Desert Long Range Reconnaissance Group. Captain Robin Campbell recalled: “Before dawn, Case gave the order to take his personal kit, weapons and follow him deep into the bridgehead, to the wadi (about 1.6 km) that he had chosen on the map earlier.” Laycock, private Edward Atkins (medic), bombardier George Dunn and five other fighters remained not far from the coast.

After waiting for the sunset in the wadi, 25 commandos, led by Case, went on, accompanied by Arab guides, they had to overcome more than 30 km. On November 16, at about 2:00 am, the fighters stopped for the night.

The area along which Lieutenant Colonel Case's group moved in November 1941. Modern look.

On the morning of November 16, the group set off again, a thunderstorm raged. The special forces met local residents - Awad Mohammed Jibril from the Masamir tribe, his father and cousin. Drori's interpreter read to them a letter from Sheikh Muhammad al-Sanusi, who asked for assistance to the British, and Keyes gave Awad a thousand lire for providing shelter and escorting to Beda Littoria. The Bedouins pointed out to the British the Carmel Hasan cave (10 km north of Beda Littoria), where they hid goats during the rains. The cave was located on the slope of a ravine in the thickets of juniper and mastic trees.

The commandos stopped in the cave and kindled a fire. At noon, Awad returned there, bringing with him a young Bedouin, Idriss Moussa. The Bedouins brought cigarettes, goat meat, soup, for which they received another thousand lire.

At dawn on November 17, Keyes, Sergeant Jack Terry, Lieutenant Cook and Captain Campbell, with two Arabs, went to Beda Littoria to reconnoiter. They climbed to the top of a escarpment 2 km from Beda Littoria. Avad refused to go to the village, and Keyes sent Idriss there, promising him a substantial sum if he would describe the layout of the buildings, the number and location of enemy troops. When the guy returned, from his words, the lieutenant colonel made a plan and distributed tasks for his subordinates, who were divided into five groups. Another fighter was out of action: Private Robin Fowler pierced his leg, and they decided to leave him in the cave.

Case with the rest of the fighters went to storm the prefecture building. Four commandos were supposed to block the back door, four were to cover the nearby territory from possible enemy attacks (to the south of the village were the barracks of the Italian carabinieri), three more were to cut the telephone wire and mine cars. Lieutenant Cook and six fighters were supposed to blow up telephone poles at the crossroads near Cyrene.

On November 17 at 18:00, the commandos left the cave and headed for Beda Littoria, walking ankle-deep in mud, while junior scorer Terrence O'Hagen lost his boot. At about 23:20, the special forces were near the village. The Arabs stayed here and Keyes said he would pay them after the operation.

The commandos moved on and soon found themselves among the Arab huts. Because of the storm, the village was deserted. There was a fountain in front of the entrance to the two-story prefecture building, and cypress trees grew along the road. Terry and Case went to the prefecture to reconnoiter, and Private James Hornell accidentally kicked a pile of cans with his foot. There was a barking of a dog, and two Arabs came out of a nearby hut. Drori told them in Arabic that there was a German patrol in the village.The Arabs calmed the dogs and went back into the hut. Returning Terry and Case said that sentries were not found. Soon, the lieutenant colonel sent a group of Lieutenant Cook (Sgt. Frederick Birch, O'Hagen, Hornell, as well as privates Philip Macrae and Charles Paxton) to Cyrene, and he himself prepared to storm the building.

The British did not even suspect that Rommel was not in the prefecture. The commander of the Africa tank group, the chief of staff of the group, Major General Alfred Gause and the chief of the operational headquarters, Oberst Lieutenant Siegfried Westphal, moved to headquarters located at the Gambut airfield between Bardia and Tobruk (more than 300 km east of Beda Littoria) back in August) . In Beda Littoria itself, the "Desert Fox" only occasionally rested, meeting with officers in an informal setting.On November 17, Rommel was not at all in Africa: two days earlier, the general celebrated his fiftieth birthday in Rome, and on November 16, the plane on which he flew to Libya made an emergency landing in Athens. Interestingly, British intelligence knew about Rommel's movements, but did not alert the commandos.

The prefecture building housed the chief quartermaster (quartermaster) of the Africa group, Major Heinz Schloesener, but on November 17 he was treated in the Derna hospital for dysentery. Hauptmann Rüdiger Weitz was in charge of the prefecture building, in total there were more than twenty people here: supply officers, orderlies, mechanics, drivers and orderlies. The Germans did not put up sentries, since the object was in the rear and was not of particular importance. Private Mate Boxhammer was resting in a tent near the building.

Front entrance to the prefecture building.

On the first floor of the building, a sorter of late mail----a feldgendarme, armed only with a bayonet, kept watch. In the armory on the first floor were Lieutenant Heinz Kaufholz, fireworker Kurt Lentzen, Oberschutz Kurt Kovacic and Schirrmeister Otto Bartl. Hauptmann Weitz, Oberst Lieutenant Friedrich Bartl (Chief Military Engineer of the Africa Group), Lieutenants Ampt and Schultz spent the night on the second floor.

Lance corporals Frank Verney and Malcolm Hughes, corporal William Heaviside and bombardier Joseph Kearney mined the substation. Sergeant Charles Bruce, Corporal Charles Locke, Privates James Bogle and Robert Murray mined vehicles and took up positions south of the building, ready to repel possible attacks by the Carabinieri. Case sent Lance Corporal William Pride, Corporal James Ratcliffe, and Private John Feminster to check the kitchen's back door.A small door on the side opened onto a spiral staircase leading to the basement, where Sergeant-Major Alfons Hirsch and the Chief Corporal spent the night. The door did not have a lock, and it was propped up from the inside with a canister of water and a cupboard. The commandos looked all over the house and saw that the first floor windows were high up and shuttered. Case decided that the only entrance to the building was the front door.

The attack began at approximately 23:40. Case, Campbell, Terry, and Lance Corporal Dennis Kalthred headed for the front door. Captain Campbell knocked on the door and ordered in German to open it. The door was opened by the Felgendarme, Case pushed the German away and pointed his pistol at him. Based on the testimonies of the Germans who were in the building at the time of the attack, as well as the recollections of the commandos, Case did not fire at the sentry, and he attacked him.

Campbell shot the sentry. The door to the armory (to the left of the entrance) was open, there was a light on. The fuss in the corridor disturbed the inhabitants of the room. Lieutenant Kaufholz appeared in the corridor with a pistol in his hand. Sergeant Terry fired a few rounds at him from the Wall. Falling, the German officer fired several shots, one of the bullets hit Case in the chest. The commandos threw two grenades into the room - Oberschutz Kovacic was killed, Oberst Lieutenant Bartl managed to hide behind the bed, Lentzen's fireworks were thrown to the floor by an explosive wave.

Fight in the prefecture building, modern drawing.

Shooting and explosions raised German officers sleeping on the second floor from the beds. The Germans grabbed their pistols and headed for the stairs. Lieutenant Umpt saw Case lying down from the steps. Campbell immediately spotted Umpt and fired at him, but he fled. After the war, Sergeant Terry claimed that it was Campbell who mistakenly killed the commander in a dark corridor. The captain and the rest of the fighters lifted Case's body and jumped out.

Before the explosions in the armory, Oberleutnant Otto Jaeger was sleeping in the next room. A plywood partition served as a wall between the rooms, and therefore the grenade explosions literally threw the lieutenant out of bed. In a panic, he rushed to the window, jumped out of it and, dressed in white pajamas, became a good target for Lance Corporal Malcolm Hughes, who shot him. Hearing automatic bursts, Captain Campbell ran to the window from which Jaeger jumped out and was mistakenly shot by Hughes - a bullet shattered his right leg. When the shooting began and explosions rumbled, Private Boxhammer ran up to the building - a moment later he was shot by Drory's interpreter.

The wounded Campbell ordered the substation and the car park to be blown up, but due to the damp detonators of the gelignite charges, no explosions followed. Then Lance Corporal Kalthred and Lance Bombardier Alfred Brody detonated the gelignite with hand grenades, causing the generator to blow up and the lights to go out. Hughes and scorer Joseph Kearney threw two gelignite charges and an incendiary bomb through the window, from where Jaeger jumped out - no explosions followed.

Unable to move, Campbell ordered Sergeant Terry to lead the group and head for the beach. Having received morphine, the captain placed himself near a tree and waited for the appearance of the enemy. Terry gave the signal to retreat, and the commandos left the village. Soon, Wehrmacht soldiers and Italian carabinieri ran to the building, who found Campbell dead and wounded. Military doctor Werner Junge rendered first aid to the wounded.

In an Italian report compiled on November 18 by General Umberto Presti, it was indicated that a wounded British captain was captured in Beda Littoria, a killed saboteur (Keiz) was found with money, weapons and a notebook with a detailed action plan. After analyzing the raid on the prefecture building, the actions of the SAS paratroopers and the fighters of the Desert Long-Range Intelligence Groups, the general came to the following conclusion: “The enemy is trying to divert our troops from the front, to spread panic in the rear with acts of terrorism and sabotage.” The fact that the main target of the assassination was Rommel, no one even guessed.

Hearing gunfire and explosions in Beda Littoria, Lieutenant Cook's group began to act. The special forces were to move 15 km from the village and blow up the mast with telephone and telegraph wires at the crossroads near Cyrene. The British then had to walk 45 km to the beach. Since O'Hagen and Corporal John Kerr had badly rubbed their legs, the lieutenant ordered them to return to the beach, while he himself continued on his way with four fighters. Cook decided to seize the car that was coming from Cyrene and drive it to the crossroads. Private Hornell tried to stop the car, but it sped up and the British opened fire on it. The car drove into a ditch, the driver and passenger managed to escape.

The commandos could not pull out the car and went on. On November 18 at 3:20 they reached the crossroads and saw a mast - a structure on four pillars, over which wires were thrown. The fighters mined each of the pillars, but the wet detonators did not allow the gelignite to detonate. Then the British blew up the charges with incendiary bombs and grenades - the mast did not fall, but leaned heavily. Since dawn was approaching, Cook ordered to hide in a tomb in the old cemetery and wait for dusk.

After the incident at the prefecture building, the shooting of the car and blowing up the mast, the German and Italian units began to comb the area. O'Hagen and Kerr were the first to be captured. Private Fowler left the cave on the afternoon of November 18 and headed for the beach. On the way, he met a Bedouin shepherd who took the British to ... the Italians. Sergeant Terry and the fighters were also heading towards the beach. In the darkness, Terry slipped and nearly fell off the slope as he grabbed a bush.After a respite, the commandos overcame the slope and faced the Libyan carabinieri. Drori explained that they were from a German patrol, and the Arabs let the saboteurs through. At about 5:00 pm, the group reached the wadi and met with Lieutenant Colonel Laycock. The soldiers took refuge in a cave near the shore.

At 19:00, from binoculars, the lieutenant colonel saw the Torbay submarine and gave a signal, but since Laycock was a bad signalman, the submarine did not understand its meaning. The submarine fled, and the officer returned to the cave. At 23:30, the submarine and Laycock again exchanged signals and again did not understand each other. The crew of the Torbay loaded the boat with food, medical supplies and drinking water and pushed it towards the shore. Myers signaled that he would be able to take the fighters on board the following evening, as it was dangerous to do so during the day.

On the morning of November 19, the lieutenant colonel posted patrols west and east of the beach. At noon, shooting was heard in the western part of the beach - the commandos were attacked by Italian carabinieri. Lance Corporal Larry Codd and Lieutenant Pryor entered the fray. The latter was wounded in the leg. The officer was bandaged by Private Atkins and was taken prisoner with him. Lieutenant Colonel Laycock recalled these events as follows:

“Although the enemy did not have automatic weapons, he began to surround us, his shots became more and more accurate. It became clear that we would not hold out until dark, and the only way to retreat would soon be cut off".

Soon, the lieutenant colonel gave the command to break through to each fighter independently in an easterly direction.

At 18:20, the submarine surfaced near the beach, but did not see the commandos. Myers sent Lieutenant Thomas Langton and Sergeant Cyril Fibery to the beach. They did not find the soldiers on the shore, but they heard screams and shots in the distance. Both returned to the submarine. All night the submarine stayed near the shore and on the morning of November 21 again did not see any traces of the presence of the commandos on the shore. At the same time, Myers noticed that enemy soldiers were combing the beaches, and enemy aircraft appeared in the sky.The "Torbay" shot down one aircraft with gunfire, submerged, and sailed for Alexandria. On November 21, five commandos were caught by the Italians near Slonta. Eight more commandos were captured near the village of Mechili on November 26. The group of Lieutenant Cook was captured at noon on November 19 near the village of Mansura, the rest of the saboteurs were handed over to the Germans and Italians by the Arabs.

Lieutenant Colonel Laycock and Sergeant Terry escaped from the enemy lines, hiding in wadis and caves, eating berries and drinking rainwater, sometimes fed by shepherds. Both arrived on December 25 in Cyrene, which at that time was already in the hands of the Allies. John Brittlebank wandered even longer - 40 days, and on December 28 he reached the Allied lines. Lieutenant Colonel Case was buried next to the four dead German soldiers at the military cemetery in Beda Littoria. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross and Sergeant Terry received the Distinguished Service Medal.

Not only the commando raid was a failure, but also the landing of SAS fighters on German airfields on the night of November 16-17. Strong wind and anti-aircraft fire led to the landing being scattered over a large area, many fighters were injured upon landing. Of the 55 commandos, 21 returned, the rest were captured or died. On November 18, the British launched Operation Crusader, fighting continued until the end of 1941. Despite the fact that the British pushed the enemy back to El Agueila, they failed to defeat the armored forces of the Italo-German troops. At the same time, the British lost the lion's share of armored vehicles. The siege of Tobruk was temporarily lifted, but on June 21, 1942, the city was captured by the Axis forces.

In July 1944, the SAS units once again tried to eliminate Rommel, but this operation also failed. The Desert Fox himself committed suicide on October 14, 1944 due to suspicions of involvement in the assassination attempt on Hitler. The November 18, 1942 raid ended in failure: Rommel was simply not in the prefecture building, the landing from the Talisman submarine was unsuccessful, and Lieutenant Colonel Case repeatedly changed the plan of attack, did not show proper initiative and did not cope with the difficult task.