Author Topic: Royal Tank Corps 1937, 1st Light Tank, Waziristan, India  (Read 772 times)

Offline Andy J2022

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Re: Royal Tank Corps 1937, 1st Light Tank, Waziristan, India
« Reply #18 on: Monday 26 June 23 21:43 BST (UK) »
Thanks for the link vapcq. I hadn't seen that analysis of Crusader before, but it broadly aligns with what most analysts say about Crusader - poor tactical handling by the British forces nearly led to the defeat of the 8th Army. That said, the article doesn't take into account two other major factors which account for the poor British performance: its tanks were much less reliable and had inferior guns compared to the German tanks.
In case it isn't clear from the map, the symbols use the following convention: a rectangle with an elipse in the centre represents an armoured formation, and a cross means an infantry formation. XXX on the top represents a Corps, XX a Division and X a bde. The number to the left of the rectangle indicates the name of the formation.

Offline vapcq45

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Re: Royal Tank Corps 1937, 1st Light Tank, Waziristan, India
« Reply #19 on: Wednesday 23 August 23 16:39 BST (UK) »
I've suddenly thought..I've been assuming my Uncle was a Tank Driver, but as I've spotted O2E (Second echelon) in his service papers, does that mean he was driving the supplies lorries?  (Driving test info attached).

Offline ShaunJ

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Re: Royal Tank Corps 1937, 1st Light Tank, Waziristan, India
« Reply #20 on: Wednesday 23 August 23 17:23 BST (UK) »
Quote
does that mean he was driving the supplies lorries?

See Andy's earlier post on this topic - 22 June, 22:15
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Offline vapcq45

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Re: Royal Tank Corps 1937, 1st Light Tank, Waziristan, India
« Reply #21 on: Wednesday 23 August 23 19:48 BST (UK) »
Thank you Shaun. You are absolutely right, Andy has answered this. I should have looked back. Interestingly yesterday I came across a series of letters online of someone also driving supplies in 4th Bn RTR and their account of life in the desert is eye opening.