1 Commando Raid near Bizerte

On the night of the 30th of November 1942 1 Commando under the command of Lt Colonel Tom Trevor embarked on 9 LCMs and 4 Assault Landing craft from the port of Tabarka. The small flotilla then sailed un-escorted some 60 miles east to a beach about 30 miles east of the Axis held port of Bizerte. The beach was at
Dar Sidi El Moujid. The plan was for 1 Commando to interdict German road communications running west out to Sedjenane and then link up with 36 Infantry Brigade as it advanced east. 36 Brigade was of course held up at Green Hill and Bald Hill sadly 1 Commando could not be told as a rear link radio was not carried since it would been too heavy.

One of the unusual aspects of this operation was that 1 Commando at this time was composed of 6 British and 4 American Troops. The American troops had been recruited from 168th Regimental Combat Team of the 34th Division.

Apart from some problems with donkeys the landing was successful, and the Commando split into 2 parts to move to two separate road junctions located south of the landing location on the main road west of Bizerte. Over the next 2 days the Commandos set up roadblocks and waited to ambush retreating German convoys that never came. The Germans were dug in at Green Hill and having quickly identified the presence of the Commandos they diverted their road traffic southwest via Mateur.

Eventually 2 troops moving towards Sidi Ahmed airport were ambushed it appears local Arabs alerted the Germans and one of the troop commanders was killed. Soon afterwards the whole Commando was engaged by German armoured cars and infantry and forced to withdraw. Over the next 4 days the Commandos worked their way as troops and small groups towards Cap Serrat where they eventually linked up with Allied Units.

The interesting bit is that in his post action report Tom Trevor declared this operation a success though the report mentions hardly any German casualties and stopped only one motorcycle.

The costs to the Commando were significant some 6 officers and 128 ranks became killed wounded or captured. An examination of CWGC records linked to another source indicates that 25 British officers and men serving with 1 Commando were killed from 1 -6 December. Identifying US losses proved impossible.

The raid has all but been forgotten but we should not forget the lives lost. In a fascinating coincidence Tom Trevor became an adviser on cliff assaults to Lt Colonel Rudder of the US Rangers and landed with them at Pointe Du Hoc.

 

I'd say he was fibbing, unless the measure of success was that not everyone was killed or captured.



All the best

Andreas

 

There's an intriguing bit from the War Diary (6 December, last page, first paragraph). In German "Na 1e Uhr fand eine Besprechung bein Kommandierenden General statt; Breitstellung von Arbeits- kräften der männlichen Zivilbevölkerung der besetzten Ortschaften, ausser Tunis und Hannan Lif, und Hernaziehung der jüdischen Bevöl- kerung zum Ausbau der Hauptkampflinien mit entsprechender Tiefen- zone. Be nahnen teil; SS-Obersturmbannführer Rauff und der Gesandte Rahn" which Google has translated as "At 1:00 a.m. there was a meeting with the commanding general; Provision of manpower from the male civilian population of the occupied towns, with the exception of Tunis and Hamman Lif, and drawing the Jewish population closer to expanding the main battle lines with the corresponding depth zone. be taken part; SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Rauff and the Ambassador Rahn". This was the meeting to conscript labour to make anti-tank ditches etc. I know they forcibly conscripted Jewish labour. But what is meant by "and drawing the Jewish population closer" is the translation correct????

 

The best translation is probably 'conscripting' - it's a widely used military term from the period, also used with e.g. reinforcements, where the English translation would be 'bringing up'.

All the best

Andreas

 

Hello,

I am looking at T-313 Roll 416, Frame 8709257. Translating from German into English, we see:

4:50 p.m.: ... Report of American landing at Rass el Koran confirmed. A tank track leads from a landing craft to land. 2 American special commandos, total strength 300 men, landed on the night of December 1st, attacked their own security in the Druinius sector with reconnaissance troops and were wiped out in a short firefight. 52 prisoners - another 120 men still in front of the position - another 60 men broke through to the east. 2 Bersaglieri companies deployed against them in the afternoon.

Still, I cannot find a single mention of the presence of Italian troops in the final mission report. I only found "Great kindness and even food was given to the wounded by some Italians at an outlying farm", and that refers to Italian immigrants living in Tunisia.

However, the daily journal of the 'Superga" Division for December 1 offers many details. Most of the POW were captured by companies belonging to the 10th Bersaglieri Regiment.

Any thoughts and or insights?

 

I have looked at all the British documents in my possession and there is no mention of Italians other than, as you say, the Italian famers offering food.

 

I just read this thread. From Il XXX corpo d'armata italiano in Tunisia, p.39. Words in [brackets] were added by me to clarify parts of the translation.

"During the night of December 1st, a surprise landing of enemy commandos took place under the command of Colonel Trevor, with an overall force estimated at around 600 men, on the stretch of coast between Rass el Koran and Sidi Ali Chadeli: they boldly advanced in a south-east direction towards the road that runs from the west along the slopes of Djebel Beni Aoussine. The troops of the 10º [reggimento] bersaglieri were within range: the XXXIV battaglione occupied the isthmus of Tindja-Ferryville; the XVI [btg.] blocked the road junction west of Sidi Ahmed on the western front and it detached a company to the crossroads south of Dr Bechatib; the command of the regiment, with units of the LXIII battaglione di accompagnamento not [currently] engaged [were sent] to reinforce the other two battalions, and the 10ª bis cp. motociclisti (landed on 28 November and replacing the 10ª [cp. motorciclisti] transferred to the sector of the L brigata speciale) was at the crossroads for La Péchierie, immediately south-west of Bizerte.

Enemy paratroopers had already been reported in the area since 27 November, but they had not been traced and at 2.30 am on the night of 1 December the command of the XC German army corps warned to increase coastal surveillance, because English radiotelegraph messages had been intercepted, coded as on the occasion of the Dieppe landing.

At 3 am on 1 December, the 6ª cp. bersaglieri, which had been sent into movement towards the area in which the "commandos" were advancing, made contact with elements that were dispersed and captured about fifty prisoners; at 4 pm, it regained contact with other groups and captured another 25 prisoners. In the evening, the regimental command reinforced the 6ª company with two companies from the XVI btg. These forces, together with a German company, surrounded, in the locality of Douar Faroudja, four strong English groups that suffered heavy losses in dead and wounded, in addition to the capture of another two hundred prisoners. The British enterprise had failed. The behavior of the Bersaglieri deserved to be mentioned in the war communiqué."
​

Pista! Jeff