06/05/42 - North Africa Lt-Gen Neil Ritchie's plan does not work out. The attack on the Sidra Ridge is thwarted by a combination of minefields and the 21st Panzer Div's anti-tank guns. The 32nd Army Tank Brigade loses 50 of its 70 Matildas that it started with. The survivors are withdrawn safely under the command of Lt-Col Henry R. B. Foote of the 7th Royal Tanks. The 10th Indian Brigade captures all its objectives because the main Axis defenses lay just to the west of Aslagh Ridge. A powerful artillery bombardment in support of the attack falls mainly on empty desert. When the 22nd Armored Brigade and the leading battalion of the 9th Indian Brigade, the 2nd West Yorkshires, push in, they meet fierce resistance. About midday the infantry is thrown back with loss while the tanks again suffer heavily from the Axis anti-tank guns. They are next assaulted by the 21st Panzer Div, which is now freed from concern for the Sidra Ridge area, and are driven out of 'The Cauldron' with the loss of more tanks. The 21st Panzer then hits the 10th Indian Brigade battalions, the 2nd Highland Light at Bir el Tamar, northwest of the Aslagh Ridge and mauls it forcing it to withdraw.
In the south the 15th Panzer div under Col Eduard Crasemann is led through a gap in the minefields southwest of Bir el Harmat in order to salvage some abandoned tanks. They overwhelm the weak 1st Battalion, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, guarding the British left flank without artillery support. The 15th Panzer knocks out the headquarters of Brig Harold Briggs, Maj-Gen Frank Messervy and Brigs Bernard C. Fletcher and Eric J. D. Young commanding the 9th and 10th Indian Brigades respectively. The control of the battle breaks down completely.
Crasemann's move traps the remnants of the 10th Brigade, much of the 9th Brigade, the motor battalion of the of the 22nd Armored Brigade and 4 artillery regiments in 'The Cauldron'.
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