North African Odyssey: Disaster At Oudna (Part 1)

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2:41Al Murray: It was perhaps the most disgracefully mounted operation of the whole war. There seemed to be rather a lack of sympathy for my battalion. This hurt especially as there was no little understanding from brigade headquarters. The only person with any sympathy at all was Alistair Pearson, who was enough of a soldier to realise what had happened. The chief engineer of the corps who'd done a lot of soldiering is one of the few who was really appreciative. And on looking back, I think that getting any of two-power out of that pickle was possibly the best thing I ever did. that was of course uh john frost um commander and calling officer two power lieutenant colonel john frost um um remarking on what we're about to look at um in a series of episodes we're calling um the udina disaster and there's a clue there yes subtitle subtitle total cock up in north africa ah god and if if john frost thinks that an operation is the most disgracefully mounted operation of the war that the hero of the of the let's face it he was put in the bag at arnhem yeah this an expert rights okay um so jim we we had a lot of fun didn't we looking at operation biting the brunival raid um yeah and i particularly enjoyed it because it was a great success a well-timed success a well-timed success coming sharp on the back of the channel dash which i found quite traumatic so i'm approaching this new series with a certain amount of trepidation i don't mind telling you but biting is biting is a great success and it's an amazing story you know that they're on the two-hour deadline and they meet up with the navy and all that you know all that close shaves and all the dashing young officers like you and charter it's like marching his men all the way back over to the it's it's it was stirring boys own stuff wasn't it yeah with some good some hardy sappers thrown in and some stiff pipe stem smoking RAF types as well exactly I mean it literally had the lot so John Frost of course who's the company commander of C company Jock company in 2 para he's convinced by this escapade by Bruneval that what the way to go for airborne troops and he would say this wouldn't he because he's had a success at this level is company sized actions that's the way you do it anything bigger is just opening yourself up to the possibility of complications and things going wrong, right?

5:01Al Murray: But obviously, no one... He's got a point. He's got a point. Particularly in 1942. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Particularly in 1942. But no one listens... Don't forget, at this point, you know, airborne troops are in its infancy. And, you know, before you go on to the really big stuff, sort out the small stuff first. Yeah. But no one listens to company commanders, do they? Not even ones who've become national celebrities. This is the point. No. And in airborne imaginings, there are bigger fish to fry, or at least sort of different fish. Yeah, come on, we've got this airborne arm. It's going to be brilliant.

5:34And what we can do is we can get really far behind the enemy lines and we can disrupt and we can do kind of sort of unorthodox fighting and get ahead of our enemy and be brilliant.

5:47Al Murray: And if we bring enough mass, if we do it en masse, then we can actually bring about, rather than tactical success, we can bring about strategic effect. Yeah, we can do this. Yeah, but we're jumping out of a plane and we're not going to have so much heavy equipment and weaponry. What happens when our ammo runs out? Don't you worry your pretty little head about that. You're all gung-ho chaps. Don't you worry. Look, here's a nice maroon beret. There you go. Oh, okay, fine. All right, I'm in. What you've got driving all this is he's a major general at this point, Boy Browning, Frederick Boy Browning, married to Daphne du Maurier, incredibly glamorous man.

6:21Al Murray: He's a guardsman. And he rode his horse up the steps at Sandhurst when he was the adjutant at Sandhurst. He's a super snazzy guy, really cares about turnout and guards discipline, all this sort of stuff. And his ambition is divisional size operations, airborne operations, which is like a galaxy away from company raiding. His problem is he can only muster a brigade at the moment. And he only has parachute troops as the glider tech needed isn't ready yet. The Horsa glider has been commissioned, but it's not ready. So they've got these little hot spurs, which will fit eight blokes, which are basically a copy of the German thing.

6:59Yeah, Horsa's designed, isn't it? And in sort of, you know, they're making them at this point. So this is the spring of 1942, is it? Yeah, we're looking now at the spring of 1942. So they haven't made the decision to go into North Africa or anything?

7:11Al Murray: No, no, no, no. None of these decisions have been made. I mean, if anything, it's still sledgehammer, isn't it? You know, at some point in late 1942, we might do a major cross-channel invasion. If anything, and that's where airborne troops might have a role. Yeah, they might have a role. They've raised an air landing brigade to landing gliders, you know, and they've converted a mountain brigade, basically. They haven't got the aircraft, the airframes. It doesn't exist. And also, the Royal Air Force and the Air Ministry do not want to give the planes to the airborne people at all. They'll say, well, no, we could use that as a bomber instead.

7:44Al Murray: and they say it basically about every single aeroplane that they possibly can. They go, no, no, no, we might need that for the bomber offensive. You name it, they go, no, no, no, we'll need that for the bomber offensive. It doesn't matter what it is to the point of complete obstruction. Anything obsolete, no, no, no, we might still need it for the bomber offensive. And it's the Americans coming in that changed this. Bristol Bombay? No, we might need that. We're going to need that. And there is actually a big argument over Bristol Bombay in 1940-41. Which is just completely should not be flying by that stage of war.

8:18And there's one of them.

8:19Al Murray: They're allowed one of them. And there's a big row. And I know we might need that for the bomber offensive. Anyway, in come the Americans with the Dakota, with the Douglas Air Company transport aircraft. And it's shiny and modern. And also it's got a nice door, right? You don't have to go out of a hole cut in the floor. And all this business of ringing the bell, smashing your face on the edge if you time it wrong. But they've got to convert to the Dakota. And I mean, this is an example. You know, they're an internet startup, Airborne Forces. They'll try stuff, but if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't, right?

9:00Al Murray: So Lieutenant Colonel James Hill, who's the commanding officer of OnePara, he's given three Dakotas... Great friend of the show. Great friend of the show. speedy hill injured in the bum on d-day by um uh over the enthusiastic ref um uh ground attack yes and he gets very cross because his all his tea bags get wet that's right what's not what's not like with hitler's face painted on in fluorescent paint that's right that's right um but but all the things to take with you on but he he gets the use of three Dakotas to figure it out. So one of his companies is sent up to try the new plane. So it's got a door, you know, so you jump out of the door.

9:42You just imagine it, though, it's a DC-3. So it comes in, it's got sort of civilian seats and air stewardesses and people offer you cocktails and Benzadrine.

9:52Al Murray: Salmon or the chicken before you jump out. Yeah, they're an easier prospect. Getting in and out of them is just easier than the Whitleys. So Hill's on the drop zone and obviously he's volunteered one of his companies to try it out. One of the Dakotas flies over the drop zone with a man hooked to the tailwheel. Right? He's jumped out and they've discovered... Yeah. They've basically discovered... And that's the static... I'm going to hook your parachute in here. Can you imagine? You'll be on the tailwheel. Nothing to worry about. But basically they've discovered that the static line, the British static line that's designed for Exiting the Whitley, is too short for the Dakota and doesn't guarantee clearance from the aircraft when you jump out.

10:32Al Murray: And this is how they find out. And there's no reserve. You're not jumping with a reserve, right? So longer static lines are then immediately fitted, right? And Hill is the first to jump the next day to demonstrate confidence in the new equipment. Leads directly from the front, you know? Do you think he had that usual rats in the stomach feeling as he was about to jump? Absolutely. Of course he did. I think they all did all the time. I think it's interesting. once you start to investigate it, how queasy all of them are about parachuting. Then, two-para, they're the first battalion to drop en masse from Dakotas.

11:09Al Murray: And it's quite interesting because there is this thing within First Parachute Brigade where everyone gets a go, that there isn't, although there's one para in theory have seniority, they're not operating like that because they need to keep everyone flavell and then gale above them. We're very sensitive. They've got to keep everyone, give everyone the fair crack of the whip. So to power the first battalion to drop en masse from Dakotas. It's not without incident. One man suffers what's known as a Roman candle or a streamer nowadays. And that's basically when the parachute deploys, but it won't open.

11:43Al Murray: So you come down very quickly. So he's killed on landing. The second man dies when the safety pin on his snap link broke. So the snap link is the thing that, as part of the static line mechanism, that snaps the parachute open and it snapped. And so his static line didn't pull through and he fell to earth with the parachute having never opened. So again, plenty of time to contemplate his imminent. And then the last two died together because a young officer made the mistake of jumping upwards. You don't jump out of the aircraft, you exit it, you step out of it, you try and fall out of it. It's in the ideal world.

12:26Al Murray: and he jumped, he'd leapt from the aeroplane and his parachute got tangled in the Dakota's tailplane. As a result, he swung back and hit the man following. The Dakota's still doing 85 knots. I'm going that quickly. And they fall to earth in a tangle of rigging and die. So... Oh, holy moly. You see what I mean? That's horrendous, isn't it? It is absolutely diabolical, right? And he never said the British weren't reefless in the Second World War. Well, this is it. Although this does mean no more practice drops. They're cancelled, right? So in an effort to familiarise themselves with the Dakota, they're now - So this is presumably in the summer of 1942, right?

13:06Yeah, this is later in the year.

13:08Al Murray: It's later in the year. So this means these practice drops are cancelled. So by the time 2 Para and the rest of 1st Parachute Brigade get to North Africa, most of the men have not jumped from Dakotas. So there's this gap, right? Right. And I mean, they fix the static line problem. And obviously the aircraft is better. It's a better prospect than the Whitley. So they kind of, word gets around, it's all right, chum, it's a doddle. It's easier than the old way of doing it. This is the parachuting business. It's all dangerous. It's all a bad business. And you must be thinking. Yeah, at the end of the day, you're taking a leap of faith.

13:47You're jumping out of an aircraft with a parachute that may or may not work. Yeah.

13:51Al Murray: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they haven't really figured out what all the problems are because they had to stop practicing. So the only way you find out the problems is by having accidents, usually fatal. It's grim, isn't it? That's a lesson from the vastity of life. Yeah, exactly. So First Parachute Brigade is now slated to go to North Africa, right? Because of Operation Torch. So Jim, if you could just fill us all in on what Operation Torch is. yeah so operation torch is the americans come over in january 1942 they're planning the original plan was to do a cross-channel invasion this is operation sled chammer um it then becomes patently clear that no one is ready for this and the british have just been going yeah yeah yeah to sort of get them in theater rather than in the pacific so they're over there in i think it's may i think think eisenhower and and mark clark come over to kind of organize all the american troops in britain and get them and lick them into shape to do the cross-channel invasion and then in july the decision is made to switch from crossing the channel to an invasion of northwest africa this is so this is country this is algiers um french morocco which is run by vichy france a pro-access but kind of ostensibly independent french colonial territories and the thinking behind it is let's mop up the mediterranean first let's use it as a practice run.

15:15We can actually test everything against a not very difficult opposition. We can kill two birds with one stone because the Americans have promised Molotov, who is the Soviet foreign secretary, foreign minister, that they will engage the German troops on ground in 1942. So this means they can keep his word, their word to him, and hopefully wrap up a really important theatre which will make the Axis Southern Front in the Mediterranean vulnerable and will improve shipping and will give them a huge swathe of territory from which to conduct further air operations from North Africa and so on and so forth.

15:50So everyone's a winner. So the idea is that the British in Egypt will attack at the Alamein line, which is only 60 miles west of Alexandria in late October. And then as a second punch will come the Allied invasion. And because the British are in such bad odour after Merzel back in July 1940, which we've touched about, where they attack the French fleet. All the attacking troops are going to be American, but it is still ostensibly a British operation with the British First Army, in which the US 2 Corps will be incorporated, plus American air forces and stuff, both heavy bomber strategic forces and what is now known as a North African tactical air force will be formed.

16:36So that's the plan. And this is going to happen on, I think, the 10th of November.

16:40Al Murray: Yeah. And it's also an opportunity to sort of blood the Americans, isn't it? And it's a bit of a petri dish. Very much so. You know, perceived to be not very, very challenging opposition. But, you know, as everyone is aware, any amphibious operation is fraught with risk, particularly when you've got three different invasion forces, two coming from Britain, a thousand miles away, and one from America, three thousand miles away. They've all got to land in the right place at basically the right time. and it's very much a coordinated effort between air land and sea and new airborne elements as well and you know these are operations which have never you know on a scale which has never been tried before ever in the history of the world with new allies um you know coalition partners who've never operated before together and you know the risks the problems are legion so So that being so, let's do it against an opposition which is going to be likely to be quite weak.

17:36Al Murray: When you put it like that, Operation Torch is insanely ambitious. And yet it's the easier option than Sledgehammer. I mean, it's extraordinary, isn't it? Gale that they're taking on. So how British Airborne end up in the mix is that First Army have thought, well, have been offered parachute operations. And they've been offered them by Boy Browning. You know, here we go. you've got this thing that you can use. If you deploy this parachute brigade at the right place at the right time, it'll speed the First Army's advance, round up the Germans in short order before they can reinforce. Because Algiers and Tunisia are not dissimilar to further east in that there tends to be a main coastal road and then a road further inland, isn't there, as your lines of communication across the country running east to west.

18:21Al Murray: And so if you can hop up, seize the nodal points, move on, And, you know, a parachute brigade would be ideal for this, wouldn't it? This is the thinking in Boyd Browning's headquarters. His problem, however, is he doesn't have the planes to do it. And also, he hasn't got precedent. He can't say, look, it's worked. He can't say, we've done it before, we can do it again. And so what this means is, First Parachute Brigade is completely naive operationally. They don't know what will work and how it will work. but they're extremely gung-ho and desperate to prove themselves so so when you say say they they are extremely gung-ho who are you talking about you talk about bad boy browning and the leadership or you ask the Pearson and people or are you talking about the individual everyone absolutely everybody is is ready to rock and roll and therefore prepared to take on all kinds of risks that we'll see um can bite you very firmly on the backside and they've got there is a limit But they've got the new Dakotas, but there's only so many.

19:23Al Murray: And there's only enough Dakotas to deploy one battalion into action at a time. So they can't do this brigade scale intervention that will offer mass, you know. Most immediately, this is felt in how the brigade gets to North Africa. One battalion is flown in and the rest come by ship. So immediately, you know, this rapid deployment airborne thing is short of aircraft. And I don't know if any of our airborne friends who might be listening to this now could relate to that, but there aren't enough planes to deliver them into action. I don't know if we're ringing the other bell there. And also, rather ominously, there's been an American airborne operation right at the start of Torch to seize two French airfields at La Senia and Tafferui, and it's failed.

20:09Yeah, this is a 504th, isn't it?

20:11Al Murray: Part of the US 82nd Airborne. They're also trial and erroring their airborne component. But they also believe fundamentally the same thing. there's only one way to find this out. There's only, you know, as Harry Hill would say, there's only one way to find out, fight. So they're going to give it a go. First Parachute Brigade ship out. And this is General Anderson, who's commanding First Army. His problem is the one that we've talked about a lot on D-Day, is once you've landed, can you build up your forces quicker than the enemy in order to create the situation where you can overwhelm the enemy?

20:44Al Murray: And of course, what the Germans do in response to Torch is reinforce Tunisia heavily rather than, you know, sack it off because it's obviously not worth it. If you haven't looked at a map, it's worth looking at it because you'll see that Tunis is in the kind of north-eastern tip of Tunisia, which, so the North African coastline goes along flat along, or that way along Libya, and then there's this sort of 90-degree push northwards. And so actually, Tunisia, the northern coast of Tunisia, is further north than the southern coast of Sicily. And it's not very far from Sicily. And so that means that it's actually, you know, when you're flying from Tunis to Malta, you're actually going south slightly.

21:36You're going, you know, Tunis to Malta is an eastward move, slightly south. So it's actually very Mediterranean up there. But as a sort of an air route from Axis-controlled southern Europe, Tunis isn't very far, whereas all the way from Blighty and the United States really is.

21:59Al Murray: It's quite a distance, yeah. So, three power... 3 ,000 miles from America. Really long way. So, three power, they fly via Gibraltar to Maison Blanche, which is 12 miles from Algiers, which is where the brigade are going to be based. and they're led by Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Pine Coffin great friend of the show but he's not going to feature any further in this episode except for saying first of all hey what a name folks I mean Pine Coffin it's like it's purest evil in war and he goes on to carry out the perfect airborne operation Coudemire Airfield seizure operation with his battalion at Bone takes the airfield the only opposition at that moment being the locals who try to steal the parachutes for silk.

22:45Al Murray: The parachutes cost£35 in the money of the time. It's about two and a half grand now, a parachute. So that's what they're worth in today's money. And the enemy are about to launch their own airborne coup de man to seize bone airfield. And they see it's been occupied. They see the parachutes and they know they've been beaten to it by the British by Pine Coffin. So they cancel it? So they call it off. They go, no, not worth it. ain't worth it uh you know the fausty meager sack it off and there's lots of fausty meager in this story um and so this is what's interesting about this is a perfect airborne show so it's forgotten almost completely because it's not a terrible balls up and uh you know it's so true it's completely true isn't it so that so that and the germans they watch them land and sack off their operation and it shows that with tactical speed you can be decisive via airborne insertion number six commando arrived to relieve them promptly the runway's cleared for spitfires um you know it's all good the casualties what cool ones with the vox filter underneath yeah yeah the cool ones with the vox filter yeah they look like they've basically you know they've they've grown up grown a uh got a chin they've got a chin after they've got a hapsburg chin exactly yeah and one man's killed jumping 12 men are injured because of atmospheric conditions which don't favor parachuting because that because of the hot air um because it's warmer the parachutes get tossed about and can be tossed about the turbulence and no one had that again that's something no one had accounted for until they found out about it on an operation memo to self watch out for atmospherics yeah exactly one of the injured um on this operation was an officer who was unconscious for four days but from time to time he was heard to murmur i'll have a little more of the turbot waiter it's just the best line and i definitely definitely want a t-shirt with that on it's so brilliant and only an englishman would say that i'll have a little bit more of the turbot please waiter oh he's still wittering on about turbot otherwise i'm conscious but for we have ways for six we can divide people up into turbots and kippers basically yes anyway um they hold the airfield for a week and then they withdraw into the brigades reserve but we aren't here for the things that went well let's be honest this is an airborne show so cock up cock up must surely be around the corner i'll tell you what please tell me some good news uh well there isn't i'm sorry there isn't any um there isn't any to come anyway so we'll we'll take a break i'm going to grab some turbot during the adverts jim i don't know about you cooked in a little milk butter that's how they've been done with some new potatoes and sprouting broccoli i mean he's dreaming of the silver service isn't he you know it's a white-gloved waiter he is right i mean all he's thinking about in his in his sort of half you know in his subconscious unconscious way mind what's the thoughts of the savoy grill and the criterion are going through and then stepping out of a lady to swoon under eros at piccadilly circus that's what he's thinking about isn't he well well so um we'll take a break while you're all thinking about that and we'll see you in a tick.

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27:44Al Murray: Welcome back to We Have Ways of Making Your Talk with me, Al Murray and James Holland. How was your turbo? Was that, was that, was it restorative? Yes, entirely succulent. I mean, how hard had he banged his head? He was out cold for four days. Anyway, so what we're looking at here is, so what are they going to do with these parachute battalions? Well, they're going to try and do this airfield stuff, basically, because they can't do the brigade scale landing that will, you know, seize a town and unblock a nodal point. So the idea is that, you know, once torches forces are assured, the strategy is to move up to the ports of Biserita and Tunis, link up with Eighth Army as soon as possible, once they've made their way up from Benghazi in Libya, basically.

28:27Al Murray: So, you know, and the Germans are the meat and the sandwich. And there are two main roads, the northern coastal road, which runs from Jabal Aboid to Tamera and Biserita. And then further south is a road that runs from Souk Arras that passes through a little town called Beja onto Tunis. so um uh beja is a nodal point it's a road junction you know the things we talk about in we've talked about in normandy all this time and the terrain is hilly it's difficult ridgeline follows ridgeline it's valleys farms rivers and streams they break up the countryside that can be rocky um though it's not desert it's very red it's very red soil very red soil and it's grassy it's grassy and rocky so you have these jebbles these the these hills which are are sort of i'll tell you what it looks like you've you've been to rockstrip yes i have yeah it's kind of that vibe you see although when i went there it's it had rained a lot and and so it was very lush and green and i was a bit thrown by it yeah yeah yeah yeah well it is it is here because it's autumn yeah yeah well exactly you know disabuse yourself of of any notions of this being kind of desert and bleak and you know this is all wild flowers and grass and you know but it's wild waving high grass and stuff and you know you have you have wheat fields here and and so on and these little farmsteads and stuff it's it's it's really quite southern mediterranean anyone who's been to sicily that's what it looks like and you have these jebbles with these you know they've got these sort of rocky outcrops like spion cop or something uh um and that's the landscape it's it's it's it's rolling it's kind of you know there's lots of rivers with not a lot of water in them but are wide and rocky with little sort of escarpments and so on yeah and and certainly when they get there they're all really they're really surprised by the landscape because they've imagined they're going to Eighth Army's North Africa they've seen on the newsreel, you know, with frying eggs on the bonnets of Jeeps and stuff.

30:36Al Murray: And it isn't that at all. And as it turns out, that will come back to that misunderstanding of where they are and what the weather's going to be like, climate is like, again, causes them real problems. But the other thing, Ali, is that no, you know, British and American people haven't been there because it's not in their colonial sphere or their imperial sphere. So in a way that Egypt is, and Sudan is, and Kenya, or Kenya as it was then, and Tanganyika, this isn't. This is French colonial territory and Italian colonial territory. So it's just, it's unmapped. They haven't experienced. No one's been there.

31:23Al Murray: And they've lots to discover on the job. Yeah, and the other thing is their references are the Punic Wars and Carthage and Hannibal, because they're all British and have read classics and read Latin at prep school. So, you know, it's kind of, again, they've got this sort of just totally kind of distorted opinion and understanding what it's like. Well, yes, Frost thinks we will be primus in Carthago, you know, that they're going to be first in Carthage. I rest my case. So Frost's second battalion arrive and they play hurry up and wait. And so while one para then go into action at Souk El Arbour, which is near Bajah.

32:04Al Murray: And this is a story for another time. This is James Speedy Hill on the 23rd, 24th of November. It's an absolutely amazing action that, but we aren't here to talk about that because that's a great success too. So Frost finds the... Oh, what? You dangle that in front of me. That is an incredible, that is an absolutely incredible story. And the story of, you know, Alistair Pearson stepping up to the plate when the moment comes. Anyway, Frost finds the waiting game and his battalion. Frost and his battalion find the waiting game really, really, really difficult. They are very, very bad at the hurry up and wait game, the men in two para.

32:40Al Murray: Because he's a man of action and he's really keen to prove himself as a battalion commander. Because he's been promoted finally. Finally, he's been shunted around other battalions for a bit, but he's really keen to get into the fray. And the old battalion commanding officer has a medical complaint that recurs. So Frost, possibly because he's famous, is kicked upstairs. And his men are even more eager to get into it and get onto it. And they've got terrible discipline problems, real problems. Well, because they're just too keyed up and they're too gung-ho. Yeah. And they see the other battalions going into action.

33:16Al Murray: and his men start to show signs of poor discipline and they're drinking and fighting whoever they can get their hands on the locals other units each other and there's a really hard drinking culture in two power from the top down and frost is very much everyone knows of frost's fondness yeah exactly a drop too many and the journey from i mean one of the one of the sort of things that drives this is the trip from the trip to algiers on the ss strathmore has been dry it's an american ship so there's no alcohol on board so they're all like oh god i need a drink right and so they they marched they marched to the um there's a good they've set put up in a girls school in the suburbs and they marched the girls school and immediately they're on it and the first night two men come back to their billet blind drunk and they're armed for their own protection right So they draw their pistols when the guard on the camp gate tries to arrest them for being blind drunk.

34:15Al Murray: It's like this isn't this is the first first night. And the solution to this is that there's an A company lieutenant who's called Desmond Slapsy Braley is his nickname. And he's a I mean, there's a clue. Right. And Slapsy is because he's knocking people around. Well, the story is that before the war, he's a wrestler, you know, you know, amateur boxer. And he's a firebrand socialist as well. And basically, he comes out of the camp and chins one of the men knocking him out cold. Oink! Like that, right? Quite a thing for an officer to strike one of his men. And it's only the first day. First time in the meantime, he's trying to get his head round parachute soldiers and what on earth to do with them.

34:58Al Murray: And Browning doesn't have a liaison rep on Anderson's staff, right? He hasn't got one. Some sort of oversight. And Anderson isn't at all clear, really, on how airborne operations might work. And a good example of this is when Pine Coffin's three-parra arrive by aircraft from Gibraltar, Anderson says, well, you're going to jump into action tomorrow morning. I need you to do this op tomorrow morning. And Pine Coffin's like, what? we can't we can't do that that's impossible yeah you know um it doesn't work like that it doesn't work it doesn't work like that well how does it work and obviously the other thing is anderson's got enough problems um you know it's the it's a big a big gig this they're trying to outpace the germans in terms of their build-up and they've got these people turning up going well we could land in there sir what in the morning we'll do it in the morning then well not tomorrow morning so So there's a, you know, this operational naivety is mutual between First Army and between First Parachute Brigade.

36:04Al Murray: No one understands each other. And also cancellations because of bad weather. They also, the general doesn't understand that. He's like, what do you mean the weather's no good? You know, the weather's fine here. And so this real state of exasperation and frustration grows up within the First Parachute Brigade. Yeah, you can see how that happens, can't you? Well, obvious, isn't it? Yeah. As Frost put it, our Brigadier Flavel would go to Allied Force headquarters every day to see if there was any worthwhile target. But by the time the information had percolated down through 78th Division, 5th Corps, 1st Army to AFHQ, it was apt to be a little out of date for our purpose.

36:41Al Murray: In those days, nobody knew what airborne forces could be expected to do, and we certainly didn't know ourselves. Though of one thing, we felt quite certain there was practically nothing we couldn't do. They are desperate to go, even if it's a bit crappy. I mean, but when he says there's practically nothing we couldn't do, I mean, there's quite a lot they can't do. Well, yeah, exactly. But they feel quite certain there's practically nothing they can't do. This is the spirit in the brigade. And, you know, and that will make you probably accept risks that you really, really shouldn't. You should be thinking twice about.

37:17Al Murray: and the men want to go and even need to go and frost begins to think that unless they go the battalion might fall apart altogether feels the officers and ncos really aren't quite up to maintaining discipline and you know that they're like the men they're adventurists they're idealists well they're firebrand socialists aren't they well exactly yeah yeah one of the company commanders um who will who will run into is also like a you know and frost doesn't approve um and you know And the NCOs are getting involved in the bar brawling as well, rather than restraining the men. And so as the waiting game continues and their officers struggle to maintain discipline, the other big worry is, well, if we can't make airborne operations work, we'll go into the line as regular infantry.

38:04Al Murray: And that is the last thing these guys want. No! Because then once you're in the line as regular infantry, you'll never come back out of the line. you'll never do your airborne operations you're no longer special you're no longer special and you joined up to do something dazzling and being in the line like everyone else is not dazzling because after all your dad will have told you how terrible in the line was being in the line was in the first world war so it's a long fortnight as the town fills up with American and French powers the violence becomes more savage as Frost puts it the fighting and the locals also see an opportunity you know there's this big influx of of of you know dazzlingly rich soldiers um and there's a there's one story where a battalion in the battalion intelligence officer called mickey wardle captain mickey wardle he's set upon by two local youths and he's rescued by a huge grenadier guardsman who snaps to attention and barks permission to join in sir and then kicks the shit out of these two locals so one of the other factors that um that makes Frost so anxious about his men is he's absent from his own headquarters because he's busy trying to come up with an operation that they can embark on.

39:17Right. So he's lobbying people and talking to the logistics and planes.

39:22Al Murray: More than that, though. It's crazy, right? Assert as it might sound, during this time, Frost makes two recce flights over enemy territory to go and have a look in a Bristol Bisley, right? Which is one of those Bristol variants. and uh uh you know half bow fighter half uh blenheim or whatever like one of these one of the sort of you know that sort of we did we talked about it before the diagram of the evolution of man it's one of the bristol variants anyway he flies to soos which is earmarked as intended for two well it looks a bit like a blenheim doesn't it yeah that's right exactly when he when he gets to the airfield the pilot's disconsolate he wants a bow fighter because there are 109s about and 190s.

40:04Al Murray: And he's like, oh God, you know. So these are the German 109s, ME 109s and Focke-Wulf 190s are the German fighter planes. Which will come for a busily easily enough, right? And a bow fighter, they'd have more chances, a tougher aircraft, more chance of getting away. And there's a bit of an argument. And then the pilot says to Frost, yes, you are coming with me. And no, it's not a mistake. And he says, well, you must be expendable. So off we go for better or worse. Oh, well, that cheers you up. So they fly up over the Atlas Mountains towards Seuss, where there's a vast mud flat that Frost thinks, well, that'll work as a DZ.

40:35And then they come down to ground level for a proper look.

40:38Al Murray: And there are these huge cactus bushes. And Frost thinks, because Frost is desperate to go, so he's trying to come up with good news here. Well, they look like they'll help anyone being dragged out of control by the canopy. Should the wind be too strong, the cactus will stop them. So they come in to land at Tibessa, which is an American airstrip, and they're fired on by the Americans. and at first Frost panics, he thinks, have the Germans taken the airstrip? And then he realises, oh they are Americans after all and there's an American army colonel on the base who's not particularly welcoming his men are just being vigilant they haven't heard of 1st Parachute Brigade, he'd never heard of it, so what, I don't know what you're talking about, pal.

41:16Yeah, what's he supposed to do?

41:17Al Murray: Exactly, and the Bisley has to be repaired so Frost has to cadge a lift back to Maison Rouge the airfield at Maison Rouge in a Dakota and then he goes back to Brigade HQ and he's told Seuss is off anyway. So the place he's just got to look at, not happening. So then he has to go look at Enfidaville as the next prospective operation. So the following morning, off he goes again. And he's not shot at this time. And he returns and he's told Enfidaville is off. So Enfidaville is just south of, is about 40 miles south of Tunis, something like that. You can see the sort of logic if 8th Army and 1st Army are going to sort of swing in and meet one another.

42:00Al Murray: It's kind of the right place to have people. But the plan keeps changing in this way. You know, oh, you're going here, it's off. You're going here, it's off. And the operations are all basically the same kind of concept, but they're, you know, airfield snatching, but they keep changing. But then on the morning of the 28th of November... So this is 20 days into the invasion. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Almost three weeks. Yeah, almost three weeks. and they've been there, they've basically, Tupac have been around for a fortnight now. Frost is briefed that they're to land and seize the airfield at Pont du Fa in Tunisia, then march on 12 miles to Depienne to seize that airfield and then on to another airstrip at Oudna and then on to Saint Cyprian to be relieved by First Army.

42:46Right, I mean,

42:48Al Murray: that's completely crackers. Great big route marches after actions where God knows what might happen. And then this plan is eventually modified and we'll see what that results in, where they realise there are no aircraft at Pont-du-Fart or at Dépienne. But the main thing is they have a D-Day, 29th of November, they are going. Two-para, a little two-para battle group, if you want, are going to go. And so it's two-para, yeah, at last, A, B and C companies, a section of 16 airfield ambulance and 1st Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers. And the men are really, really keen. And the officers are incredibly relieved that something's afoot because they can focus their blokes on something now because it's been getting really, really unruly.

43:47Al Murray: And Frost himself is absolutely determined to go into battle and prove himself. so on the morning of the 29th two para first para squadron re field ambulance they embark do you think that do you think that is just because he's gung-ho do you think he's had got the taste of it from bruneval he kind of thought well that went really well we can do something we you know we can do something similarly brilliant he's also in the bit he's in the really glamorous bit of the army where there's a chance to you know he's famous he's become famous because of bruneval i'm not saying that's gone to his head this is what he's you know he's one of these people who's made for made for this and he's joined a bit of the army where if you're ambitious you can really make a mark for yourself you know and it's he's a type a yeah yeah he absolutely is i think he's probably a type double a you know an a star he's right up there with george jellicoe as kind of you know it's scouting with guns and it's just a total laugh yeah and they're checking in there they're checking their kit and the aircraft have flown up for another airbase and have two different chalks on them and the chalk is where the aircraft is marked with who's in which plane so there's confusion on the airstrip no one knows who's going where with which aircraft and um by the way i've recorded um recorded some audiobook excerpts for our patreons um of a of an of a memoir by a guy called peter stainforth and peter stainforth was in was a sapper officer lieutenant in first paris squadron re um who wrote a really brilliant memoir called winds of wind wings of the wind it's not a great title but it's it it's brilliantly it's a terrible title but it's brilliantly written because he was he was an artist one of his things was and so the language is the depictions and the descriptions are really brilliant and his description of that morning when they're in planing and loading up with containers is of absolute complete chaos and people officers running around going you ready yet you know uh you're in the wrong plane what get in now all this sort of thing complete chaos and there's also been heavy rain the night before so the air the airfield is a is a quagmire but nothing is nothing is going to dampen two paras spirits right even the fact that while they are in planing frost is told of the change of plan so they're not going to do pont du far Depienne, Oudna.

46:04Al Murray: Pond du Fars has been cancelled. Right. So what they're going to do is land at Depienne. And then march up to Oudna. Then assault the airfield. And then 6th Armoured Division will send a relief column to rescue them. And this change, as I say, is told to Frost while he's in planing. So no one in the battalion is told either. There isn't a formal O group to tell them there's been a change of plan. So they all think they're going to Pontefiain. This is news to them, and they're going to have to adapt to it on the hoof. On the hoof. Well, he is. And there's, you know, the grapevine around the aircraft is, I think we're not going to Depienne anymore, but I'm not sure.

46:44Al Murray: We think we're not going to Pontefiain anymore, I'm not sure. So it's agreed that because they can't recce properly, and the intelligence is very thin in all regards, and we've seen that already, Frost is going to have to choose the drop zone himself from the lead Dakota. Because it's a daylight drop because the RAF kind of has the upper hand, you know, kind of has their superiority, kind of, at least when it comes to being able to offer escorts. So Frost will pick the first DZ and his Dakota is going to fly a mile ahead of the rest of the Dakotas and he'll jump out and then then everyone will jump out where they thought he jumped out.

47:21Al Murray: Right. So it's I mean, it's completely mad, isn't it? I mean, he's pathfinding this thing. What could possibly go wrong? Well, I mean, what if he can't find anywhere good enough? Well, I think we know he's going to jump, isn't he? He's feeling the pressure. He needs an operation to keep his battalion from boiling over. He's got to prove the effectiveness of airborne ops. He's got to show what amazing men he has under his command and how well trained they are. And he's got to make sure they don't. And he's got to get it right. And he's got to get it right. And he's got to make sure they don't go into the line as light infantry and get squandered on that.

47:59Al Murray: So you could wonder whether he's really the right person to be making the decision at the door about where to jump and when to jump. But if anyone's going to, it's going to be John Frost. So what there's going to be is a 12 mile overnight march up from Udna, up to Udna from where they land. They've got loads of money with them to buy mules from the locals. Of course, they've got no transport. Right. Right. Now, what the what the locals might think about this, you know, because they rely on their mules for their livelihoods. A load of hairy ass paratroopers say, here's a thousand. Here's a thousand francs.

48:33Al Murray: I'm taking your mule. Right. And also we've all we've also got Vichy and German elements about and the locals probably regard the British as just yet another imperial army coming through. So who knows what they might think? And because this is a airborne op, they've got to carry everything they need with them. So mortars, Brens, anti-tank purposes. There's the boys anti-tank rifle, which is sort of roughly a half inch round. You can knock a track off things. If you get close enough, you can get a Mark II with that. Yeah. And let's face it, the boys is not a light thing to carry around. No, it's a really, really heavy piece of kit.

49:12Al Murray: And there's a big flash and big cloud of dust when you fire it. So everyone knows where you are. And they've got that and the Gammon bomb. There's no Piat yet. And in fact, actually the Piat is exactly the sort of thing they need. really, as there aren't any six pounders or two pounders or any of that stuff. And so there's no gliders bringing any heavy kit and then landing it in the wrong place, obviously. So Frost is really anxious about German armour. That's the thing he's really got the fear about, is armour. Yeah, I mean, with good reason. Yeah, he knows if the Germans turn up with tanks, they're in real trouble.

49:46Al Murray: And there's no aerial resupply. They haven't worked out how to do that yet. so those of you know the the Arnhem battle and the disaster of the aerial resupply where the aerial resupply is all sent to the wrong place because the Germans control the supply dropping zone there's not even that problem here there is no aerial resupply right so once they're once they're out they're totally on their own until they get back again on their own until they're relieved right um so Jim do you want to read this is what Lieutenant Peter Stainforth recalls We took some little time to get each other hooked up.

50:19My next-door neighbour passed me the end of my static line over my right shoulder. I gave it a tug and pulled about six feet out of the parachute pack. I was unusually clumsy all of a sudden, had difficulty in fastening the safety pin which secured the snap hook. Measures came round and checked our equipment. You all right? inquired Benny over me. I think of my quick-release box, checked the snap hook and strop and nodded in reply. How do you feel? I asked him. Okay, so far. I feel a lot happier when it's all over. Look, there go the Spitfires. Phew! What a superb sight! I looked out of my foot-square perspex window and saw three dark furies rushing over the surface of the plane.

51:01They banked as one, row silently to meet as fast as shooting stars. We clambered awkwardly to our feet, fidgeted with our length of hanging static line, then crowded up in line behind Number One, who crouched in the doorway. We clung to the sides of the fuselage. The plane was bucking all over the sky and trying to keep formation. Waited for the red warning light. Everyone was silent and there was an electric tension in the air. The seconds went by slowly. Then the red winked on and shone like an evil eye. A few seconds later, number one plunged out. An ecstatic line cracked against the rear edge of the door.

51:38The line surged towards the tail and melted before the square of sunlight. almost before i knew what had happened i was scrambling for the aperture and lunged outwards

51:47Al Murray: into space there we are because and what this means isn't it it's very gives you a terrific sense of what it's like and and but it's amazing the kind of uh the confidence effect of seeing some spitfires isn't it yeah yeah yeah yeah i love the way he says all of a sudden i was unusually clumsy you know he's telling you he's nervous without telling he's nervous it's it's It's brilliant. It's a great rule of writing. Yeah. It's such a fantastic book, actually. Wings of the Wind. And like I say, there's a bunch of it up on our Patreon. So if you want to hear more of Peter Stainforth's descriptions of the Union disaster, it's all there.

52:29Al Murray: So what this means is that John Frost has picked his drop zone from the door of his Dakota. In fact, what he's done, he's been in the cockpit. He goes, that looks like the right sort of place. goes back down to the door, hooks up, and then off they go. So he jumps as soon as we were over Dépienne, and the rest of the battalion will now follow. So this means Tupara is back in action. The heroes of Bruneval are going to show what they can do at battalion strength. But what is awaiting? What awaits Tupara at Dépienne? Will they get to Udna and seize the airfield in time? And will First Army ride to the rescue as planned?

53:08Al Murray: join us in our next episode it is a cliffhanger join us in our next episode as your static line snaps open don't jump upwards oh for god's sake Holland poor old Holland jumped upwards I'm afraid sir if you want to hear all of these in one go then become a Patreon and also there's Peter Stainforth's memoir to listen to We Have Ways of Making You Talk Patreon come to We Have Ways Fest and become a kipper or a turbot Join the independent company, which is our subscription service, and be part of the family. I mean, that's where it'll be, part of the battalion. Part of the brigade. We'll see you very soon.

53:47Al Murray: Thanks for listening, and cheerio. Cheerio.

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