| Hi Owen,
Although not directly connected to the original enquiry, the splendid efforts of thetream Guards on Longsrop Hill is of interest.
On the night of 22/23 December 1942, the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards mounted an attack, capturing what was thought to be all of the massif, before being relieved by the 18th US Regimental Combat Team while heavy rain fell. The Germans counter-attacked driving the Americans off Djebel el Ahmera. The next night the Guards successfully recaptured the hill only to find, when daylight came, that another summit, Djebel Rhar, remained to be assaulted. During the night the Guards once again attacked but, after capturing the second hill, were driven off by a furious counter-attack by the Germans on Christmas Day. Thereafter the massif was known by the Allies as "Longstop Hill" and by the Germans "Der Weihnachten Hügel". The name Longstop is "taken from the lay-back position near the boundary of the cricket field, containing as it does a hint of ne plus Ultra, thus far and no further." (Quote from 'At All Costs' by Bryan Perrett).
Cheers, Gerry |