Blade and Hart Forces I have been reading about these 2 forces and am curious about them. Cheers Paul
Blade and Hart forces were organised when the 1st Army was having trouble being understaffed in the initial advances into Tunisia - they were finally done away with when the 1st - 4th and 46th Divs came on the scene in the March of '43.....along with 21st and 25th Tank Bdes. ...you can read all about them in the History of 78th Division Cheers
Have only just started to read from Algiers to Austria which I just purchased thanks to Owen. Havn't got that far yet. Cheers Paul
Blade force was a unit made up from the 17/21st Lancers, an armoured car squadron from the Derbyshire Yeomanry,and a battery of 25pdrs from the 12th RHA, a troop of Bofer guns, a 6pdr anti tank battery, and one troop of REs.A company of lorry mounted infantry from 10th Rifle Brigade was also part of the unit. The unit was commanded by col Hull of the 17/21st. Once in Tunisia they where joined by the 1st armoured Regiment of the American !st armd div. Under command of col John Waters with 54 M3 Stuart light tanks See "The 17/21 Lancers 1759-1993" R V L ffrench Blake " An Army at Dawn" Rick Atkinson Also QRL on Utube
True, on November 25th near the village of Djedeida,company C of the US 1st Armoured shot up several dozen aircraft on the ground
You can find more about American tank raid on Djedeida Airfield on 25 November 1942 <cite>http://fw190.hobbyvista.com/raid_on_djedeida_airfield.doc </cite>
Lads, is (are) there a book/s centered on Blade Force, or at least, the early run for Tunis? Several unit stories mention the operation, but use 10 or 20 out of 300 pages; same happens with books covering the entire NW Africa campaign. Am looking for in-depth coverage.
Have you come across this post with the war diaries? http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/31029-blade-force-1942-nov-decwar-diary/?p=375151
Already downloaded them, mate, but something on book format (you know, maps, tables, pictures, personal accounts) would be very desirable. Wonder why books on specific actions during the Tunisian Campaign are so scarce; everything beyond the rout at Kasserine comes in campaign format or does not amount to more than 20-so pages on a regimental story. Tom's lot deserves a better treatment!
