American Army personnel attached to the 8th Army in the Western Desert prior to Operation Torch

From the Wiki page for the Battle of Gazala (footnote A - paraphrased by me) - “a volunteer troop of three M3 Grant tanks manned by instructors from the US 66th Armored Regiment were placed under the British 2nd Armoured Brigade where they achieved a number of victories during fighting near Acroma on 11 June [Yeide, Harry (2006) - Weapons of the Tankers: American Armor WW2].

Time magazine recorded these as the first Americans to engage German land forces in the war.

NB: the footnote states that they were under the command of Major (Senator) Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. - but as far as I can ascertain he was in Cairo and the actual fighting was under the command of Captain Charles C. Stelling of Augusta, GA / Sergeant P.E. Mauzy of Calhoun, KY / Staff Sergeant W.Z. Fralish of Anton, AL

These men were in North Africa to instruct & observe but they volunteered to go into combat when the opportunity arose.

 

These two threads cover the units / tanks employed at that time:
British tanks at Gazala & 1st Armoured Division at Gazala

 

Use of the M3 Lee variant doesn’t get mentioned much but I suppose that is covered under reports on the M3 Grant

 

Paraphrased from the Wiki page for the 1943 movie "Sahara" starring Humphrey Bogart

Events are depicted which point to the Battle of Gazala - the British have received M3 tanks and a small group of American advisors and crews trained the British in the use of the equipment. Bogart's character (Master Sergeant Joe Gunn) and his crew of “Lulu Belle” become separated from their unit during a general retreat from German forces after the fall of Tobruk and while traversing the desert they hear a radio report about the British victory at the First Battle of El Alamein

An M3 Lee tank was used in the movie because it was filmed in the USA and that would have been the only variant available - but to be argumentative it could have been either tank variant that was used at Gazala in June / July 1942 by the American tank crews that were attached to the British 8th Army as there were a few Lee variants on the 8th Army books too

 

There was a similar incident in Zimbabwe in 1981, when British training staff assisted the National Army in Bulawayo, in stopping a mutiny by ZIPRA (the rival nationalist faction to Mugabe) and destroyed their armoured vehicles in ambush(es). Not mentioned in this: 1981 Entumbane uprising - Wikipedia

 

Where was I just reading or learning about this?

I think the political risk of the Senator being killed in action was too much and that is why he didn't see action.

 

Oh, I remembered why I was learning about this recently. The blog post here:

Americans at Gazala Libya 1942

 

Thanks Chris - great link, I'm not the only one who has tried to piece it together - in fact, it makes most of my efforts superfluous

Other ww2talk threads regarding Colonel Jarrett / the 525th

Foreign Materials Section at Aberdeen Proving Ground

American unit serving with the 8th Army in North Africa

 

Fast forward to August 1942 and US Army Captain J. McLoughlin has arrived with 30 tankmen

They saw action in 6 Grant tanks alongside 3/4 CLY at the Battle of Alam Halfa - sometimes reported as being the first US soldiers to fight German land forces


(NB: I haven't checked but some of the photos in my first and second posts could be of this second group of US soldiers)

 

Backwards now to November 1941 and the death of Corporal Delmer Parks of the 142nd Armored Signal Company, US 2nd Armored Division

Note that the USA was not at war with Germany or Italy until the 11th of December 1941 when Germany declared war on them - until that time the USA was officially a neutral party

The first US Army Soldier to die in Ground Combat in WW2?

 

US 525th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company (Tank) serving with the 8th Army in North Africa

The 525th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company (Tank) operated the M19 Tank Transporter combination (12-ton M20 Diamond T Model 980 truck / 12-wheel M9 trailer) in North Africa, Sicily & Italy

The first American Ordnance unit sent to the Middle East was the 525th Heavy Maintenance Company (Tank), which arrived 22 June 1942, debarking from the Queen Mary along with 12,000 British reinforcements picked up in Scotland, after a voyage around the Cape of Good Hope.

There was considerable disappointment when they arrived without hand tools or any transportation, since the company was a mobile maintenance unit sent to support the British in desert operations. While waiting for its gear to arrive, the company was sent to the British Tel-el-Kebir tank shop on the outskirts of Cairo. But the stay at the Tel-el-Kebir shop was short. After Rommel took Tobruk on 21 June and won a brilliant victory at Matruh a week later many units were evacuated from Cairo, including the American Ordnance company.

The company was sent by ship to Asmara Arsenal in Eritrea on 2 July 1942 and remained there for about two months. It was then flown back to Cairo to open the Heliopolis tank shop. After the breakthrough at El Alamein in November 1942, the 525th was sent out with the British Eighth Army in the pursuit of Rommel and helped the British considerably in advanced workshops at Benghazi and Tripoli. The 525th was the only American company attached to Eighth Army at the time.

The unit came under US control for the first time in its year of overseas service upon its arrival in Sicily from Tripoli

United States Army in World War II: Technical Services: The Ordnance Department (On Beachhead and Battlefront) by Lida Mayo - published by the Center of Military History, United States Army - Washington, 1991

 

Two days before Parks' death, Major Buckley became the first US POW (legally internee) when he was captured at Sidi Rezegh, where he observed 5 S.A. Bde.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Buckley_Jr.

All the best

Andreas