HAILED AS ONE OF THE MOST AUDACIOUS OPERATIONS OF THE GREAT WAR, THE RESCUE OF STARVING SEAMEN HELD CAPTIVE IN NORTH AFRICA BY A FORCE OF ARMOURED CARS MARKED THE CLIMAX OF A FORGOTTEN CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE SENUSSI. STEVE SNELLING CHARTS THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN IMPROBABLE COUP THAT BECAME TAINTED BY CONTROVERSY
FIRST WORLD WAR | DESERT RESCUE
The motley convoy made for an incongruous sight as it jolted and jarred its way through a vast desert wilderness all but devoid of human life. Around 40 vehicles, made up of Rolls-Royce armoured cars, two Maxim-toting Fords, ten boneshaking ambulances and an assortment of automobiles and trucks laden with food and petrol, were strung out in a drunken column, their uneasy and uncertain progress marked by a cloud of choking dust. Spearheaded by a contingent of No.1 Battery, Light Armoured Car Brigade, commanded by a duke of the realm, they represented a rescue mission like no other: their audacious aim to ‘spring’ around 100 men held captive in appalling conditions deep in the Libyan Desert. Based on “scanty and conflicting” reports, the sortie, which involved traversing more than a hundred miles of hostile and uncharted territory, appeared to some little mor…
