During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Jock columns were small
combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects—for example, using infantry and armoured warfare, armour in an Urban warfare, urban environment in ...
groups of
armoured cars,
artillery
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...
and
motorised infantry, generally drawn from the British
7th Armoured Division. They were used in the
Western Desert Campaign
The Western Desert campaign (Desert War) took place in the Sahara Desert, deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main Theater (warfare), theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with ...
by the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
to harass German and Italian forces. The columns were named after an officer who was a superb exponent of the tactic and may have conceived it originally, Lieutenant Colonel
John Charles "Jock" Campbell.
The basis for the Jock column was a
battery of six
25-pounder and a
troop
A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...
of
2-pounders, supported by a
squadron of tanks and a
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
of infantry, along with several
anti-aircraft artillery
Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...
guns. Having suffered heavily in the
Battle of Greece
The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasi ...
and in
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
, the mobility of the Jock column allowed the British to compensate for their equipment losses by deploying artillery where needed. On the defensive, Jock columns could effectively harass the enemy, or attack their
rear areas, but the columns' decentralized nature made them ill-suited for stopping a major attack.
However, once the British went on the offensive in mid-1941 with their
Brevity and
Battleaxe operations, "British doctrine had become weakened by the improvised over-use of Jock Columns". Rather than concentrating armor as Rommel tended to, the columns were further separating their tanks into groups which were more easily defeated. The splitting up of critical medium and heavy artillery made them less effective at covering assault troops, and "Royal Artillery commanders were critical of the lack of concentration of guns".
See also
*
William Gott
*
Flying column
A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ''ad hoc'' unit, formed during the course of operations.
The term is usually, though not necessarily, appl ...
*
Long Range Desert Group
The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War.
Originally called the Long Range Patrol (LRP), the unit was founded in Egypt in June 1940 by Major Ralph Alger Bagnold, ...
Footnotes
References
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Military units and formations of the British Army in World War II
Ad hoc units and formations of the British Army
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