Operation Braganza was launched on the night of 29 September 1942 by

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Brian Horrocks, commanding British XIII Corps. It was intended as a preliminary to

Operation Lightfoot The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented th ...

, part of the Second Battle of El Alamein. The objective was to capture an area of ground near Deir el Munassib in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, to be used for extra artillery deployment. This would involve the 131st (Queen's) Infantry Brigade from the

44th (Home Counties) Division The Home Counties Division was an infantry division of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, the division recruited in the Home Counties, particularly Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. ...

, supporting armour from the 4th Armoured Brigade, nine field regiments and one medium battery of artillery.

Battle

The artillery barrage commenced at 05.25. While the 1/6th Battalion,

Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

— on the northern side of the battle — and the 1/7th Battalion — on the eastern side — encountered very little opposition, in the south the 1/5th was badly handled when they ran into positions held by the paratroopers of the

185th Paratroopers Division "Folgore" 185th Paratroopers Division "Folgore" ( it, 185ª Divisione Paracadutisti "Folgore") was an airborne division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The division was formed in Tarquinia near Rome on 1 September 1941. In July 1942 the di ...

. The brigade made little ground, taking 328 casualties in the process.The Italian paratroopers "bore the brunt of the attack. They fought well and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.", Afrika Korps War Diary, 30 September 1942 There were then attempts to relieve the survivors and renew the attack. In the northern part of the battle, these were successful, when the 132nd (Kent) Infantry Brigade took over, it was found that, despite little fighting, there had been a great many casualties from heatstroke in the 131st Brigade. When, on the following day, the relief operations and attempts to renew the attack in the south broke down, Lieutenant-General Horrocks called off the operation. As a result of the losses from the operation, some of the formations were unfit for the battle (

) and Lieutenant-General

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...

, the

British Eighth Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Forces, ...

commander, had to change his plans of keeping divisions together. During the remaining period of training, this often led to bewildering interchange of units, which also created considerably extra difficulties for the command structure.

Notes and references

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Braganza, Operation 1942 in Egypt Braganza Battles of World War II involving Italy Conflicts in 1942 Western Desert campaign Military operations of World War II involving Germany September 1942 events