Long Range Desert Group

The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a British Army unit during World War II. The unit was founded in Egypt following the Italian declaration of war (June 1940) by Major Ralph A. Bagnold with the assistance of Captains Clayton and Shaw, acting under the direction of General Wavell. The group specialised in mechanised reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and desert navigation. The group was disbanded at the end of the war. The LRDG was nicknamed "the Mosquito Army" by Wavell. Special Air Service soldiers would refer to it as "the Libyan Desert Taxi Service".

Formation and equipment

The unit, initially known as the Long Range Patrols, was founded 3 July 1940 and, after a refusal from the Australians, 150 New Zealand volunteers were selected with the permission of General Freyberg, the New Zealand commanding general in the Middle East theatre. Bagnold had reasoned that the New Zealanders, being mostly farmers, would be more adept at using and maintaining machinery. Later additions to the group included British and Rhodesian units.

The unit was arranged into 3 main patrols, of 40 soldiers each. Patrols were initially equipped with Ford F30 4WD and Chevrolet WB trucks, supported by Chevrolet 1311x1 15 cwt (3/4 t) command cars. The patrol trucks were later replaced with Chevrolet 1533x2 30 cwt (1.5 t) trucks, and the command cars with Willys Jeeps.

Each patrol was equipped with ten Lewis machine guns, four Boys Anti-tank Rifles, and a Bofors 37 mm anti-tank gun; later on, trucks were equipped with Browning .50 cal machine guns, captured Italian Breda 20 mm anti-aircraft guns and twin mounted .303 cal Vickers K machine guns. The troops carried Thompson submachine guns, and other standard British infantry weapons. The primary radio set of the patrols was the British Army No. 11 wireless set using the end-fed Wyndom aerial for long-range communications of up to 1,200 miles.

Initial training

During the initial training, Shaw was responsible for teaching navigation, while Bagnold taught communications.

Combat history

On 13 September 1940, the unit formed its first base at the Siwa Oasis. They arrived there by driving approximately 240 km across the Egyptian Sand Sea. On 15 September two patrols of the LRDG were engaged in the unit's first combat operations. In this action Captain Mitford's unit traveled via the Kalansho Sand Sea and attacked Italian petrol dumps and emergency landing fields along the Palificata. Meanwhile, Clayton's group passed through Italian territory to contact the French forces in Chad. It is believed that the LRDG helped persuade the forces there to join the Free French Forces. The patrols joined at the southern tip of the Gilf Kebir (where a supply dump was located) and then returned to Cairo, via the Kharga Oasis. Each patrol had traveled approximately 6,000 km.

Following the September expedition, the War Office approved a doubling of the unit's size, its renaming, and the promotion of Bagnold to lieutenant-colonel. The enlarged unit gathered volunteers from British, Indian, and Rhodesian units. Bagnold wrote, "During the next few months, raids were made on a number of enemy-held oases...isolated garrisons were shot up...the raiders seemed to appear from a fourth dimension...Graziani was beginning to doubt his intelligence reports [and] the Italian army halted for...months."

Chad and Kufra

In September 1940, Bagnold travelled to Fort Lamy, Chad, where he helped persuade the French colony to join the Allies. The LRDG and Free French forces worked together to raid Italian positions in the area of the Murzuk Oasis and the combined forces, using French artillery, captured Kufra. In April 1941, the LRDG's headquarters was moved to Kufra. Bagnold wrote, "Temperatures exceeding 50 °C were found to be tolerable, even on a restricted water ration, owing to the dryness. The worst discomfort came from...sandstorms, which lasted several days. They made eating very difficult." From Kufra, the LRDG commanders would essentially serve as the military commanders of a region approximately the size of northern Europe, a region which had not seen rain in 70 years.

Bagnold leaves the LRDG

During the summer of 1941, Bagnold recruited another prewar exploration companion, Guy Lennox Prendergast, RTR to serve as his second-in-command. On 1 July Bagnold left the unit, to serve in Cairo as a full colonel, and Prendergast became the LRDG's commander. Prendergast would be succeeded by John Richard Easonsmith, RTR (always known as 'Jake' Easonsmith), who was followed by David Lloyd Owen, Queens.

Other operations

After the end of the African campaign, the LRDG was trained in mountain warfare at the Cedars of Lebanon Hotel, in Lebanon. They were also trained in parachute operations. The unit went on to serve in the Greek islands (see Battle of Leros), Italy and in Normandy.

Memorial

LRDG Memorial at Papakura Army Base, New Zealand.

An original truck, recovered from the North African desert, is held by the Imperial War Museum.

A War Memorial is at Papakura army base, in Auckland.

Several private replicas of LRDG vehicles have been built in the UK, America and New Zealand.

TV and Film

Various fictionalizations based more or less on LRDG's desert period:

• Play Dirty, a 1968 film starring Michael Caine.
• The Rat Patrol, American TV series 1966 - 1968.

See also

• North African Campaign
• Western Desert Campaign
• Erwin Rommel
• Hans-Jürgen von Arnim
• Afrika Korps
• Panzer Army Africa
• László Almásy Hungarian / Axis Long Range Desert Specialist. Basis of the English Patient.

External links

• Website of the Long Range Desert Group Preservation Society
• Another LRDG site with background information on vehicles and equipment, and an extensive bibliography.
• Exploits in the desert with extensive information on weapons, personnel, and equipment. (Also includes detailed annotated bibliography.)
• Raids in the Fezzan - description of LRDG and Free French operations in Libya from the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
• LRDG Roll of honour, awards and images.