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D-Day’s Black Barrage Balloon Operators and Other Lesser Known WWII Facts

Khalid Elhassan November 11, 2019 27 min

14. The Commandos’ Raid on Bardia

British Commandos in a landing craft. Wikimedia

The Commandos’ raid on Bardia got off to an iffy start when the raiders were landed at night behind schedule, and on the wrong beach. However, they managed to sort things out and find their way to Bardia, which they were surprised to discover was lightly defended. They located and destroyed an Italian supply dump, as well as an artillery installation, all for the loss of a single officer, mistakenly killed in a friendly fire incident. The raiders then trudged back to the beach for re-embarkation – and that was when poor preparation bit the raiders: a contingent of 70 Commandos got lost in the dark, and after a cascade of mishaps, ended up going to the wrong beach, where they futilely waited for boats to pick them up. They were left behind, and all were captured by the enemy in the following days.

Despite the poor planning and the ensuing mishaps, the Bardia Raid was an overall success. It did succeed in disrupting the enemy rear, destroyed its assigned targets, and as an added bonus, the raid caused the Axis high command to pull a German armored brigade from the front lines and divert it to provide rear security. That had a significant impact on the battlefield, as the British at the time were being hard-pressed by the recently arrived Afrika Korps, under the command of Erwin Rommel. The diversion of a German armored brigade from the front lines eased the pressure, and gave the British enough breathing space to stabilize the situation.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.