The Whale Has Wings Vol 2 - Taranto to Singapore by David Row

The troops from 4th Indian Division were equally successful, though the more experienced men suffered fewer casualties. The combined force takes 30,000 prisoners on the first day.
     
    26th December
    Bardia is captured by O'Connor after an assault lasting less than four days. The Australian 6th Division and the Indian 4th Division take 45,000 prisoners including four generals, 462 guns, 130 tanks and over 700 trucks; Total casualties of the Imperial forces are 130 KIA and 326 WIA. This is Australia's first major land battle of the war, and O'Connor is impressed with how well the green formation has fought. He urges Wavell to get the other two Brigades fully operational as soon as possible.
    Emulating Winston Churchill, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden said 'never has so much been surrendered by so many, to so few.' Italian General Bergonzoli and his staff withdraw from Bardia toward Tobruk. Wavell orders British forces to advance into Cyrenaica, to exploit their victory against the Italians. 7th Armoured Division under Major General Michael Creagh detours around Bardia and marches toward Tobruk. Wavell sets out his ultimate objective as Benghazi, to be taken within the next week.
    In Albania, Greek troops push Italian troops back 15 miles, capturing Sarandë. To the far south, Italian torpedo bombers attacked the British naval base at Suda Bay, Crete at 1540 hours, damaging British cruiser HMS Glasgow with two torpedoes. This was a surprise to the Royal Navy, whose intelligence had given no sign these bombers were operational in the area. Priority is being given to getting a fighter force operational on Crete, and in the meantime the Navy will limit the ships in the area to lighter craft; the ongoing Operation Compass makes then reluctant to reassign the carriers as the operation is going so well.
    In addition to his earlier request for help in North Africa, Mussolini also asks for help against the Greeks in Albania. When this request is passed on to the German planners, they are unhappy at the disruption such help would cause to the ongoing Barbarossa preparations.
     
    27th December
    Advance units of Allied force reach the outer defences of Tobruk after taking El Adem airfield eight miles to the south. Patrols to examine the Italian defences begin immediately. The Tobruk garrison is 25,000 men with 220 guns and 70 tanks, commanded by Lieutenant General Enrico Manella.
    An amphibious operation is considered to cut off Italian forces as their line of retreat is now mainly along the coastal road. 50 and 52 Commando (a total of some 800 men) is allocated to this, and the Navy agrees to provide support; while shipping is available to carry the men, there is a shortage of the specialised landing draft they need. After the success of improvised operations of this sort at Narvik, it is hoped that the landing craft will not be necessary.
    In London, the need for more carriers of some sort leads to the planned modification of some grain carriers and tankers into MAC-ships. These plans, to fit a basic flight deck over the hull, while retaining their cargo capability, were suggested before the war but the carrier build at the time looked adequate. An alternative plan, to catapult surplus carriers off ships, has been rejected - instead the dockyard effort will go to producing a number of MAC ships.
    Britain's latest heavy bomber made its first flight at Ringway Airport, Manchester, here today. The Avro Lancaster is a four-engined development of the Avro Manchester, which is just entering RAF service. It has a longer range and heavier bomb-load than any other British bomber. The aircraft that flew today, however, is only a prototype, and it will be some months yet before the Lancaster production lines begin to turn out aircraft. Even so, as the Avro chief test pilot, Bill Thorne, took her into the air, the managing director Sir Roy Dobson turned to the designer Roy Chadwick and said: "Oh boy, oh boy ... what an aeroplane! What a