Come Folgore Dal Cielo*
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Date: 30th September 1942*
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Battle Location: Deir el Munassib (Egypt)*
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Battle Type: Italy Defend vs. GB Assault*
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The Battle:*
Deir el Munassib has been one of the most furious battles ever fought in the desert. The intent of General Horrocks, commander of the 30th British Corps was to achieve a better position in the southern front of El Alamein before the final assault in October. The depression of Deir el Munassib and its surrounding heights was part of this position. The air recon reported that the area was occupied by an Italian infantry company of the "Trieste" motorized division. This pushed the British to an immediate action against the location with a couple of battalion sized units: the 1-5 Queens from the 44th infantry division and a tank regiment from the 7th armoured division. These troops were considered more than enough to dislodge the weak Italians. Unfortunatey for the British, their recon was wrong, because the three main heights that constituted the bulk of the position were not held by a company of the "Trieste"; they were instead garrisoned by a reinforced battalion of the "Folgore" parachute division, by far the best unit in the Italian Army at that time. The 9th parachute battalion, reinforced by a considerable amount of English captured equipment would certainly be not that easy to deal with, especially when we consider that it was well dug in and protected by minefields. In the night of the 30th of September 1942, a very dark night with no moon, the British attacked and were massacred by the Italian parachutists who fought with incredible courage and valor. The British tanks were often destroyed in close assaults with sticking mines and incendiary bottles, since the little Italian AT guns were OK against Honeys and Stuarts but not effective at all against Grants. With the British infantry then, there was no real match. The paratroopers, waited for the enemy to be almost inside their position and than counterattacked with submachineguns and bayonets killing lots of British soldiers. Many young and crazy Italian parachutists were killed too because of their obsession of the hand to hand combat against the English. The battle ended with a terrible defeat for the 30th British Corps; three out of four infantry companies completely destroyed and more than half of the tank regiment sitting on fire, at times inside the Italian strongpoints. Montgomery and Horrocks decided to cover the entire story under a cloud of silence fearing that such a "debacle" could affect the British fighting spirit before the final offensive in the third battle of El Alamein.*
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Designed by: Luigi Varriale*