Hi Cédric13emeDBLE wrote:The Daumiller Gruppe is in January 42 (sorry I am working very deeply and slowly, so I just began the 1942 year), is a small part of Sonderverband 288.
the exact name was "sperrverband Daumiller" (sonderverband 288) deployed the 6th of january (it might arrive before, I have no infos on its date of arrival) at the Bir es Suera sector, "temporarily under the command of XXI. italian Corps (Trento, Pavia and Sabratha). This formation's full strength was 2,400 but so far only 360 men had reached Africa by air and without their vehicles".
No others infos yet, I will keep you in touch when I found others things...
CM
That is not quite correct. Daumiller's Sperrverband arrived in the old positions in the Mersa el Brega line on 26 December. They already suffered combat losses in the bomb attack on the water hole in Agedabia 29 December (1 KIA/3 WIA). The PAA order for the defense of the Mersa el Brega line then put them under XXI. AK on 4 Jan 42.
On 6 January 360 men of SV 288 and 700 men of the FJ-Lehrtruppe had arrived, all by air, all without vehicles.
Here is an interesting snippet - on 11 Jan SV Daumiller was reported to contain two platoons Gebirgsjäger. These would have been the only Gebirgsjäger in Afrika, right?
KG Burckhardt was ordered to occupy Marada at that point, which until then had been held by a reinforced company of Afrika Rgt 361 and Italian Sahara companies.
All the best
Andreas