The official AHF WW2 in Africa & the Med quiz thread

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

Please feel free to post next question.
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[MarkN]

What happened with the British first used Matilda tanks at Gallabat against the Italian army?

Is this a trick question?

Hint: Which unit, with which tank types, took part in taking the fort at Gallabat?

[Attrition]

No, it isn't.

[MarkN]

No, it isn't.

So when did the British use Matilda tanks at Gallabat?

[Attrition]

This is a quiz, I ask ze cvestions, you give ze answerz.

[MarkN]

This is a quiz, I ask ze cvestions, you give ze answerz.

OK.

Question:

What happened with the British first used Matilda tanks at Gallabat against the Italian army?

Answer:
There were no Matilda tanks in either the attacking force or the defending force when the Italian/Ethiopians captured the fort at Gallabat in July 1940.
Similarly, there were no Matilda tanks in either the attacking force or the defending force when the British/Indians recaptured the fort at Gallabat in November 1940.

Did they break down on the hard vulcanic stone desert surface?

They did and the lorry full of spares was hit by a shell....

Since no Matilda tanks were present at either engagement nothing could have happened to them or who/whatever was not around them when they weren't there.

Bit of a daft quiz this.....

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

As I have been quoted, I guess I'll have to respond. I don't quite understand your critique to this quiz and answer. I can find several links claiming the use of this tank at Gallabat in late 1940. I might be wrong and if so several authors are wrong too.

[MarkN]

I don't quite understand your critique to this quiz and answer.

My "critique" is very simple - there were no Matilda tanks involved in the attacks on Gallabat in either July or November 1940. Thus the quiz question is a bit daft.

I can find several links claiming the use of this tank at Gallabat in late 1940. I might be wrong and if so several authors are wrong too.

If "several authors" claim that Matildas were operating anywhere in Sudan at anytime during 1940, then they are wrong.

[Attrition]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_f ... rica,_1940

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_f ... 0#Gallabat

Playfair 1954, p. 398.

[MarkN]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_f ... rica,_1940

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_f ... 0#Gallabat

Playfair 1954, p. 398.

Oh dear!!!!

Trusting wiki warrior historians is never a good idea. Especially when they cannot even quote their own references correctly....

I've given you plenty of fair warning and time to check your information. Sadly, it seems, you are no less interested in paying attention to detail than the wiki warrior historians you reference....

Go to Playfair 1954, p. 398.

My copy makes no mention of Matildas. Quite the opposite: cruiser and light tanks. What does your copy say? There's one online too if you wish to check that. See here: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/ ... -I-21.html

The wiki warrior historian has the wrong unit and the wrong tanks at Gallabat! Did he/she just make it up as he/she went along????

The first Matilda tanks to set track in Sudan arrived in Port Sudan on 21st December 1940. They probably didn't even leave the port area until January 1941 since, apart from an advance party accompanying the vehicles, the majority of their crew personnel landed in Egypt on 28 December 1940 and were still ensconced at the Infantry Base Depot in Egypt on 31 December 1940.

[Attrition]

Oh bugger! I thought it was the 7th (amalgamated with the 4th) RTR and I wrote it.... The shame! The humiliation! Still could be worse, I could be a sanctimonious ouanqueuer.

[MarkN]

Oh bugger! I thought it was the 7th (amalgamated with the 4th) RTR and I wrote it.... The shame! The humiliation! Still could be worse, I could be a sanctimonious ouanqueuer.

Don't get stoppy with me! I'm not the wiki warrior that mislead you with his/her false quotes....

Perhaps more worrisome is that poster Waleed Y. Majeed has paid good money to buy books telling the same falsehoods.

The tanks at Gallabat belonged to 6RTR. Not sure what relevance any amalgamation between 4RTR and 7RTR has to do with that.

[Attrition]

Set me a better example and I'll follow it, you aren;t the sholar are you?

[MarkN]

Please feel free to post next question.

I guess the next question has to be...

Name the tank types and sub-types that the British used at Gallabat in November 1940.

A bonus point to name the number and types 'lost' during the skirmish too.

Poster attrition's words seem to indicate that he's a bit frustrated with himself for blindly accepting what he read on wiki and, despite proding, failing to follow up the references provided to see the glaring falsehoods. On the otherhand, since you have paid good money to buy books containing the very same falsehoods, you may still want to believe that Matilda tanks were present at Gallabat. They weren't.

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

Who (besides you!) said I paid good money for books about Gallabat or Matilda tanks? Not me!
And as it's just a daft quiz I'm surprised to see you post a question. I was wrong based on the facts I found, probably not be the last time. I accept the new facts and that's that.
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