When he was cut off by O’Connor’s attack, Major Castagna knew he was isolated and could only receive meager supplies by air at the small airfield serving the oasis, but he stubbornly determined to hold out, encouraged when he received a personal message from Rommel promising reinforcements and supplies. With six machinegun companies and a number of light guns, Castagna set about fortifying Giarabub, digging trench lines, laying barbed wire and mines, and building small gun positions to resist any attempt to take the place by storm. In the heart of the oasis, there was also an old fort, which he strongly reinforced, determined to hold out indefinitely. He put his troops on rations, knowing lack of food would be his greatest liability in time, but he did not have long to wait.
Rommel would keep his promise.
This had never happened in the history, and Fedorov now knew that the small battle that was fought here by the Australian Divisional Cavalry and other units might soon take a frightening new form.
“They will take Siwa if they come in strength,” he said through Popski.
“That’s no bloody good,” said O’Connor. “We need the place as a staging zone for our long range desert patrols. But Fergusson won’t be able to hold on here. He’s only a single battalion, and he’ll soon be bottled up or simply sent packing east, and it’s a long way to the Nile.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Kinlan with a grim smile.
“That’s the stiff upper lip,” said O’Connor, “but unless you’ve at least a full brigade with you, you may find the going rough, General. We’ll have to warn Fergusson, and then inform Wavell.”
Fedorov thought on this for a moment when he got the essence of O’Connor’s reaction from Popski. Then he ventured something. “You managed to capture or destroy an entire Italian Army with a much smaller force. Perhaps we can do more here with what we have in hand than you may realize at the moment.”
“I’m all for it,” said O’Connor. “At the very least we must give them a good punch in the nose if they come east for Siwa. Discourage them.”
“Why General,” said Kinlan. “That was exactly what I was thinking. I’ve a battalion of good Gurkha light infantry that can strengthen that garrison.”
“Gurkhas? Bloody good troops. I wasn’t aware they were here.”
They moved off, not wanting to draw anti-aircraft fire, and scouted the way north as well. Fedorov knew the real battle was there, and that much would hinge on the fate of Tobruk at this stage in the fighting. If the Germans could take the place, then their lines of communication back to Benghazi and Tripoli would be cleared, and they could move east. But he did not know that Rommel had already made that decision, and was even now about to engage the thin defensive line Wavell had established south of Sidi Barani with the 2nd New Zealand Infantry Division and what was left of his armor. News of that battle would come to them soon after they landed, and it would pose another thorny question for both O’Connor and Kinlan.
O’Connor had a good look at what was on the ground now, amazed at the size of the force Kinlan had at his disposal.
“You’ve a good deal more than a battalion of Gurkhas! A full brigade? Here? Whatever for? Siwa is useful, I’ll grant you that, but the real fighting is north on the coast. That’s where this force should be, and as soon as possible. Whatever possessed Wavell to send you here? I must speak with him directly.”
He had not yet seen the tanks close up yet, as the helo deliberately landed several miles from the main column where Major Isaac was waiting with a Sultan Command Vehicle and two Dragon 8-wheeled scout cars. Fedorov knew that each passing hour was going to raise more and more questions in O’Connor’s quick mind, and he wondered what to do about it. He pulled Popski aside to confer with Kinlan one last time.
“General,” he said. “I think it is fair to say you are now convinced of what I have told you?”
“As loony as that sounds, the evidence is hard to deny. Yet my men know nothing of this, and I’ve a long road to walk with them.”
“You mean to go north?”
“Where else? We can’t sit out here indefinitely.”
“You’ll be needed there. My guess is that Wavell has his hands full. One good battle there could smash Rommel’s Afrika Korps, and buy the British the one thing they desperately need now-time.”
Kinlan nodded. “Ironic,” he said. “Time…”
Fedorov gave him a knowing look. “Then am I to assume I can collect my Marines and operate as I please?”
