imag.html

S.A.S Jeeps before one of the desert raids.

On the night of November 14th, 1941 two British submarines - HMS TORBAY AND HMS TALISMAN approached the shores of the northern most part of Cyrenaica. In the rough seas a much smaller than planned raiding party of commandos managed to land ashore. The group was led by Col. Keyes and was largely composed of the members of the LRDG, SAS and SBS. Their first objective - Rommel's HQ in Beda Littoria, second - Italian HQ in Cyrene, third Italian Intelligence Office in Appolonia, and finally general sabotage actions in the Axis rear. Due to an astonishing ammount of bad luck the whole operation ended in fiasco. Already under-strength due to weather conditions during landing, they managed to attack Rommel's villa on the night of November 17th.(Keyes died during the assault, Rommel was meanwhile in Italy), from that point onwards the group was being pursued by both Italian and DAK patrols as well as by pro-Axis Libyans. In ensuing skirmishes most of the raid members were either shot or captured. Out of 59 men that left for that mission only the overall commander Col.Laycock and sargeant Terry survived after dodging the enemy for 41 days in the hills of Cyrenaica. This was the "only" official "Raid on Rommel" during the North African campaign. Sargeant Terry survived the war and lived in Nottingham. I managed through some contacts to reach him in 2005 however he was not able to shed any more light on the beach mystery. He did however confirm that Keys was probably killed by friendly fire.

I am looking for information/details about LRDG-SAS raid on Rommel's HQ in Beda Littoria. I believe that me and some of my friends have accidentally uncovered an unmarked grave of few of the participants of the raid. According to some of the European doctors that viewed the bones , skull/s (at least 1) and few military buttons,the remains were probably British rather then Libyan or Italian. I would like to confirm somehow if my theory is right and if indeed some of the K.I.A's were actually burried there by their comrades before the unsuccesful attempt to withdraw (via submarine) back to Allied positions.

This is the view of the cove looking from west towards east.

Home ........Need Info ........Rommel.........Tobruk .........Personal