Operation Braganza

Operation Braganza
Objective	Capture ground near Dier al Munassib
Date	Began night of 29 September 1942
Executed by	131st (Queen's) Brigade with armour from 4th Armoured Brigade, nine field regiments and a medium battery of artillery
Outcome	Failure
Casualties	12 officers 260 men killed wounded and missing.

Operation Braganza was launched on the night of 29 September 1942, by General Horrocks. It was intended as a preliminary to Operation Lightfoot, part of the Second Battle of El Alamein. The objective was to capture an area of ground near to Deir el Munassib in Egypt, to be used for extra artillery deployment. This would involve the 131st (Queen's) Brigade from the 44th (Home Counties) Division, supporting armour from the 4th Armoured Brigade, nine field regiments and one medium battery of artillery.

The battle

The 1/6th Queens Royal regiment—on the northern side of the battle—encountered very little opposition, however in the south its sister battalion—the 1/5th—were badly handled when they ran into positions held by the paratroops of the Ramcke Brigade and the Folgore Division, losing 12 officers and 260 men killed, wounded and missing.

There were then attempts to relieve the survivors and renew the attack. In the northern part of the battle, these were successful, when the 132nd (Kent) Brigade took over, it was found that, despite little fighting, there had been a great many casualties from heatstroke in the 131st Brigade. When, on the following day, the relief operations and attempts to renew the attack in the south broke down, General Horrocks called off the operation. As a result of the losses from the operation, some of the formations were unfit for the battle (Operation Lightfoot) and General Montgomery had to change his plans of keeping divisions together. During the remaining period of training, this often led to bewildering interchange of units, which also created considerably extra difficulties for the command structure.

References

• Latimer, Jon (2002). Alamein (1st ed.). U.K.: John Murray. pp. 125. ISBN 0719562139.