Operation Caravan

By September 1942, the LRDG's own raiding ambitions have grown well beyond guiding other units to targets.

Operation Caravan sends a squadron of two half-patrols, 47 men in total, on a raid entirely its own, deep into Cyrenaica, against the Italian garrison town of Basse and its airfield.

Command falls to Major Jake Eason-Smith, the Tank Regiment officer who joined the unit as a lieutenant back in its first year and has spent 18 months becoming one of its most trusted patrol commanders.

To reach Bas, Eason-Smith's force drives over 1,100 miles.