Operation Lightfoot Traditional Cache
Royal Oak: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it.
If you wish to email me please send your email via my profile (click on my name) and quote the cache name and number.
Regards
Royal Oak
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Size: 
(regular)
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There’s a good place for two vehicles to park just a short walk away from the cache (which is a small Tupperware container).
Hope you enjoy this cache and dash.
From the 23rd October until the 9th November 1942 the British Commonwealth Forces counterattacked General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps at what would become known as the Second Battle of El Alamein.
Fieldmarshal Bernard Montgomery’s famous 8th Army had been building up it’s forces having checked the Axis advance at Alam Halfa on the 30th August. The evening of the 23rd was a full moon and Operation Lightfoot began with a carefully timed artillery barrage that saw 882 rounds land simultaneously across a 40 mile wide front.
The barrage lasted for five and half hours, at the end of which each gun had fired about 600 rounds. Indeed legend has it that the experience was so intense that the ears of the guns actually bled.
The name given to the operation was no co-incidence. Before the tanks could advance the engineers needed to enter the mine field and clear a path for them. In turn before the engineers could go in the infantry had to advance and hold the ground and cover their efforts (and tread lightly whilst doing so!).
The battle was a huge success with 3 Italian divisions removed from the war and the famed Afrika Korps in head long retreat to Tunisia where an allied advance following Operation Torch would see the Axis removed from North Africa completely.
What’s this got to do with this particular cache, well nothing as far as I’m aware of other than the flimsiest of coincidences (it’s location off Lightfoot Lane). However it is important to remember the sacrifice made by British Commonwealth forces over the years. 2,350 died in this battle alone and with Remembrance Day just round the corner I thought I’d dedicate this cache to them.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ng gur onfr bs n ynetr gerr.