Interesting.*
I have a manuscript (in French) about LeClerc's WW2 campaigns published in 1947 and written "par vu de ses copains" (as seen by his companions -- written by several of the participants in his campaigns). It includes a detailed description of the Kufra actions, recounting the entire story from his arrival in sub-saharan Africa to his capture of the fort (el Haq) at Kufra, and beyond.
The linked hobby page mentions that Leclerc used some 25 Bedfords in his capture of Kufra. The book had a few pics of the trucks in his effort -- as I recall it was quite a gypsy caravan, and I don't recall specifically noticing any one truck type dominating. Doesn't mean there weren't a fair bunch of Bedfords, just that I don't recall noticing them.
I wonder what the modeller was thinking of with the MGs he has placed on the truck. Any ideas? To me they look like M1919A4s, which doesn't make any sense in this scenario, even less when you see one with a handle on the barrel that looks like it is part of a quick-change mechanism. I would expect either French Hotchkiss MGs for an all-French build-out, or British Vickers (both water-cooled and Vickers-K aircraft guns) would be my expectation if it was a British-provided vehicle. My readings, though, indicate that Leclerc was pretty much on his own to assemble his force, but with cooperation with the LRDG, which sent a patrol to meet his force and cooperated with them in their actions at Kufra.
The story provides an interesting perspective on the importance of logistics. It was all about getting there, with relatively little actual fighting once they did.
One of the decisions Leclerc made was to leave behind one of the two artillery pieces available to him, in favor of taking more ammunition for the one gun he took. He had his team shell the fort several times, doing rapid-fire of a bunch of ammo from one location, then re-locating the gun to another position and doing another rapid-fire barrage.
Through this process he managed to convince the Italian garrison that his force was supported by multiple batteries of artillery. That's quite a step up from one single gun!
In the end, he arranged under a flag of truce to enter the fort for a discussion with the commander, but when he came inside he immediately began issuing orders as if the fort had already been surrendered. It was all bluff and bluster, but it worked, and the Italian garrison was disarmed and mustered into captivity before they realized that they were facing the tip of a spear with no shaft behind it.
A rather fascinating story, that I think would make for a good movie someday.
-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)
*And before someone accuses me of criticizing where I don't have full 100% full knowledge, I am not criticizing anything here. Just discussing. It's a subject of interest to me, and I like to talk about things that interest me.