ABSTRACT
Long-Range Desert Group (LRDG) The LRDG conducted reconnaissance and sabo tage activities behind Axis lines in North Africa. It was the first of the various groups in the British Army known as the “private armies.” The LRDG was founded by New Zealand Major Ralph A. Bagnold with the encouragement of British Gen eral Archibald Wavell (q.v.). In 1917, Wavell en tered Jerusalem with General Edmund H.H. Allenby and Colonel T.E. Lawrence (“of Arabia”), and he thus recognized the value of small irregu lar motorized forces that could observe and inter fere with supplies and communications behind
enemy lines. A shortage of reconnaissance aircraft also led Wavell to explore this option for keeping track of enemy activity to his flanks and front. In Bagnold, Wavell knew that he had the man who could make such a force work.
