El AlAMEIN, 1942

El AlAMEIN, 1942
Rommel's
invincible German army in North Africa seemed to be
offensive at EI Alamein,
Germans
and Italians
The Suez Canal in Egypt provided
counter-attack
Fascist leader, was keen to demonstrate
and threw the Germans and Italians backwards.
Using devastating
Montgomery
artillery
followed
bombardments
through decisively
to open his attack,
with aircraft to pound
the German panzers.
point
Mussolini,
his own mastery
the region by capturing the canal. On 13 September
invaded
Egypt
but
Britain's
desert
a
the Italian
force,
of
1940, Italy
commanded
by
General Wavell, beat off the larger Italian army and threw it out
The Allied victory in North Africa marked a significant
and then throwing
them back.
interests.
short sea route to India and Australia.
Below. The British
first breaking through
the defensive lines of the
British imperial
on the verge of capturing Cairo when the British staged a major
in the war. Control
of the Mediterranean
turning
was vital to
of Egypt. Wavell
then
Africa.
was in dire danger of being humiliated
Mussolini
captured
the Italian colonies
in North
and
Hitler sent him help in the form of General Erwin Rommel
and
his Afrika Korps
N
Mediterranean
Rommel's
force was a completely
tion and the
Sea
thrown
on
British
to
the
Commonwealth
different
and Commonwealth
defensive
desert
quality of opposiforces
at Tobruk.
were
The
force was renamed
.~~Rahman
NOVEMBER
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German advance. Rommel withdrew
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ments for another offensive
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EL ALAMEIN
Allied
the
for the
dominated
German
German tanks
positions
and
British
In August
lines of supply
distances
were
blow
travelled
stretched.
Hitler
to capture the Suez Canal, but he failed to give
because
he was fully committed
to the
1942, Lieutenant
became
known.
General Bernard Montgomery
of the Eighth Army, or 'Desert
Montgomery
would
was
Rats' as it
never have been put in
charge if General Gott had not died in an air crash. He was the
All armoured units
join
attack in north
second choice for command.
Somewhat
puritan in his person-
al habits - he did not drink alcohol or smoke and retired to bed
no later than 21.30 hours - he knew that good morale lay at the
....... ..
-...... -..
heart of a successful
army, and with
a force that had been
pushed back to Egypt he knew this was particularly
desert troops.
He spent much time getting
keeping them informed
acter for himself
and
es
$/0
the
and Commonwealth
the region and one more
give him Egypt, but the enormous
being
/1
Gary Sheffield,
about the situation.
- Monty
highly
Montgomery's
name"
120
Rommel
the
offensive
to Egypt. Tobruk fell and the situation
to look perilous
made commander
...
Pr
his second
THE 'DESERT RATS'
I
De
launched
at threatening
him any extra support
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Qattara
better supplies
war in the Soviet Union.
Axis movements
Axis minefield defensive lines
adept
urged Rommel
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Italian forces
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ARMOU'k{D
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1942, Rommel
Eighth Army withdrew
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,
AL/!IED
proved
I A~a ein
\CORPS'
Co ••••
\io..
in 1942, receiving
and pushed back the Eighth Army to Benghazi.
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break •••••••
, I Allies
through
•••••
halting the
and built up his reinforce-
than the British could manage for their forces.
In January
Massivetank battl~ ~ Ridge.••••
•••~ _
2ROMMEL
NOVEMBER \",\~e~.••.",.
;:- ••--
and
the Eighth Army
and at the end of 1941 it struck back at Rommel,
3
soon
British
visible
- by wearing
in the
achievements,'
'was
with which
media.
writes
He created a chardistinctive
'Not
headgear
the
leading military
to turn the Eighth Army
soldiers
true of his
to know them and
least
of
historian
into a "brand
and civilians could identify
and of
i
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--,.
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-
Top: Erwin Rommel,
German commander of
the Afrika Korps, stands
on the road to Cairo in
1942.
which
they could be proud.'
Most importantly,
he knew that a
bringing
little victory was needed immediately.
Since July 1942, Rommel
had been only 160km (100 miles)
from the vital British naval base at Alexandria.
A state of emer-
gency had been declared in Cairo and Rommel anticipated
Above: General
Montgomery, victor at
EI Alainein, painted by
Captain Neville lewis
in December 1942.
Above right British
soldiers fire a sixpounder anti-aircraft
gun during the battle
of EI Alamein.
troops tremendously
the
Force
the German
British off guard with a sudden panzer thrust on 31 August, but
separated
Montgomery
turned.
brigade
repulsed
was waiting
for him. The German
dug in at Alam
el Haifa. The British
the panzers, and with
tanks initially
stopped
support from
by a tank
armoured
unit
straight
was
away,
preferring
to
and
Suddenly, the situation
for Rommel.
After
17 months
army was below
and it possessed
Montgomery's
did
prepare
methodically.
strong
two
only 600 tanks
counter-attack
knock-out
blow
was not looking so good
of desert
strength
not
his
fighting,
and suffering
against
would
armies
and
The British
skies
Rommel
south was the impassable
Desert Air
and relentlessly
himself
fell ill and
leaving General Stumme
not be rushed.
neither
could
To the north was the Mediterranean
Qattara Depression
in
A minefield
have
flanks
coast and to the
on the edge of
the Sahara Desert.
THE BEGINNING
cautious
positions.
to Germany,
Montgomery
the
of the
British aircraft it
pushed the Germans back.
Montgomery
mastery
flew back temporarily
command.
the British left flank but were
up to 150,000.
had complete
final stage of his long journey to Egypt. He hoped to catch the
overlapped
and he used the pause to reinforce them,
their strength
attacked
- 4
his 96,000from
the Allies'
Montgomery
23 October.
World
his
War and knew
(six-mile)
1,114.
impressed
front.
experienced
major
assault
on
the
evening
of
He had been trained as an officer during the First
began with a
illness,
victory at Alam el Haifa lifted the morale of his
OF THE END
began
the value of good artillery.
massive
thousand-gun
It lit up the night sky. Rommel
by its impact,
later writing,
The battle
barrage along a 10-km
'Never
himself
before
was
had we
such rolling fire in North Africa, and it continued
EL ALAMEIN
12
,
\
Sea
Mediterranean
,
\~
Atlantic
Ocean
•..•.....
8 NOVEMBER 1942 Tangi
PATTON
'-
••••
TASKFORCE
US
WESTERN
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~
~ ~
~ ~""
~
_
__
Allied armies
~
Sahara
Allied movements
_
Below: British Crusader
Allied seaborne landings
tanks
". Allied parachute landings
.
_ 'fG erman armIes
__
~
Above: Montgomery's
at EI Alamein
October
reoccupy
to land and
North
an offensive
Operation
Africa
Torch. This
a base from
to invade
throughout
Italy.
the entire course of the battle at EI Alamein.
extraordinary
resulting
in
called
gave them
which
in
1942 allowed
Allied troops
accuracy,
British gunners
in very heavy casualties.'
With
shelled
our positions,
Montgomery
had prepared
his attack perfectly.
Some twenty
minutes
later, a diversionary
er Axis left flank defended
two
corridors
Corps struck the weak-
by Italian forces.
through
the
minefields
tanks could advance. The Italians fought
and a German panzer counter-attack
122
EL ALAMEIN
attack surged for-
but the main assault came
in the north when the Allied Armoured
opened
Stumme,
the German commander,
but Rommel
resumed
command
On 26 October, Montgomery
the south and put all his efforts
wards near the Qattara Depression,
British
along
infantry
which
harder than expected
nearly halted the advance.
coast.
The Australian
9th
had a heart attack and died,
on 25 October.
halted his diversionary
attack in
into pressing ahead along the
Division
held the
German
164th
Division against the sea, while tanks battled away at each other
for a week.
But aerial superiority
helped the Allies tremendous-
ly and as their planes and tanks pounded the German panzers,
the
lines
overextended
in rapid
advances across vast
German front lines
distances
victory
in a
Retreating
were frequently
German movements
•••••
advance
column.
armoured
Rommel
power
available
to
Rommel
declined
rapidly.
could not keep up with the demand for fuel, ammuni-
tion and new vehicles.
His supplies had been difficult
to begin
in the desert.
with
and now he was stretched
Australians
nearly surrounding
to breaking
the German
pulled back his troops to a new defensive
point. With the
164th Division,
leaving the Italians behind. Reverting
he
line on 1 November.
halted,
been destroyed.
Some fifty-nine thousand
were killed, wounded
BREAKTHROUGH
This time
impetus
using
Montgomery
Division
left no time
for rest,
knowing
at this stage of the battle.
that
had casualties
barrage
to
shield
the
as it carved a route through
tanks to follow.
New
Zealand
the minefields
Panzers fought a last-ditch
of thirteen
2nd
but had not been faint-hearted
Although
for more
the fighting
action to stem the
of EI Alamein
aggression
was
point for the Allies, allowing
they
could
do. Allied
aerial
artillery fire silenced the previously
tank guns. Rommel
wanted
bombardments
and
deadly German 88mm anti-
to withdraw
but Hitler insisted
he
face the British.
Two
more
with 432 tanks destroyed
his men in needless attrition
when aggression
was needed.
com-
on the Eastern Front, the Battle
was a decisive
advance, but with only 35 tanks left at the end of the day, there
little
Montgomery
in North Africa was a sideshow
pared to the colossal struggle
had
Germans and Italians
and more than five hundred
thousand,
He had been careful not to waste
He quickly
his soldiers and plunged ahead south of Kidney Hill,
a creeping
or captured,
Montgomery
resistance
tanks and four hundred guns had been destroyed.
was important
regrouped
to caution,
but the battle was over and German
victory
in the Mediterranean
because
it ended Axis
region. It provided
a turning
troops to land in North Africa as a
prelude to invading Italy and the opening
of the much-needed
second front against Hitler (thus relieving
pressure on the Red
Army). It had a huge effect on Allied morale too, with Churchill
days
and Montgomery's
leaving Rommel
of
fighting
bled
the
Afrika
forces finally broke through
no choice but to disregard
Korps
dry
at Kidney Hill,
Hitler and retreat,
claiming, not exactly accurately, 'Before Alamein, we never had
a victory. After Alamein,
we never had a defeat.'
The tide had
turned for the Allies and Hitler was on the defensive.
Above: British soldiers of
the Eighth Army fire on
retreating
HEINZ WERNER SCHMIDT,
LIEUTENANT,
AFRIKA
KORPS
Germans.
Above right An Afrika
Korps motorcycle
combination.
Although
well equipped, the
Germans could not
replace their losses fast
enough to avoid.defeat.
DEADLY
CHRISTMAS
darkness
TREES
with an almost
'We moved through the Sidi Barrani
exultancy.
region by night. The track was sandy
were filled with "Christmas
and in places almost
impassable.
Several times we nearly capsized
countryside
trucks
limelight,
idiotic
In a few minutes
soldiers
grotesque
trees", the
across
was lit as though by
and bombs thundered
and guns. An hour or two before
from the low-flying planes. At times we
raced madly amidst the thunder
flares
opened al50ve us. I never saw them, but
they struck
me as emerging
from the
flashes.
and the
If we halted and went to ground
the aircraft
attacked
even solitary
shadows
the ground
their
danced revealingly
as the flares flamed
down to low levels. If we were not prone,
down
midnight
the first parachute
whom they caught erect:
the heavens
we were visible.'
Quoted from With Rommel in the Desert
by Heinz Werner Schmidt (George Harrap
& Co., 1951)