The Second Battle of El Alamein was fought between the British 8th Army, led by Bernard Montgomery, and the Afrika Korps, commanded by Erwin Rommel, near the town of El Alamein, Egypt, from October 23 to November 5, 1942, during World War II. This military engagement resulted in a definitive Allied victory, which turned the tide of the war in North Africa once and for all. With this victory at the 2nd Battle of El Alamein, the British Army had prevented the Axis forces from occupying Egypt and capturing the Suez Canal, which was the access gate to the Middle Eastern oil fields.
After the German success at the Battle of Gazala in June 1942, the Afrika Korps had struck deep into Egypt, threatening the British Army's control of the Suez Canal. Therefore, General Auchinleck was forced to withdraw the 8th Army to within 50 mi (80 km) of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within 40 mi (64 km) of El Alamein on the coast. This gave the defenders a relatively short front to defend as well as secure flanks, because tanks could not push through the Depression. Thus, in early July, the Axis advance was halted by the British at the Qattar Depression. This engagement is known as the First Battle of El Alamein. Nevertheless, the 8th Army counter-offensives during July were stopped by the German-Italian forces, who had dug in to allow exhausted troops to regroup.
In August, 1942, Winston Churchill had dismissed Auchinleck and replaced him with Bernard Montgomery, who put a great deal of emphasis on organization and morale, speaking to his troops and attempting to restore confidence in them. Meanwhile, Erwin Rommel decided to launch an attack on the Allies positions while their build-up was still underway. The two armored divisions of Afrika Korps spearheaded the attack but, on August 30, 1942, the Allies stopped them at Alam el Halfa ridge and Point 102.
With the failure of their offensive at Alam el Halfa, the Axis forces were seriously depleted, running out of gasoline and ammo. The German and Italian armies were over-stretched and exhausted and relying on captured Allied supplies and equipment. Thus, the situation was quickly turning against Rommel, as no major reinforcements were being sent to him. Meanwhile, the British Commonwealth forces were being re-supplied with men and materials from the United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Rommel ordered his forces to dig in and wait for the eventual counterattack by the British Commonwealth forces. He was concerned not to let the British armor units break out into the open because he had neither the strength of numbers nor fuel to match them in a battle of maneuver. He planned to restrict the battle to his defended zones and counter any breakthrough both quickly and vigorously. Rommel reinforced his forward lines by alternating German and Italian infantry formations.
Summary
The Second Battle of El Alamein began at 21:40 hours, on October 23, 1942, when the British launched Operation Lightfoot, which was an infantry attack across an anti-tank minefield. It had been preceded by a heavy artillery barrage to soften up the terrain, with over 800 howitzers firing at the German lines. Many of the anti-tank mines would not be tripped by soldiers running over them because they were too light, hence the code-name Lightfoot. While the infantry advanced, engineers cleared a path for the tanks coming behind. Nevertheless, it soon became apparent that the original plan of the overall British commander, General Montgomery, to achieve a quick breakthrough with tanks, was impossible, for the 2nd Battle of El Alamein had turned into a vicious and ferocious struggle.
To break the stalemate, the British forces had to draw the best Axis formations (German units) to a part of the battlefield where they could be pinned down and worn down. That would allow the British tanks to tear a gap in the Axis line, in an area bare of these fine troops. It was the tough Australian troops on the northern, coastal, flank of the battle, who managed to achieve this magnetic pull on the German armor and men. General Montgomery and other British commanders acknowledged the crucial value of the Australian contribution at the time.
After ten days of fierce fighting, on November 2, the Afrika Korps was so exhausted that it was no longer capable of offering any effective opposition to the enemy's next break-through attempt. As a last ditch recourse, Rommel decided to compromise: the X and XXI Italian Corps and 90th Light Division would stand firm while the Afrika Korps would withdraw approximately 6 mi (9.7 km) west during the night of November 3 with the XX Italian Corps and the Ariete Division conforming to their position. On November 4, British 8th Army's plan for pursuit was set in motion at dawn. There were no fresh units available for the chase so 1st and 7th Armored Division were to swing northward to roll up the Axis units still in the forward lines and 2nd New Zealand Division with two lorry borne infantry brigades and 9th Armoured and 4th Light Armored Brigades would head west along desert tracks to the escarpment above Fuka, some 60 mi (97 km) away.
The 7th Armored Division was held up by the Italian Ariete Armored Division which in the course of the day was annihilated while putting up stout resistance. In addition to the Ariete Division, this day also saw the destruction of the Littorio Division and the Trieste Motorized Division. The Ariete Armored Division, under General Francesco Arena, fought courageously: Berlin radio claimed that in this sector the British were made to pay for their penetration with enormous losses in men and material. Here, the Italians fought to the last man. Meanwhile, the Bologna and the remainder of Trento Division tried to fight their way out of Alamein and marched in the desert without water, food, or transport before surrendering exhausted and dying from dehydration.
Realizing his situation was dire, Rommel telegraphed Hitler for permission to fall back on Fuka. However, Hitler did not authorized the retreat and ordered him to fight to the last man. Rommel refused and began to withdraw the remainder of his forces.
Map that shows the British Operation Lightfoot's advance at the 2nd Battle of El Alamein
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