The second battle of El Alamein was fought from October 23rd to November 11th, 1942, and marked the end of the Afrika Korps’ dominance in north Africa. Indeed, only 6 months later, on May 13th, 1943, the last remnants of the Axis forces in Africa surrendered.
Churchill celebrated the victory with cautious optimism. On November 10th he said: ‘This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’
El Alamein was one of three great battles fought in late 1942 and early 1943 which, taken together, marked an inflection point in World War II when the tide of military success, which had been flowing in favor of the Axis powers for three years, reversed and began to flow in favor of the Allies for the next three. Over the next few blogs I will be discussing El Alamein, Stalingrad, and Guadal Canal.
- El Alamein marked the limit of German/Italian western advances in North Africa
- Stalingrad was the limit of German advances into the Caucasus in Russia
- Guadal Canal was the southernmost limit of Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
Just to add to the symmetry, El Alamein was a British victory; Stalingrad was a Russian victory, and Guadal Canal an American victory.
I begin with El Alamein, which was fought now, at the end of October, 83 years ago.
Context
Mussolili’s Fascist government came into power in the 1920s, long before Hitler achieved power in Germany. In the 1930s Mussolini began to build a new Roman Empire in Africa, conquering Libya, Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia. In 1939, before World War II began, he invaded and occupied his neighbor Albania, and, once the war began, in alliance with Germany, his armies occupied Tunisia, Yugoslavia and most of Greece.
The war along the Mediterranean coast of Africa was indecisive. The grand prize was always Egypt, which would give the Axis powers control of the Suez Canal and effective control of Arabian oil supplies. By July of 1942 the Axis powers had reached El Alamein, only 90 miles from Alexandria, but the British 8th Army was able to stop them from advancing further. Both sides paused to re-supply and reinforce themselves ready for a decisive battle.
The Opposing Forces
Three months later, the Axis powers were heavily outnumbered by the British 8th Army and its Commonwealth and other allied forces.
The British also had a decisive advantage in armor. Approximately 250 of their tanks were modern M4 Shermans and the rest, although older and slower, were rugged British models including Valentines and Crusaders. In contrast the Panzerarmee Afrika had very few state-of-the-art Panzer 3s and 4s and half their tanks were poorly-armored obsolescent Italian M13/40s. (Note that, in the photographs, the M13/40s are carrying sandbags to reinforce their vulnerable armor.)
As readers of my Breaking Point series know, Montgomery was not my favorite general. He was the second choice to command of the 8th Army in 1942 (his predecessor was killed flying to take up the post) and assumed command in August. He then spent almost three months preparing for a major offensive. On this occasion I must give him his due: his natural caution paid off well as he waited until he had an overwhelming advantage, and, once the battle was joined, he fought a tenacious and successful 12-day battle of attrition.
Rommel, the Desert Fox, in command of the Panzerarmee Afrika, had 4 disadvantages:
- He had very poor supply lines, particularly for fuel, which prevented him from using the high-speed attacking tactics for which he was famous
- He was heavily outnumbered
- He had little intelligence about Montgomery’s plans and movements
- He was sick. Indeed, he was on sick leave in Germany when the battle started and did not get back to Egypt for 4 days.
The Battle of the Codes
British and Axis codebreakers fought a secret and decisive battle of their own.
In 1941, Italian intelligence stole the U.S. State Department “Black Code” from the American embassy in Rome. Colonel Bonner Fellers, the U.S. military attaché in Cairo, used this code in reporting British military plans and activities back to Washington, thereby inadvertently giving Rommel detailed intelligence.
The Battle of Malta
The key to understanding the huge supply advantage the 8th Army enjoyed is understanding the now half-forgotten role of the small island of Malta, south of Sicily, lying on both the west- east and north-south convoy routes through the Mediterranean. Malta had been acquired by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and served as both a Royal Navy and RAF base during World War II. Whoever controlled Malta controlled the shipping lanes and therefore the supply lines to Africa.
The Axis powers besieged Malta for more than two years. At one point Malta’s only air defenses were three obsolescent biplanes known as Faith, Hope, and Charity. At another point the island was on the brink of starvation and within ten days of surrendering. At another point a tanker bringing aviation fuel to the beleaguered island was so damaged that it arrived strapped between two destroyers to keep it afloat.
Fortress Malta under Siege
Valetta was the most bombed city in Europe, with one stretch of 154 consecutive days of bombing.
The SS Ohio arrives in Valetta strapped between
two destroyers to prevent it from sinking
In a campaign of heroic and almost unbelievable resilience the island survived and blocked Rommel’s supply routes. In the vital months leading up to the Battle of El Alamein Rommel received only 25% of the supplies he needed.
My novel A Slender Thread is set in the Battle of Malta in the months leading up to El Alamein.
The Battle
The battle began with the two sides drawn up on a 50-mile line running approximately north/south from the Mediterranean into the Sahara. There were two potential avenues to a British victory: to use their numerical advantage to batter their way through the Axis defenses on the coast, or to use their superior mobility to turn the Axis southern flank.
The battle began on October 23rd, 1942, when the 8th Army attacked the main Axis positions in the north and attempted to turn the Axis southern flank. After four days of intensive attacks and counterattacks, the front line did not seem to have moved very much, but the British had gained control of the strategically important Kidney Ridge and the Afrika Korps was burning through its fuel reserves at an unsustainable rate. The southern end of the Axis line was holding.
On the 27th Rommel tried and failed to recapture Kidney Ridge.
By the 28th Rommel had lost half his tanks and half his guns and was now critically short of fuel supplies. He could no longer attack. Several supply ships bringing him fuel were sunk in the opening days of the battle.
The next few days, October 29th to November 1st, saw a continuing series of attacks against Axis positions in the north. Rommel was so short of fuel he could do little but stand and fight.
On November 2nd Montgomery launched Operation Supercharge, a successful attack which split the Axis line south of Kidney Ridge. Rommel informed the German High Command, the OKW, that he would have to pull back to preserve his forces, but Hitler directly ordered him to stand and fight. He wrote: ‘It would not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the bigger battalions. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than that to victory or death. Adolf Hitler.’
On November 4th the Axis line broke southwest of Kidney Ridge at Tell el Aqqaqir. The Axis retreat turned into a rout. Although technically the battle lasted until November 11th, when Montgomery ordered a halt to resupply his troops, the battle was over by the morning of the 5th.
Ring Out the Bells
In June of 1940 Churchill had ordered that all English church bells should remain silent and rung only as a warning of a German invasion. (Bell ringing was an English art form and an important part of English life; I admit to pulling a change or two in my youth.)
Following El Alamein, General Alexander send a message to Churchill suggesting ‘Ring out the bells,’ and Churchill so ordered it in celebration.
Meanwhile …
Meanwhile, 1,800 miles to the northeast of El Alamein, another battle was being fought in the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd). This one had already begun on July 7th and would continue until February 2nd. Just as a German victory at El Alamein would have led to German control of eastern Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, the Arabian oil fields, and access to the Indian Ocean, a German victory at Stalingrad would have led to German control of the Caucasus and probably control of the Middle East and all Russia west of the Urals.
Meanwhile yet again, the Battle of Guadal Canal began on August 2nd and would last until February 9th. If the Japanese had won that … well, we’ll return to that in another blog.
