First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942)
The Allied Eighth Army under General Claude Auchinleck had retreated from Mersa Matruh to the Alamein Line, a forty-mile gap between El Alamein and the Qattara Depression, in Egypt.
On July 1 the German-Italian Afrika Korps led by Erwin Rommel attacked. The Allied line near El Alamein was not overrun until the evening, and this hold-up stalled the Axis advance.
On July 2 Rommel concentrated his forces in the north, intending to break through around El Alamein. Auchinleck ordered a counter-attack at the centre of the Axis line but the attack failed. As a result of the Allied resistance, Rommel decided to regroup and defend the line reached.
Auchinleck attacked again on July 10 at Tel el Eisa in the north and over one thousand prisoners were taken. Auchinleck then attacked at the Ruweisat Ridge in two battles on July 14 and July 21. Neither was successful.
The Eighth Army was exhausted, and by July 31 Auchinleck ordered an end to offensive operations. The battle was a stalemate, but the Axis advance on Alexandria (and then Cairo) was halted.
Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 3 November 1942)
Following the First Battle, British general Bernard Montgomery took command of the Eighth Army from Claude Auchinleck in August 1942. Success in the battle turned the tide in the North African campaign.
The Situation
By July 1942 the German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel had struck deep into Egypt, threatening the vital British supply line across the Suez Canal. Rommel decided to strike at the British while their build-up was still not complete. This attack on 30 August 1942 at Alam Halfa failed. After six more weeks of building up forces, 200,000 men and 1,000 tanks under Montgomery made their move against the 100,000 men and 500 tanks of the Afrika Korps.
The British Plan
With Operation Lightfoot, Montgomery hoped to cut two corridors through the Axis minefields in the north. Armour would then pass through and defeat the German armour. Diversionary attacks in the south would keep the rest of the Axis forces from moving northwards.
The British practised a number of deceptions in the months prior to the battle (Operation Bertram). A dummy pipeline was built to mislead the Axis about timing and location. Dummy tanks made of plywood frames placed over jeeps were deployed in the south. In a reverse feint, the tanks for battle in the north were disguised as supply lorries.
The Battle
The battle opened at 2140 hours on October 23 with a sustained artillery barrage. On October 24 the Axis commander, General Stumme, died of a heart attack, and Rommel was ordered to return to Africa.
Montgomery switched the focus of the attack to the north after abortive assaults in the south. By October 29, the Axis line was still intact, but Rommel's effective tank strength had been reduced to only 102.
Operation Supercharge began on November 2. By the 3rd, Rommel had only 35 tanks fit for action. Despite a "Victory or Death" message from Adolf Hitler halting withdrawal, Allied pressure was too great. By November 6, the Axis forces were in full retreat and over 30,000 soldiers had surrendered.
Winston Churchill famously summed up the battle on November 10, 1942: "Now this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
The battle was Montgomery's greatest triumph. He took the name "Lord Montgomery of Alamein" when raised to the peerage.