The Battle and Its Legacy
Rather than the dramatic, single clash of forces that people generally imagine, the Battle of El-Alamein alternated between vicious fighting and relative lulls over four months (July-November) in 1942. The Afrika Korps ' initial advance on El-Alamein was stymied by lack of fuel and munitions and stiff Allied resistance organized by Auchinleck. Once resupplied, however, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was able to press the advantage with 88mm cannons that outranged the Allies' guns, as well as faster, better-armoured tanks. At this time General Bernard Montgomery ("Monty") took over the Allied Eighth Army , and his first command was that it would retreat no further. He negated his army's weaknesses by digging his tanks into pits with only the gun turrets poking out above ground, protecting them until the German Panzers came within range. Aware that the Allies were being quickly re-supplied, Rommel now launched a huge offensive, attacking Alam Halfa ridge with ten Divisions. Suffering heavy losses (August 31 to September 6) and desperately short of fuel, the Afrika Korps withdrew behind a field of 500,000 landmines; however, Monty patiently re-organized his forces, resisting pressure from his superiors to attack until he had amassed 1000 tanks. Having cracked the "Enigma" code, the Allies were now able to exploit a huge tactical advantage - it was October 23, Rommel was absent sick in Italy, and the Allies knew it. When they punched a corridor through the minefields of the central front, the Germans, who had expected the main assault on their southern flank, were taken unawares. Rommel managed to return two days later, but was obliged to concentrate his mobile units further north, thus stranding four Italian divisions in the south. The Allies had established a commanding position at Kidney Hill, from which point Monty launched the decisive strike on November 2, using air power and artillery and leaving Rommel with only 35 operational tanks by the end of the day. The Eighth Army broke out on November 5 and surged west, and the Afrika Korps fought rearguard actions back through Libya until its inevitable surrender six months later
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