As British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said: "Before the Battle of El Alamein, we never won a battle; but after the Battle of El Alamein, we were invincible." ”
【Before the Battle of El Alamein】
In July 1940, Italy took advantage of the defeat of Britain and France in Western Europe to invade the British army from Ethiopia in East Africa. In January 1941, the British launched an offensive against the Italian army, recovering the lost territory in East Africa and re-creating the army in North Africa, capturing 130,000 enemy troops.
In February 1941, German General Rommel led the German Afrika Korps into North Africa to reinforce the Italian army.
Under the offensive of the German-Italian forces, the British began to retreat from Libya. In July 1942, German-Italian forces broke into Egypt from Libya and reached the El Alamein region, only 350 kilometers from Cairo, and approached the Suez Canal.
Because the Allies controlled the air and sea supremacy in the Mediterranean, the German forces stationed in North Africa were unable to continue to advance due to insufficient troops and equipment supplies, and were forced to turn to strategic defense.
At the same time, Britain, with the support of the United States, continued to strengthen its military strength in North Africa and actively prepared for war. After careful preparations, Montgomery, commander of the British 8th Army, decided to launch a counter-offensive in late October.
【Tank Battle in El Alamein】
In October 1942, the German-Italian army garrisoned 12 divisions in North Africa, with more than 100,000 men, defending the strip southwest of El Alamein from the Mediterranean coast to the Katara Basin.
By this time, the British army had 11 divisions and 4 independent brigades in North Africa, with a total strength of 230,000. The entire Battle of El Alamein was roughly divided into 5 phases.
1. Allied light foot action
At 10 p.m. on 23 October, the Allied "Light Foot Operation" began with 882 guns for five and a half hours, and a total of 125 tons of shells fell on the German-Italian positions.
The First Allied attack was the infantry, which was too light to trigger anti-tank mines. At the same time, the sappers would open up a safe passage for the armored forces, a mission that effectively failed due to the large size of the Axis minefield.
The British 30th Army in the north opened the way for the Panzer Division of the British 10th Army in the German minefield, while some British troops carried out a feint in the south.
2. Allied advances, the first tank battle
On the morning of 24 October, Allied shelling cut off Axis forces' communications. To make matters worse, by this time Rommel had returned to His country for leave, and Szdem, who was in command of the German army, had died of a heart attack and could only be temporarily commanded by General von Thomas.
Throughout the day, the Allies used the Desert Air Force to attack Axis forces, flying more than 1,000 sorties.
In the evening, the German Panzer Division and the Italian Panzer Division set out from the Kidney Ridge to meet the Australian armored forces, and the first tank battle of the Battle of El Alamein began.
More than 100 tanks were thrown in by both sides, and by the evening half of the tanks had been destroyed, and the two sides were still deadlocked.
At the same time, the British were resisting the attack of German armored units in the first tank-and-infantry battle. In this two-day battle, the British suffered heavy casualties but captured the Kidney Ridge.
On 25 October, the Allies crossed the minefields to the west and advanced to the mitteria ridge to the southeast. As Axis soldiers were protected by trenches dug beforehand, the battle entered a stalemate.
3. Rommel returned, and the Germans counterattacked
Rommel returned to North Africa on the night of the 25th, at which point he found that the Italian Trento Division had lost half of its infantry and the 164th Light Division had lost two battalions. Only half of the rations remained for all, and the remaining oil reserves of the Axis forces were only enough for three days.
Although the Allied attack was resisted by the Germans, British Air Force torpedo bombers sank the tanker Proserpina, cutting off hope of replenishment for Rommel's forces.
On 27 October, the entire campaign was advancing around the Ter al-Achaqil and Kidney ridges, with mortar and howitzer shells whizzing all day.
Rommel said, "It is very impossible for us to retreat. Because there is not enough oil. Now there is only one option, and that is to fight to the end in El Alamein. ”
By 29 September, the British still had 800 tanks, the Axis had 148 German tanks and 187 Italian tanks.
4. Supercharging operation, the last tank battle
At 1:00 a.m. on 2 November, the British began a pressurized operation aimed at capturing Ter al-Achazir, the last axis line of defense.
The British Air Force bombarded the area for 7 hours, followed by 360 guns firing 4 1/2 hours in a row, firing a total of 15,000 shells.
At noon, 120 Italian and German tanks set off, with the goal of winning the largest, most critical, and final tank battle of the Battle of El Alamein: the Battle of the Ridge of Achazir. The battle lasted all day.
This tank battle was called "the complete defeat of German tanks" by later generations. Although both sides lost about as many tanks, this was only a fraction of the British and almost total annihilation for Rommel.
By night, the Axis forces had only 32 tanks left on the front line. Just as the Afrika Korps were engaged in their final battle at Achazir, Rommel began to retreat towards Fuka.
5. The Allied forces broke through and the Axis powers were defeated
Rommel sent a telegram to Hitler that his troops were vulnerable and ready to retreat, but Hitler asked him to hold on a little longer.
German General von Thomas fought alongside the nearly annihilated 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions against 150 British tanks. He personally commanded until the last tank was destroyed, which came to be known as the "German Tank Cemetery".
While Axis forces are still fighting, the defensive line has been torn open by a 12-mile-wide gap.
"If we were still here, my troops wouldn't be able to hold out for even three days... If I carry out the Orders of the Fuehrer, then my troops may refuse to obey me ... My troops are number one! Rommel disobeyed Hitler's instructions and eventually ordered his troops to retreat on a large scale.
On 4 November, the final battle began, with the British Panzer Division crossing the German lines and driving through open desert areas. On this day, the Italian armored division and motorized division were completely destroyed.
On 6 November, heavy rain fell, the roads were muddy, and a large number of British tanks and armored vehicles were mired in the mud. Seeing this, Rommel ordered the Germans to throw away their weapons and equipment and escape lightly.
On 7 November, Montgomery ordered the pursuit to be halted, ending with Alamein's victory over the British.
【Devil's Park after the war】
In the Battle of El Alamein, 4 elite German divisions and 8 Italian divisions were annihilated, with 20,000 casualties, 30,000 prisoners, 450 tanks and thousands of artillery. The British suffered 13,500 casualties, 500 tanks and 400 artillery.
The campaign completely turned the tide of the North African theater and ended the offensive of the African Panzer Corps, after which the German and Italian armies began to retreat in North Africa until they were completely expelled from Africa in May 1943.
The Allied victory at the Battle of El Alamein dashed german and Italian hopes of occupying Egypt from Africa, controlling the Suez Canal, and occupying the Middle East.
The Battle of El Alamein, together with the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Guadalcanal, became the beginning of the Allied phase of strategic counteroffensive.