First Battle of Alamein

After the German breakout of the Cauldron at Gazala, followed by the rout of the Allies, the fall of Tobruk, and the suprising victory at Morsa Matruh, Rommel pressed en towards Alexandria and the Suez. But his men had been …

1942-07-14

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After the German breakout of the Cauldron at Gazala, followed by the rout of the Allies, the fall of Tobruk, and the suprising victory at Morsa Matruh, Rommel pressed en towards Alexandria and the Suez. But his men had been in constant battle for more than five weeks. It was only a matter of time before the Allies, consistently well-supplied and recently reinforced, turned to fight. The gap between the Quattam Depression and the sea at El Alamein was only forty miles wide; it was the last natural defensiVe position before the Nile Delta. Panzer Armee Afrika blundered into the Alamein line on 30 June 1942 with only 55 tanks left to its name, and was repulsed. Auchínleck hit back hard at the Axis forces, not by heating his head against well-trained German troops, but by earmarking Italian units for destruction. First Sabratha Division was pounded, then Pavía and Brescia, followed by Trieste. By the end of July, the Italian Army's will to fight had been all but destroyed. The Afrika Korps was forced to act as a fire brigade against these assaults, rushing from one area of the front to another, trying to bolster the Italian defenscs. Still, Italian troops surrendered by the hundreds. Rommel sadly commented, “It's enough to make one weep.” On the night of 14-15 July 1942, the New Zealand 4th Infantry Brigade with the 2nd Armoured Brigade in support swept across Ruweisat Ridge into the lines of the Italian Brescia Division. The 8th Panzer Regiment, with only 20 tanks, rushed to the fray to stop the gap.

El Alamein, Egypt

The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, fought in Egypt between Axis forces (Germany and Italy) of the Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika) (which included the Afrika Korps under Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) Erwin Rommel) and Allied (British Imperial and Commonwealth) forces (Britain, British India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) of the Eighth Army (General Claude Auchinleck). The British prevented a second advance by the Axis forces into Egypt. Axis positions near El Alamein, only 66 mi (106 km) from Alexandria, were dangerously close to the ports and cities of Egypt, the base facilities of the Commonwealth forces and the Suez Canal. However, the Axis forces were too far from their base at Tripoli in Libya to remain at El Alamein indefinitely, which led both sides to accumulate supplies for more offensives, against the constraints of time and distance.

Wikipedia: First Battle of El Alamein

German / Italian

British Commonwealth