El Alamein: The End of the Beginning
In the Egyptian desert, a British army stopped Rommel's drive for the Suez Canal the first major land victory over the Axis in the west.
WOW Score
Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps had pushed to within striking distance of the Suez Canal and Middle East oil. At El Alamein, just west of Alexandria, the Eighth Army under Montgomery made a stand it could not afford to lose.
After meticulous buildup, British artillery and armor broke through the German-Italian lines. Short on fuel and supplies, Rommel was forced into a long retreat across the desert.
The victory was the first decisive Allied land success against Germany, and a cornerstone of Churchill's claim that the war had turned.
"Before Alamein we never had a victory; after Alamein we never had a defeat. Churchill's line captured a turning of the wheel."
The victory ejected Axis forces from North Africa, secured the Suez Canal and Middle Eastern oil, and restored Allied morale after years of reverses. It set up the invasions of Sicily and Italy that opened a southern front against Hitler.
The Full Story
A Battle of Logistics
The Eighth Army enjoyed superior numbers, codebreaking intelligence, and supply. Rommel's stretched lines could not match the buildup Montgomery patiently assembled.
The Breakthrough
A massive night bombardment opened the assault. Infantry cleared paths through minefields, and armor exploited the gaps in a battle of attrition the Axis could not win.
The Road to Tunis
The retreat ended with the surrender of Axis forces in North Africa in 1943, paving the way for the Allied invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy.