Second Battle of El Alamein

The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt.

In August 1942, General Claude Auchinleck had been relieved as Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Command and his successor, Lieutenant-General William Gott was killed on his way to replace him as commander of the Eighth Army. Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed and led the Eighth Army offensive.

The Allied victory at El Alamein was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign, eliminating the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The end of the battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November, which opened a second front in North Africa.

Aftermath[edit]

Analysis[edit]

Despite his defeat at El Alamein, Rommel did not lose hope until the end of the Tunisia Campaign. Alexander contacted Churchill and suggested he "Ring out the bells".^[134]

Churchill was due to address the Lord Mayor's Banquet at the Mansion House on 10 November 1942. He spoke at length about the victory and made his famous claim that

List of British military equipment of World War II

List of Australian military equipment of World War II

List of German military equipment of World War II

List of Italian Army equipment in World War II

(Village in Hampshire, England named in honour of the battle)

Enham Alamein

(war memorial commemorating the battle, in Sydney, Australia)

El Alamein Fountain

List of World War II battles

North African campaign timeline

Bright, John, ed. (1951). The Ninth Queen's Royal Lancers 1936–1945: The Story of an Armoured Regiment in Battle. Aldershot: Gale & Polden. 3732838.

OCLC

Carell, Paul (1962). . New York: Bantam Books. OCLC 721200796.

The Foxes of the Desert

(2000) [1962]. El Alamein (pbk. ed.). Ware: Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 978-1-84022-220-3.

Carver, Field Marshal Lord

Maughan, Barton (1966). . Tobruk and El Alamein. Official History of Australia in the Second World War Series 1 (Army). Vol. III (online ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. pp. 639–754. OCLC 954993. Retrieved 23 February 2018.

"14 Launching the Battle and 15 The Dog Fight"

Stumpf, R. (2001). "Part V: The War in the Mediterranean Area 1942–1943: Operations in North Africa and the Central Mediterranean". The Global War: Widening of the Conflict into a World War and the Shift of the Initiative 1941–1943. Germany and the Second World War. Vol. VI. Translated by (Eng. trans. Clarendon Press, Oxford ed.). Potsdam: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History). pp. 631–821. ISBN 0-19-822888-0.

Brownjohn, J.

The fate of the Italians in the battle as reported by TIME MAGAZINE

The war time memories of Pte. Sid Martindale 1st Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

The 3rd Hussars (9th Armoured Brigade) at El Alamein

Royal Engineers and Second World War (Deception and mine clearance at El Alamein)