Second Battle of El Alamein
Similarly the two Allied armies were placed under 18th Army Group with Harold Alexander in command. However, the hope of a rapid conclusion to the campaign against the Axis forces was thwarted at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in the second half of February when Rommel struck a costly blow against the inexperienced U.S. II Corps and destroyed their ability to make an early thrust east to the coast to cut off the Italian First Army's line of supply from Tunis and isolate it from von Arnim's forces in the north.
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Significance
Rommel did not lose hope in Africa until the end of the Tunisia Campaign. Even so, El Alamein was a significant Allied victory and the most decisive with respect to closing of a war front. After three years the African theatre was cleared of Axis forces and the Allies could look northward to the Mediterranean.
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See also
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Footnotes
- ^ Playfair, p.9 - 1,029 tanks ready for action, consisting of: 170 M3 Grant, 252 M4 Sherman, 216 Crusader II, 78 Crusader III, 119 M3 Stuart (aka Honey), 194 Valentine. Playfair also notes that 200 tanks were available as replacements and over 1,000 tanks were in workshops being repaired, overhauled or modified.
- ^ Playfair, p.9
- ^ Playfair, p.9 - breaks down into 552 x 2-Pounders, 849 x 6-Pounders
- ^ Buffetaut, p.95
- ^ Playfair, pp.9-11 - broken down into 31 x Panzer II, 85 x Panzer III (short 50mm gun), 88 x Panzer III (long 50mm gun), 8 x Panzer IV (short 75mm gun), 30 x Panzer IV (long 75mm gun), 7 x Command tanks, 278 x M13/40 Variants, 20 x "light" tanks. Playfair notes that another 23 German tanks were under repair but these have been excluded from the above total
- ^ Playfair, p.3
- ^ Playfair, p.10 - 68 x 7.65cm, 290 x 5cm Pak 38, 138 x 88 Flak guns
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Playfair, p.78
- ^ Carver and Playfair state nearly 500 tanks taken out of action, while Barr claims at least 332
- ^ Playfair, p.78 - breaks the Allied casualties down: British Troops 58%, Australians 22%, New Zealanders 10%, South Afrians 6%, Indians 1%, Allies 3%
- ^ a b c Barr, Niall, p.404
- ^ a b Watson, p.27
- ^ a b Barr, p.404, he states these losses as Axis tanks and guns and does not break them down between German and Italian.
- ^ Watson, p.27, claims 450 Axis tanks were destroyed, but does not break them down between German and Italian.
- ^ Bierman & Smith (2002), p.255
- ^ Bierman & Smith (2002), p.255
- ^ a b c d Dear (2005), p.254
- ^ name="D254"
- ^ Bierman & Smith (2002), p.255
- ^ Bierman & Smith (2002), p.255
- ^ Watson (2007), p.20
- ^ Mead, Richard, p.304
- ^ Barr, Niall, p.308
- ^ Clifford, Alexander, p.307
- ^ Bierman & Smith (2002), Chapters 22-24
- ^ Bauer (2000), pp.366-368
- ^ Bauer (2000), p.368
- ^ Clifford, Alexander p.308
- ^ Watson (2007), p.23
- ^ Hally, James J (1980). The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Tonbridge: Air Britain. ISBN 0851300839.
- ^ Lucas Phillips (1962), p. 296
- ^ Johnston, Dr. Mark (23 October, 2002). The Battle of El Alamein, 23 October 1942. Remembering 1942. Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
- ^ El Alamein 2 (in Italian). Ardito2000 website. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
- ^ Playfair, p.66
- ^ Barr, Niall. p.387
- ^ a b c Playfair, p.67
- ^ a b c d Barr, Niall. p.386
- ^ Walker, Ronald p.395
- ^ a b Watson (2007), p.24
- ^ Lucas-Phillips (1962), p.358
- ^ Watson (2007), p. 12
- ^ Bierman & Smith (2002), Chapter 27
- ^ Bauer (2000), p.372
- ^ Desert War, Note (11): Statement issued by the German Government on 6 November 1942. spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-12-22.
- ^ Spirit, Martin; Martindale, Sid (2005). Sid's War: The Story of an Argyll at War. Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
- ^ Watson (2007), p.27
- ^ Presumably a confused reference to the 90th Light Division. There was no 19th Light Division on the German Order of Battle
- ^ Zinder, Harry. "A Pint of Water per Man". Time Magazine (16 November 1942).
- ^ The Hinge of Fate, Winston Churchill, Pg 603. The Yale Book of Quotations By Fred Shapiro, Page 154.
- ^ Hamilton, Nigel (2004). "Montgomery, Bernard Law", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b Watson (2007), p.27
- ^ See Churchill Centre: Quotations of Churchill
- ^ Clifford, Alexander p.317
- ^ a b Clifford, Alexander p.318
- ^ Watson (2007), p.39
- ^ Watson (2007), p.42
- ^ Clifford, Alexander p.319
- ^ a b Watson (2007), p.43
- ^ Clifford, Alexander p.322
- ^ Clifford, Alexander p.320
- ^ Clifford, Alexander pp.325-327
- ^ Watson (2007), p.44
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Sources
- Barr, Niall [2004] (2005). Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press. ISBN 978-1585677382.
- Bauer, Eddy; Young, Peter (general editor) [1979] (2000). The History of World War II, Revised edition, London, UK: Orbis Publishing. ISBN 1-85605-552-3.
- Bierman, John; Smith, Colin [2002] (2003). War without hate : the desert campaign of 1940-1943, New edition, New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0142003947.
- Buffetaut, Yves(1995);Operation Supercharge-La seconde bataille d'El Alamein; Histoire Et Collections
- Carver, Field Marshal Lord [1962] (2000). El Alamein, New edition, Ware, Herts. UK: Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 978-1840222203.
- Clifford, Alexander (1943). Three against Rommel. London: George G. Harrap.
- Dear, I. C. B. (ed) [1995] (2005). The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280666-6.
- Latimer, Jon (2002). Alamein. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0719562037.
- Lucas-Phillips, C.E. (1962). Alamein. London: Heinemann. OCLC 3510044.
- Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount, 544 pages. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
- Playfair, Major-General I.S.O.; Brigadier C.J.C Molony, Captain F.C. Flynn, R.N. and Group Captain T.P. Gleave, C.B.E. [1966] (2004). History Of The Second World War: The Mediterranean and Middle East, volume 4: The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa, United Kingdom Military Series. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-068-8.
- Rommel, Erwin; with Basil Liddell-Hart [1953] (1982). The Rommel Papers. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306801570.
- Walker, Ian W. (2006). Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts; Mussolini's Elite Armoured Divisions in North Africa. Ramsbury: The Crowood Press. ISBN 1-86126-646-4.
- Walker, Ronald (1967). The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945: Alam Halfa and Alamein. Wellington, NZ: Historical Publications Branch.
- Watson, Bruce Allen [1999] (2007). Exit Rommel: The Tunisian Campaign, 1942-43. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole. ISBN 0-81173-381-5.
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External links
- The fate of the Italians in the battle as reported by TIME MAGAZINE
- The war time memories of Pvt. Sid Martindale 1st Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
- Official History of Australia in the Second World War Volume III - Tobruk and El Alamein Chapters 14 -15
- The 3rd Hussars (9th Armoured Brigade) at El Alamein
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Royal Engineers Museum Royal Engineers and Second World War (Deception and mine clearance at El Alamein)
- The History of the British 7th Armoured Division
- El Alamein
- El Alamein in Egypt Today (where to stay etc)
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