Eissah Aminzada's List: Alamein Tipping Point

• How many died to turn the tide of German victories, nobody knows. But after  El  -  Alamein  , it was Allied forces marching forward.

  • -"Many lives were lost due to German wins but in the end the Allies came back after El Alamein"
• After sweeping through Libya, Axis forces under Rommel sped along the only road on northern Egypt's coastline toward Cairo, the Suez Canal and the rich oil fields of Persia. They could smell victory.

  • -"Axis powers were easily defeating anyone in there path until they reached El Alamein. They were going for the suez canal and the great oil fields in Persia."

  • -"Axis powers were easily defeating anyone in there path until they reached El Alamein. They were going for the suez canal and the great oil fields in Persia."
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  • • -"Axis powers were easily defeating anyone in there path until they reached El Alamein. They were going for the suez canal and the great oil fields in Persia.
• Allied commander Montgomery had other ideas. He sent escape vehicles to the rear and told his troops: ``If  Alamein  is lost, Egypt is lost. If we cannot stay at  Alamein  alive, we will stay there dead.''

  • -"Thinking that they would lose Gen. Montgomery had escape cars. He also told his troops if they lose Alamein then Egypt is gone."
• The cost of winning and losing the battles of  El  -  Alamein  , which raged off and on from July until November 1942, was staggering. Dead still lie in unfound desert graves, but the number of casualties on both sides has been estimated at 65,000. The Allies suffered 13,500 dead and wounded. Half the forces of Germany and Italy were killed, wounded or captured.

  • -"From July to November the battles went on and off with some won and some lost but there were many casualties for both sides and that half of the Axis forces were killed and allies had 13500 dead and wounded."
• The opposing forces were uneven. Montgomery had 11 divisions, about 210,000 men. He had 1,200 tanks, more than 1,000 field and medium guns, adequate fuel and ammunition and a short line of communications to his home base in Cairo

  • -"Gen. Montgomery was ready for battle with about 210,000 men and 1200 tanks with a decent amount of guns, fuel and ammo."
• Rommel commanded four German and eight Italian divisions and some independent units. He had no more than 108,000 men and 600 tanks but plenty of artillery. Also, he relied on 5 million mines planted in the 50-mile-wide  El  -  Alamein  bottleneck between the Mediterranean Sea and the quicksand of the Qattara Depression. His fatal flaws were the lack of fuel and a steady supply line.

  • -"Rommel had 108000 men and 600 tanks and plenty of artillery but had limited amount of fuel and supply line."

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• El  -  Alamein  on Oct. 23, 1942

  • -"Date of Battle was on October 23 1942."
• In 10 days of battle, 13,500 Commonwealth soldiers and 59,000 Axis troops 
    were killed, wounded or captured. When the fighting ended, in rain and mud, 
    the tide of World War II had turned.

  • -"Within 10 days of battle already it had seemed as though the Allies were winning."
• British and Commonwealth soldiers had been dug in at  Alamein  since July. 
    Five million German mines, `the Devil's Garden,' protected Rommel's forces 
    against infiltration.

  • -"The Allied forces had been waiting in Alamein since July because of the (devils garden) millions of mine that protected the Axis."
• On Nov. 4, Rommel disregarded Hitler's orders and began a masterful retreat across North Africa. Four days later, American troops of Operation Torch, 
    under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, landed in northwestern Africa, increasing the pressure on Rommel.

  • -"Rommel retreats across North Africa then Operation Torch led by Eisenhower and his troops puts more pressure on Rommel."

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• Britain's wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, later said of the battle: "Before  Alamein  we never had a victory; after  Alamein  we never had a defeat."

  • -"Churchill said that the battles leading up to El Alamein was loses but the battles after were victories."
• The battle began on Oct. 23, 1942, when 900 Eighth Army artillery pieces opened a huge barrage against Axis forces who had advanced unchecked along the Mediterranean coast, heading for the Suez Canal and Middle East oil fields.

  • -"The battle started when allied artillery struck the axis forces that were heading for the Suez Canal and oil fields."
• Numbers and supplies proved decisive. Rommel, his supply lines stretched, was outnumbered and outgunned, fielding 100,000 men, 490 tanks and 350 aircraft against Allied forces of 200,000 men, 1,000 tanks and 530 aircraft.

  • -"Rommel had less people tanks and aircrafts against the allies at El Alamein."

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• The  significance  of the battle, in which General Sir Bernard Montgomery defeated the German general Erwin Rommel, was reflected at the time by Sir Winston Churchill, who said: "Before  Alamein  we never had a victory. After  Alamein  we never had a defeat."

  • -"Gen Montgomery defeats Rommel and after this battle Churchill says that before El Alamein the Allies have lost all of the battles but after the allies have won all of the battles. This is what is significant about El Alamein."
• The Allies had been fighting to keep their supply lines open from the Mediterranean to the East, but they had been driven back to the village of  El  Alamein  . Montgomery, a veteran of the First  World  War  , had seen the effects of throwing men against impregnable positions. Instead he waited until he had an overwhelming superiority in tanks, aircraft and men, then unleashed one of the heaviest artillery bombardments in history.

  • -"General Montgomery's tactic was that when they were at El Alamein to wait until they got a lot of men, tanks and aircrafts and then strike all at once with heavy artillery."
• The victory allowed the Allies to maintain their supply lines through Egypt and the Suez Canal, ensuring that oil and other goods continued to reach the front line.

  • -"The won battle at El Alamein enabled the allies to continue to use Egypt and the Suez Canal as there supply line in order to get oil and other supplies."

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