Katie Atalla's List: Battle of El Alamein

• The Battle of El Alamein was primarily fought between two of the outstanding commanders of World War Two,  Montgomery, who succeeded the dismissed Auchinleck, and Rommel.

  • One of the most strategically important battles in World War Two was the Battle of El Alamein commanded by two of the most outstanding commanders of the war; Montgomery for the Allies and Rommel for the Axis.
• lead to the retreat of the Afrika Korps and the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943

  • The Battle of El Alamein lead to the retreat of the Afrika Korps (the German Army in Africa) and the German surrender in Nrth Africa in May of 1943.
• The attack on Russia - Operation Barbarossa - had pushed the Russians back; U-boats were having a major effect on Britain in the Battle of the Atlantic and western Europe seemed to be fully in the control of the Germans.

  • Previously to the Battle of El Alamein the war situation for the Allies had not been good. Operation Barbarossa had pushed the Russians back a fair amount. U-boats were having a major effect on the British in the Battle of the Atlantic. Western Europe was more or less under control of the Germans
• El Alamein is 150 miles west of Cairo.

  • El Alamein is located 150 miles west of Cairo and is also west of the Nile River and the Suez Canal.
• If the Afrika Korps got to the Suez Canal, the ability of the Allies to supply themselves would be severely dented. The only alternate supply route would be via South Africa - which was not only longer but a lot more dangerous due to the vagaries of the weather.

  • From sticky above mention where they would be supplying themselves to through those routes.

  • If the Afrika Korps had gotten to the Suez Canal, the ability of the Allies to supply themselves would diminish. The only alternate supply rout would be via South Africa which was much longer and more dangerous to pass through, due to weather.
• The psychological blow of losing the Suez and losing in North Africa would have been incalculable - especially as this would have given Germany near enough free access to the oil in the Middle East.

  • The psychological blow of losing the Suez Canal would have been extreme as not only would it be a major loss for the Allies but would also give Germany free acces to the oil in the Middle East.
• El Alamein was a last stand for the Allies in North Africa

  • El Alamein was a last stand for the Allies in North Africa because everything previously fought in North Africa had been a success for the Axis. If the Battle of El Alamein had not been a success for the Allies the Axis would hold one of the most important strategic locations. The Suez Canal.
• Rommel planned to hit the Allies in the south. Montgomery guessed that this would be the move of Rommel as Rommel had done it before.

  • It was found out that Rommel was to hit the Allies from the south. Montgomery had originally guessed that would be the case as Rommel had made this move before.
• he was also helped by the people who worked at Bletchley Park who had got hold of Rommel’s battle plan and had deciphered it. Therefore ‘Monty’ knew not only Rommel’s plan but also the route of his supply lines.

  • Montgomery was also helped a large amount by the people at Bletchley park who managed to get Rommel's plan and decipher it. Bletchley Park was a secret intelligence place in Britain. Therefore, Montgomery knew about both Rommel's plans and his supply line route.
• hen Rommel attacked, Montgomery was asleep. When he was woken from his sleep to be told the news, it is said that he replied "excellent, excellent" and went back to sleep again.
• German Panzer tanks were severely hit by these and the rest were held up and became sitting targets for Allied fighter planes that could easily pick off tank after tank. Rommel’s attack started badly and it seemed as if his Afrika Korps would be wiped out.

  • The rest were stopped and became sitting targets for Allied fighter planes. It was easy then to take down each tank. From the beginning of Rommel's attack it was already going badly, Afrika Korps was not very optimistic.
• The Allies had placed a huge number of land mines south of El Alamein at Alam Halfa

  • The Allies placed many land mines south of El Alamein and Alam Halfa.
• Rommel’s force was hit by Allied bombers that pounded the area where the Afrika Corps had their tanks.
• Germans had 110,000 men and 500 tanks. A number of these tanks were poor Italian tanks and could not match the new Sherman’s. The Germans were also short of fuel. The Allies had more than 200,000 men and more than 1000 tanks.

  • At this point the Germans had 110,000 men and 500 tanks many of which were Italian and quite poorly made. The Germans were also extremely low on fuel. Whereas the Allies had more than 200,000 men and more than 1000 tanks all of top quality.

• Montgomery launched ‘Operation Bertram’. This plan was to convince Rommel that the full-might of the Eighth Army would be used in the south. Dummy tanks were erected in the region. A dummy pipeline was also built - slowly, so as to convince Rommel that the Allies were in no hurry to attack the Afrika Korps. ‘Monty’s army in the north also had to ‘disappear’. Tanks were covered so as to appear as non-threatening lorries. Bertram worked as Rommel became convinced that the attack would be in the south.

   

  • Montgomery then launched 'Operation Bertram'. The purpose of this plan was to convince Rommel that the attack would come from the south. As such, dummy tanks were placed in the region and to make it even more convincing, dummy pipelines. Montgomery's army in the north had to 'disappear' for a while as to make it all the more convincing.
• A diversionary attack in the south was meant to take in 50% of Rommel’s forces.
• The start of the Allied attack on Rommel was code-named "Operation Lightfoot"

  • The real Allied attack was then code-named "Operation Lightfoot".
• The main attack in the north was to last - according to Montgomery - just one night.
• forces
• "All  that is necessary is that each and every officer and men should enter  this battle with the determination to see it through, to fight and kill,  and finally to win. If we do this, there can be only one result -  together, we will hit the enemy for six out of Africa."
• Legend has it that the noise was so great that the ears of the gunners bled.
• As the shells pounded the German lines, the infantry attacked. The engineers set about clearing mines.
• Just one non-moving tank could hold up all the tanks that were behind it. The ensuing traffic jams made the tanks easy targets for the German gunners using the feared 88 artillery gun. The plan to get the tanks through in one night failed. The infantry had also not got as far as Montgomery had planned. They had to dig in.
• rika Korps had also been suffering
• Rommel became convinced that the main thrust of Montgomery’s attack would be near the Mediterranean
• By November 2nd 1942, Rommel knew that he was beaten. Hitler ordered the Afrika Korps to fight to the last but Rommel refused to carry out this order. On November 4th, Rommel started his retreat. 25,000 Germans and Italians had been killed or wounded in the battle and 13,000 Allied troops in the Eighth Army.

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  The Battle of El Alamein was the first major Allied victory over the German Wehrmacht. Churchill later said: “We had neither a victory before it, nor a defeat after it.”

  • I'll just use the quote here :)

• By the middle of October the Eighth Army totalled 195,000 men, 1,351 tanks and 1,900 pieces of artillery

  • Good Numbers to use
• died of a heart-attack the day after the 900 gun bombardment of the German lines

  • Good but no necessary numbers