The battle of el alamein

The battle of el alamein By: Kolin Bothun The BattlegroundEl Alamein is a small railroad town near the coast of EgyptThe battle took place in between El Alamein and a bowl like area called the Qattara DepressionThis battle front stretched over 40 milesBarbed wire and landmines were laid over the 40 mile frontEl Alamein was the last obstacle between the Germans and Cairo

British Command and forces8th Army Commander: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery aka MontyDAF Commander: Mary ConinghamBritish 8th Army: 10th ,13th ,30th CorpsDesert Air ForceLong Range Desert GroupSASTotal Forces: 195,000 infantry and 1,029 tanksObjective: Halt any further German advance and Drive them out of Egypt

British WeaponsArmor: American made Grant and Sherman tanksInfantry Small Arms: Lee Enfield bolt- action rifle, Sten sub- machine gun, Bren light- machine gun, and Vickers machine gunArtillery: 25 pdr and 6 pdr anti- tank gun

German Command and forcesDeutsches Afrika Korps Commander: Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel aka The Desert FoxDAK: 15th and 20th Panzer Divisions and 90th Light Infantry Division and assorted Italian unitsTotal Forces: 104,000 infantry and 496 tanksObjective: Hold all gains made in North Africa

German weaponsArmor: Mark III and Mark IV Panzer Infantry Small Arms: Kar98k bolt- action rifle, MP40 sub- machine gun, and MG34 light- machine gunArtillery: Flak 88mm anti- tank gun

Before the BattleAfter taking command of the 8th Army Monty put the soldiers through training exercise in the fundamentals of desert warfare In an effort to trick the Germans in to where the attack was coming from the Brits made 3 dummy regiments of artillery and a dummy water pipeline running from the coast 20 miles to the southThe Germans were lacking in everything from infantry to tanks giving the Brits a 2 to 1 advantage over themOn September 23, 1942 Erwin Rommel fell sick and returned to his home in Austria leaving General Georg Stumme in command of the DAK

The BattleAt 9:30 pm October 23, 1942 the attack begins with a massive barrage of British artillery on the German positionsEarly in the fight German General Stumme suffers a heart attack and dies leaving the DAK temporarily leaderless Montys infantry begin their attack shortly after the guns open upBritish sappers in charge of removing the mines only make the gaps wide enough for the armor to move through single file leaving them easy prey for the German 88sThe attack stalls cause the Brits cant get enough of the armor through the minefield to support the infantry

The night of Oct. 24- 25 Monty orders his armor forward again and due to a combination of German artillery and the Luftwaffe he is left with 900 working tanks out of his original 1,029After learning of the disaster ensuing with his armored units Monty decides that he can sacrifice his armor but not his infantry and orders the attack to press forward regardless of armor lossOct. 25 Rommel returns to the DAK and assumes command again Oct. 26 Montys forces are slowed to a halt some short of objectives that should have been taken 8hrs. ago

After receiving word that the 9th Australian Division had gone pass its objective and captured a bit of high ground in the north that has a view of the costal road and decides to make a push to capture the road and cut Rommels supplies.Rommel aware of a possible strike in the north takes a gamble and shifts his 90th Division and 21st Panzer Division to the north knowing that if the Brits dont strike there he wont have enough gas to shift his forces againAfter discovering that Rommel has moved 2 of his Divisions north to stop the strike Monty instead orders an attack 5 miles to the southThe operation codenamed Super Charge was to commence on Nov. 2

The plan was that the Aussies would continue their attack in the north while the 30th Corps attacked a section of road that was concentrated with German gunsAt 1am Nov. 2 360 British guns opened up the fire creeping forward 100 yards every 3mins. creating a shield for the infantry to advance behind.After advancing within 2000 yards of the German guns the 1st Armored Division and 9th Armored Brigade with supporting infantry over ran the guns

British Victory!After the Brits over ran the guns Rommel desperately tried to counter attack the British Armor but lost 35 of his tanks Rommel in despair over his defeat ordered and retreat 60 miles to the westUsing an old WW1 term for the Germans Monty declared in triumph The Boches are finished- finished! The British objective of halting any further German advance and driving them out of Egypt is completed successfully