El Alamein (1942): the turning point on the African front

In October 1942, in a remote sector of the Egyptian desert lying between the Mediterranean and the Qattara Depression, one of the decisive battles of the Second World War was fought. The Second Battle of El Alamein, fought between 23 October and 4 November 1942, pitted the British Eighth Army, led by Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery, against the German-Italian forces of the Panzer Army Africa, commanded by Erwin Rommel.

This was not simply another battle between Axis and Allied forces. El Alamein marked the end of Rommel’s great offensive towards Egypt and forced the Axis forces to begin a retreat that would take them from Libya to Tunisia. For the Allies, the victory represented a fundamental shift in the dynamics of the North African campaign.

But to understand why El Alamein became so important, we need to go back a few months, to the summer of 1942.

The road to El Alamein: Rommel reaches the gates of Egypt

The war in North Africa had begun in 1940, when Mussolini’s Italy launched its offensive from Libya against Egypt, then under British control. The strategic importance of the region was enormous: the Suez Canal was a vital communication route for the British Empire, linking the Mediterranean with routes to the Middle East and Asia.

After the first Italian setbacks, Germany intervened to reinforce its ally. In February 1941, General Erwin Rommel arrived in Libya at the head of the first units of the Deutsches Afrika Korps. His ability to manoeuvre in the desert and exploit weaknesses in enemy positions earned him an extraordinary reputation.

During 1942, the situation swung back in the Axis’s favour. The offensive launched by Rommel in May culminated in the fall of Tobruk on 21 June 1942, a heavy blow for the Allies. British forces withdrew towards Egypt and Rommel continued his advance.

The strategic objective was huge: to reach Egypt, threaten Alexandria and, ultimately, endanger the Suez Canal.

However, the offensive had pushed the Axis forces to the limit of their logistical capacity. The further east Rommel advanced, the further his units moved from their main supply bases in Libya. Fuel, ammunition, spare parts and vehicles began to run short.

That is when El Alamein came into the picture.

An apparently insignificant place that became a fortress

El Alamein was originally little more than a small railway station situated about a hundred kilometres west of Alexandria. However, its geographical position offered an exceptional advantage for defence.

To the north lay the Mediterranean Sea and to the south the vast Qattara Depression, terrain that made it extremely difficult to move large military formations. The space available for manoeuvre was thus considerably reduced.

Geography turned El Alamein into a genuine strategic bottleneck.

After the fighting in July, British forces managed to halt Rommel’s advance in the First Battle of El Alamein, fought between 1 and 27 July 1942. The Axis offensive had reached its limit.

The July battle did not yet decide the campaign, but it allowed the British to gain something they desperately needed: time.

Montgomery’s arrival and preparation of the offensive

After the crisis of the summer of 1942, the British command reorganised its forces in the Middle East. General Harold Alexander took command of British forces in the Middle East and, in August, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery took control of the Eighth Army.

Montgomery inherited an army that had suffered major defeats but was beginning to receive new reinforcements, vehicles, artillery and tanks. The logistical situation also began to improve.

Rommel would still try to regain the initiative.

In late August he launched a new offensive in the area of Alam el Halfa, but the lack of fuel and supplies severely limited his ability to manoeuvre. The British managed to halt the attack and, from that point on, Montgomery began to carefully prepare a major offensive.

The battle that was approaching would be very different from the rapid tank manoeuvres that had characterised some earlier episodes of the desert war.

This time, Montgomery intended to use Allied superiority in men, artillery and supplies to progressively wear down the enemy.

The night of 23 October: the Second Battle of El Alamein begins

At 9:40 pm on 23 October 1942, hundreds of artillery pieces began bombarding the German-Italian positions.

Operation Lightfoot had begun.

The British offensive was concentrated mainly in the northern sector of the front. Infantry had to open corridors through the extensive minefields while engineers worked to allow the subsequent advance of the tanks.

The battlefield was heavily fortified. Anti-tank mines, artillery positions, anti-tank weapons and defensive fortifications made any advance an extremely dangerous operation.

Infantry soldiers had to advance under enemy fire while sappers tried to clear routes for the armoured vehicles.

The plan did not go exactly as intended.

British tanks struggled to get through the corridors cleared in the minefields, and Axis anti-tank defences caused numerous casualties.

But Montgomery had designed the battle so that it would not depend on a single spectacular breakthrough.

His strategy was to wear down the Panzer Army Africa.

A battle of attrition in the desert

Over the following days, the fighting turned into an enormous battle of attrition.

Montgomery called this phase “crumbling”, the progressive disintegration of enemy defences. Rather than attempting an immediate, deep penetration, British forces kept pressing Axis positions, forcing Rommel to commit his limited reserves.

Allied material superiority was becoming increasingly evident.

The Eighth Army had a multinational force made up of British troops and those from other Commonwealth territories, including Australian, New Zealand, South African and Indian units, as well as contingents from other Allied countries.

Facing them was a German-Italian force that fought with experience and tenacity, but whose logistical situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

The battle also saw the participation of the Free French Forces, who fought within the Allied deployment. In the Himeimat sector, for example, the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion took part in fierce fighting during the night of 23–24 October.

El Alamein was not, therefore, a battle exclusively between Britain and Germany. It was a multinational confrontation involving soldiers from numerous territories and countries.

Operation Supercharge and the breaking of the front

By late October, the battle continued without a decisive breakthrough.

Rommel tried to contain the British attacks and hold his positions, but his reserves were becoming increasingly scarce. Montgomery then decided to launch a new offensive: Operation Supercharge, begun during the night of 1–2 November.

The aim was to definitively break the Axis defences and open the way to the west.

The fighting was extremely intense. British units advanced while tanks and infantry clashed with anti-tank positions and German-Italian armoured reserves.

Finally, on 4 November, the Axis lines began to crack. Rommel understood that continuing to hold the position could lead to the destruction of his army and received authorisation to begin the retreat.

The decisive battle was over.

Rommel retreats towards Libya

The defeat at El Alamein forced Axis forces to abandon Egypt.

Rommel began a long retreat westward, first crossing Libya and then heading towards Tunisia. The British began pursuing the German-Italian forces across the desert.

The retreat did not mean the immediate end of the war in Africa. Months of fighting still lay ahead and, in November 1942, the Allied landings of Operation Torch in Morocco and Algeria opened a new front in North Africa.

But the strategic balance had changed.

Panzer Army Africa could no longer regain the initiative lost at El Alamein. In the end, Axis forces became trapped between the Allied armies advancing from Egypt and those that had landed in north-west Africa.

In May 1943, the North African campaign would end with the surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia.

Why was El Alamein a turning point?

The historical importance of El Alamein goes far beyond the capture of a position in the desert.

First, the victory eliminated the immediate possibility of Rommel’s forces continuing their advance towards Alexandria and the Suez Canal.

Second, it destroyed the offensive capability of Panzer Army Africa. Rommel had achieved great victories in previous years, but after El Alamein he had to fight mainly to preserve his forces and delay the Allied advance.

Third, the battle demonstrated the growing weight of Allied logistical and industrial superiority. The Eighth Army could replace men, vehicles, ammunition and tanks on a scale the Axis found enormously difficult to match in North Africa.

And finally, El Alamein had immense psychological importance.

After a long series of British and Allied defeats, the victory provided a clear demonstration that Axis forces could be defeated on the battlefield.

For this reason, the National Army Museum considers El Alamein the climax and turning point of the North African campaign.

El Alamein and the changing course of the war

El Alamein has sometimes been presented as if it alone were the moment when the entire Second World War changed course. The historical reality is more complex.

In 1942, several decisive events took place in different theatres: the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, Soviet resistance against the German offensive and, later, the Battle of Stalingrad. El Alamein must be understood as part of this set of events that progressively shifted the balance of the war.

Its specific importance was enormous for the North African and Mediterranean theatre of operations.

4 November 1942 did not end the Second World War, but it did end a fundamental stage of the war in the desert.

The historical legacy of El Alamein

Today, El Alamein remains one of the most recognisable names in the military history of the Second World War.

Its importance does not lie solely in Montgomery’s manoeuvres or in the figure of Rommel. The battle was the result of the effort of tens of thousands of soldiers from different countries and territories, many of whom fought and died in an apparently empty landscape.

In those days, the Egyptian desert became a gigantic battlefield where artillery, tanks, infantry, aviation, mines and logistics played a decisive role.

El Alamein also shows that great battles are not decided solely at the moment of clash.

Preparation, supply, industrial capacity, intelligence, terrain and the soldiers’ endurance were just as important as the movements made on the map.

In November 1942, after months of setbacks, the Allies had achieved something that had seemed unlikely just a few months earlier: stopping Rommel, breaking through his defences and forcing him to retreat.

The road to Allied victory in North Africa had just begun.

El Alamein was, ultimately, much more than a battle: it was the moment when the strategic initiative began to change hands in the North African desert.

Twentieth-century military history also holds a prominent place in the collections of L’Iber, where various dioramas and pieces allow visitors to get closer to some of the great conflicts of the era.