Montgomery planned his attack in two phases. Rommel was plagued by illness and departed for hospital in Germany on 23 September, leaving General Georg von Stumme in command of a depleted Panzerarmee. He chose to shelter his force behind a deep and complex minefield - dubbed 'the Devil's Gardens' by the Germans - backed by strong anti-tank gun positions.īut things were not going well on the German side. He was a master of mobile warfare, but he had to change his preferred tactics due to a lack of fuel and transport. Rommel knew that a major attack was inevitable, and did his best to prepare for it. Montgomery did not make a counter-attack - he knew that reinforcements were on their way and he was biding his time. Rommel attempted an attack between 30 August and 7 September (the battle of Alam Halfa), but the 8th Army held its ground, largely due to the excellent cooperation between the army and the air force. He also improved relations between the army and the Desert Air Force, ensuring a more unified attack plan. Montgomery restructured the 8th Army, bringing in new divisions and generals and lifting the army's morale with his bold fighting talk - declaring among other things that he would 'hit Rommel for six out of Africa'. In early August that year, he arrived in Cairo and handed over command to General Bernard Montgomery. Axis: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Panzerarmee Afrika (German and Italian troops)Īlthough General Claude Auchinleck had stopped Rommel in his tracks during the First Battle of El Alamein in early July 1942, Churchill was becoming increasingly impatient with progress in the Western Desert.
Allies: General Bernard Montgomery's 8th Army, consisting of 30th Corps, 13th Corps and 10th Corps (British, Australian, South African, Indian and French troops).The tanks gave Montgomery a significant advantage in firepower Note: Three hundred Sherman tanks that were hastily shipped to Egypt from the USA were a crucial influence on the outcome of this battle.Outcome: Allied victory, forcing Rommel to retreat into Tunisia.Location: Around the Egyptian town of El Alamein, 100km (60 miles) west of Alexandria.
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