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The Battle of El Alamein

Posted by history-admin on 30 January 2008


Fought over some of the harshest desert terrain on earth the battle of El Alamein proves the turning point in the North African campaign. The British begin their attack with the most concentrated artillery barrage since World War I.  Allied infantry including the Australian 9th division advance driving a wedge through enemy lines. With the Axis fast running out of tanks and troops Rommel is forced to retreat. Defeat at Alamein ends Hitler’s hopes of occupying Egypt, controlling the Suez Canal, and gaining access to Middle Eastern oilfields.



What are your thoughts of this battle?

13 replies so far...

  1. moorina

    1:32 PM, 14 December 2011

    not one of you had a thought about the rats and others who were there they tell a differant story it was stilth and courage in the actions of monty and winnie and combined troups look up your history and delve deeper then hang your head in shame

  2. VinnnyGSeow

    11:21 AM, 11 June 2010

    sup

  3. VinnnyGSeow

    11:20 AM, 11 June 2010

    Wrong, the second battle of Al Alamein was a battle between the Chinese Red Army and the USSR. However, due to the capitalist propaganda this infomation has been a subject of taboo. I am one of the few is knowledgeable of this event. Fuck America.

  4. Old_Grumpy

    4:03 PM, 13 July 2009

    There is much nonsense written and spoken about the Battles of El Alamein. The planning for the three battles (inc. Alam Halfa) was undertaken by Auchinleck and his Chief of Staff, Eric Dorman-Smith (later changed to O'Gowan). Montgomery took the plans and presented them as his own, he also waited until he had all the armour and reinforcements which were denied to his more skilful predecessors. Montgomery was a cautious, plodding general who had a succession of abject failures but could not be replaced as propaganda had presented him as a hero. He outnumbered Rommel 10 to 1 in tanks at Alamein yet could not catch him before Tunis, where a much better general (Patton) boxed him in. Strangely, all three British generals mentioned were born in Ireland within a few miles of each other. Montgomery went on to fail at Sicily and at Caen and be rescued by Patton again. His execution of Market Garden is an example of military lunacy, many died for his ego. Both Churchill and Montgomery hated Dorman Smith who was regarded as the most brilliant general staff officer of his time, but had the nasty habit of not bowing down to Churchill. He later was hounded out of the British Army, returned to Ireland, changed his name to O'Gowan (Irish for Smith), joined the IRA and advised on their campaign in the 1950's. What a strange world!!!!

  5. openallhours247

    8:19 PM, 26 January 2009

    Easy Co. 506 P.I.R. 101st Airborne and the rest of the 101st did the job they held out there was no need for Patton with the last air drop they sloped the Germans dead

  6. Grahame217

    3:19 PM, 24 April 2008

    The First battle of Alamein was in many respects more important, once again Auchinleck stopped Rommel (as he did during Operation Crusader) One of the war's greatest generals, he is little know outside Great Britain and was shabbily treated by Churchill - if Rommel had not been stopped at First Alamein, there would have been no Second Alamein and Rommel's 'Das Afrika Korps' would have seized the Delta and cut the Suez canal - it was however the 'truning point'....it was not the end, nor the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning! It should be noted that much of the planning for Second Alamein was Auchinleck's - he was the architect of Victory in the Desert.

  7. NDunning

    11:31 AM, 17 March 2008

    In my eyes, one of the harshest battles of WW2, fighting in the desert would of been harder than anyone would of thought.

  8. strathern

    2:27 PM, 19 February 2008

    The battel of El Alamein was one of the battels that helped the allys win world war 11. It also showed the rest of the world the Hitler was betable

  9. zacharie1

    5:27 PM, 17 February 2008

    Im just a ausy boy but i know alitle about war and the battle for el el alamein was critical for the allied war effort. Beacuse if the axie's forces won thay could advance to russa, china and even maybe help the japanese invade australia. It ulso proved that the german army was not invisable.

  10. militaryhistorian

    12:08 AM, 12 February 2008

    The Battle of El Alamein was significant for the allied forces, because it denied Germany access to North & East Africa, The Middle East and beyond and the resources associated with these regions.

  11. ironoutlaw1880

    3:25 PM, 10 February 2008

    The North Africa victory revitalised the Allies far more effectively than any moral bolstering propaganda which governments of the day had tried on the population. Here, for the first time, Britain could announce actual victories; unmistakably decisive battles won on behalf of the mother country. Through determinative battles such as Al Alamein, the British Empire could begin bringing some hope to the British people, finally proving to her subjects that this war was winnable and proving to its United States ally that it could hold its own against the Wehrmacht. As a result of the Axis defeats incurred at Stalingrad, Midway and El Alamein, both Japan and Germany would see the balance of power shift exorbitantly towards the Allies for the remainder of the war. The Axis would be unable to continue its impetuous drive thanks mainly to the massive losses in both manpower and machinery. Losses that they would never fully recover from and which, over the next couple of years, would effectively seal their fate. In the meantime, the Allies bided their time, building up their armed forces for the final showdowns. Their cause backed by the seemingly endless industrial might of the United States of America.

  12. russjparker

    12:29 AM, 10 February 2008

    A vitory for logistics. Sheer weight of (Allied) numbers and the inability of the Axis forces to get vital men and supplies to Rommel ensured Monty's victory. As a military logistician and an Australian soldier I have an affinity for this battle, but it wasn't pivotal. It was Churchill's "begining of the end", but in reality was a a victory in a strategic sideshow (but not without political and psychological significance, as the first major land victory against the Axis forces: particularly Germany).

  13. hellfirepass

    1:19 PM, 02 February 2008

    Success was vital to the Allies in North Africa.many australians still lie there as testament to the fierce fighting that took place.these were the men that kept the west in touch with the east.Churchill said "before Alamein we never had a victory.After Alamein we never had a defeat"

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