Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt.
| Second Battle of El Alamein | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War | |||||||
24 October 1942: British soldiers in a posed attack | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Italy Germany |
Free France Greece Air support: United States | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Ugo Cavallero Erwin Rommel Wilhelm von Thoma (POW) Georg Stumme † Ettore Bastico Enea Navarini Giuseppe De Stefanis Enrico Frattini (POW) |
Harold Alexander Bernard Montgomery Oliver Leese Brian Horrocks Herbert Lumsden | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
116,000 547 tanks 192 armoured cars 770 – 900 aircraft 552 artillery pieces 496 – 1,063 anti-tank guns |
195,000 1,029 tanks 435 armoured cars 730 – 750 aircraft 892 – 908 artillery guns 1,451 anti-tank guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
2,000–9,000 dead or missing, 4,800–15,000 wounded, 35,000–49,000 captured c. 500 tanks destroyed 254 artillery guns destroyed 84 aircraft destroyed |
13,560 killed, wounded, captured, and missing 332–500 tanks destroyed 111 guns destroyed 97 aircraft destroyed | ||||||
In August 1942, General Claude Auchinleck had been relieved as Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Command and his successor, Lieutenant-General William Gott was killed on his way to replace him as commander of the Eighth Army. Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed and led the Eighth Army offensive.
The Allied victory at El Alamein was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign, eliminating the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The end of the battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November, which opened a second front in North Africa.