Battles+in+Africa

=**BATTLES IN AFRICA**=

The Battle of El Alamein was fought between two of the outstanding commanders of World war2, montgomery, who succeeded the dismissed Auchinleck, and Rommel. El Alamein was a last stand for the Allies in North Africa. To the north of this apparently unremarkable town was the Mediterranean Sea and to the south was the Qattara Depression. El Alamein was a bottleneck that ensures that Rommel could not use his favoured form of attack - sweeping into the enemy from the rear. Rommel was a well respected general in the ranks of the Allies. The Allied commander at the time,Claude Auchinleck - did not command the same respect among his own men.(war in africa)

In August 1942, Winston Churchill was desperate for a victory. Churchill, faced the prospect of a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons if there was no forthcoming victory anywhere. "Churchill grasped the bull by the horns./ he dismissed Auchinleck and replaced him with Bernard Montgomery."(war in africa) The men in the Allied forces respected ‘Monty’. He was described as "as quick as a ferret and about as likeable." Montgomery put a great deal of emphasis on organisation and morale. He spoke to his troops and attempted to restore confidence in them. But above all else, he knew that he needed to hold El Alamein anyway possible.

//Winston Churchill//

To throw Rommel off the scent, Montgomery launched ‘Operation Bertram’. This plan was to convince Rommel that the full-might of the Eighth Army would be used in the south. Dummy tanks were erected in the region. A dummy pipeline was also built - slowly, so as to convince Rommel that the Allies were in no hurry to attack the Afrika Korps. ‘Monty’s army in the north also had to ‘disappear’. (The battle for africa)Tanks were covered so as to appear as non-threatening lorries. Bertram worked as Rommel became convinced that the attack would be in the south.

The attack on Rommel’s lines started with over 800 guns firing at the Germans. Legend has it that the noise was so great that the ears of the gunners bled. As the shells pounded the German lines, the infantry attacked. The engineers set about clearing mines. However, Rommel and the Afrika Korps had also been suffering. He only had 300 tanks left to the Allies 900+. ‘Monty’ next planned to make a move to the Mediterranean. Australian units attacked the Germans by the Mediterranean and Rommel had to move his tanks north to cover this. The Australians took many lives but their attack was to change the course of the battle.(Battle of El Alamein).



Rommel became convinced that the main thrust of Montgomery’s attack would be near the Mediterranean and he moved a large amount of his Afrika Korps there. The Australians fought with ferocity - even Rommel commented on the "rivers of blood" in the region. However, the Australians had given Montgomery room to manoeuvre. By November 2nd 1942, Rommel knew that he was beaten. Hitler ordered the Afrika Korps to fight to the last but Rommel refused to carry out this order. On November 4th, Rommel started his retreat. 25,000 Germans and Italians had been killed or wounded in the battle and 13,000 Allied troops in the Eighth Army.(Second battle of El Alamein) The Second Battle of El Alamein cost Rommel around 2,349 killed, 5,486 wounded, and 30,121 captured. His armored units ceased to exist as a fighting force. For Montgomery, the fighting resulted in 2,350 killed, 8,950 wounded, and 2,260 missing, as well as around 200 tanks permanently lost. A grinding battle that was similar to many fought during World War I, the Second Battle of El Alamein turned the tide in North Africa in favor of the Allies. Pushing west, Montgomery drove Rommel back to El Agheila in Libya. Pausing to rest and rebuild his supply lines, he continued to attack in mid-December and pressed the German commander into retreating again. Joined in North Africa by American troops, who had landed in Algeria and Morocco, Allied forces succeeded in evicting the Axis from North Africa on May 13, 1943.(second battle of El Alamein)


 * Works cited**

"War in North Africa (1940-1942)."//www.worldwar2database.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct 2011. "The battle for Africa."//www.library.thinkquest.org//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct 2011. "The battle of El Alamein."//www.historylearningsite.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct 2011. "world war 2-second battle of El Alamein."//www.militaryhistory.about.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct 2011.