For a while it seemed that Rommel would link up with the Germans advancing in the Caucasus and so overrun the whole Middle East. The British conducted a chaotic retreat into Egypt, but rallied their battered army and made a stand at the First Battle of El Alamein. This was a position that, unlike others in the desert, could not be turned by a flanking manoeuvre.
It bordered both the sea and the Qattara Depression, a sea of quicksand impassable to mechanised forces. The initiative now lay with the British.
They planned another offensive that would finally end the Axis threat to the Middle East. Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery was one of the most capable and controversial British commanders. In August he was appointed Eighth Army's commander and immediately set about transforming its fighting spirit.
They were equipped with over 1, tanks, artillery pieces and 1, anti-tank guns. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was already famous for his brilliant generalship during the battles for France and North Africa.
Exuding frenetic energy and leading from the front, he inspired his troops to great feats of heroism and endurance. At Alamein he commanded , German and Italian soldiers, tanks, artillery pieces and anti-tank guns.
The Axis forces were once more in a critical supply situation. Realising the strength of the Axis defences, Montgomery resisted the impatient pleas of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for an early attack.
Instead he set about building up his forces, improving the morale and training of his troops, ensuring that he had superior numbers of men, tanks, guns and aircraft. A mine explodes close to a British artillery tractor as it advances through minefields at El Alamein, Having assembled a powerful multinational Allied force, Montgomery unleashed his offensive on the night of 23 October with a spectacular artillery barrage.
In the early hours of 24 October British infantry and engineers began Operation Lightfoot, a painstaking and hazardous process of creating two channels in the minefields, through which the armoured forces were to advance.
The British then established a forward line from where the Axis forces would be engaged and worn down. While they were able to beat off Axis counter-attacks, British efforts were hampered as their tanks were held up in the congested minefield corridors and suffered punishing losses from enemy anti-tank guns.
Despite the difficulties, Montgomery held his nerve. He pressed home the attrition of the enemy forces and launching a diversionary attack to draw in scarce Axis reserves. He then paused and regrouped before launching his final attack, codenamed Operation Supercharge, on the night of November. After several more days of severe fighting the British achieved a decisive breakthrough on 4 November. Nevertheless, the British had won a remarkable victory and Montgomery began pursuing his beaten foe back into Libya and Tunisia.
El Alamein was the first clear-cut and irreversible victory inflicted by the British Army upon the Axis. Coming after years of frustrating setbacks, this was a boost to British morale. Victory proved that the problems that had plagued the Army for years had at last been overcome and that its equipment, tactics, generalship and fighting spirit were a match for the Axis. For Churchill, the victory was vital for re-establishing British prestige before America reduced Britain to the role of junior partner in the western alliance.
This was why he had been so anxious to instigate the battle before Operation Torch, the Allied landings on the coast of Algeria and Morocco, began. The landings began on 8 November and forced the Axis to fight on two fronts.
With the Allies also prevailing in the naval and air wars raging in the Mediterranean, the Axis position in North Africa was now untenable. Despite this, Hitler belatedly ordered a massive re-enforcement, which enabled the Axis to fight a defensive campaign in Tunisia into Although they fought a tenacious rearguard, the Axis forces were in an impossible position and in May were forced to surrender, with the loss of around , prisoners. This may be an overstatement given that North Africa was only a sideshow compared to the titanic battles waged on the Eastern and Western Fronts.
However, the battle boosted national morale and became one of the most celebrated victories of the war. Alamein also established the reputation of Montgomery. Using his talent for self-publicity, he claimed all the credit for the victory. This made him a household name and secured him prestigious commands in Italy and North-West Europe.
The grim struggle that rolled back and forth across the North African desert from to resulted in the first major Allied victory of the Second World War. Arrogant, unlikeable, but ultimately successful, Field Marshal Montgomery was one of the most prominent British commanders of the Second World War.
From to , the Allies fought an attritional campaign in Italy against a resolute and skilful enemy. In the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. In fact, Rommel managed to push the British into Egypt using mostly captured vehicles. The Axis powers smelled blood.
And Hitler anticipated adding Egypt to his empire. But the Allies were not finished. Montgomery denied the Axis Egypt. Rommel was back on the defensive—a definite turning point in the war in North Africa. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! At a. During the preceding week, , Allied shells had pounded German positions near the Somme, and , British soldiers poured out of their trenches and into As part of their campaign to capture Spanish-held Santiago de Cuba on the southern coast of Cuba, the U.
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