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El Alamein
El Alamein. This Egyptian desert railway halt, situated about 95 km. (60 mi.) west of Alexandria, gave its name to two different encounters between Allied and Axis forces during the Western Desert campaigns.
The first, and some say erroneously named, was a defensive battle fought by the British and Commonwealth Eighth Army from 1 to 4 July 1942. Commanded by General Auchinleck, the Eighth Army prevented Rommel's Panzer Army Africa (renamed German–Italian Panzer Army, 25 October 1942) from breaking through its defensive lines near Ruweisat Ridge when Rommel made a penultimate bid to conquer Egypt and seize the Suez Canal. It is still a matter of debate whether Auchinleck, aided by ULTRA intelligence and Dorman-Smith, was at last able to gain the initiative; or whether Rommel had simply run out of steam. Rommel tried to break through again, and failed, at Alam Halfa in September. Then in the second El Alamein battle, the Eighth Army, now commanded by Lt-General Montgomery, fought successfully between 23 October and 4 November 1942 to pierce Rommel's defences, forcing him to retreat into Tunisia. Unlike most previous Western Desert battles, this second battle was a set-piece affair against static defences with no turnable flank, and lack of fuel and transport (see logistics) prevented Rommel from practising the mobile warfare of which he was a master. Instead, before going on sick leave on 23 September (he returned on 25 October), he ordered his defences strengthened by laying half a million anti-tank mines. Within these main minefields smaller ones, comprising anti-personnel devices, were laid. The Germans called them ‘the Devil's gardens’, and they caused Montgomery's attack serious delays. Rommel also ‘corseted’ the weaker Italian units with German formations and formed his armour into six groups positioned to counter-attack any breach of his defences. Besides being critically short of fuel, Rommel was outgunned and outmanned by the British:
Montgomery's plan (LIGHTFOOT) was to breach Rommel's northern defences by employing four infantry divisions of Leese's 30th Corps on a 16 km. (10 mi.) front (see Map 28). Paths would be cleared through the minefields to enable the two armoured divisions of Lumsden's 10th Corps to pass beyond the infantry's bridgehead, a line codenamed OXALIC, to a line (PIERSON) running south-east from Kidney Ridge. There they would take up defensive positions against any German armoured attack, and would not go on to the offensive until the infantry battle—the ‘crumbling’ process as Montgomery called it—had been won. By attacking in the more heavily defended northern sector, and by laying on elaborate deception plans and diversionary attacks in the south with 13th Corps, Montgomery achieved initial surprise. His plan envisaged three stages of the battle: the break-in, the ‘dogfight’ which would last about a week, and the break-out. But the break-in, begun during the night of 23/24 October before a rolling barrage (see artillery, 2) from 882 guns, was slowed by the depth of Rommel's defences, and Lumsden's armour only reached OXALIC on the first day. However, 9th Australian Division took a key feature (Point 29) in their northern sector and began developing a salient while 1st Armoured Division attacked two centres of resistance (SNIPE and WOODCOCK) either side of Kidney Ridge. Rommel launched fierce counter-attacks there, but these were contained, and constant Allied air attacks and concentrated artillery bombardments (both features of the battle) aided the infantry's ‘crumbling’ of his forces. Meanwhile the Australians continued to push out their salient, and this siphoned Rommel's best troops away from where Montgomery was about to unleash a second attack (SUPERCHARGE) while it also ‘uncorseted’ the Italians. But the process was slow, and Churchill became agitated when divisions were withdrawn from the front for SUPERCHARGE. This was launched on the night of 1/2 November by the New Zealand Division, and other infantry units, north of Kidney Ridge and south of where Rommel's élite units had now been drawn. This cleared the way forward for the armour and Rommel, after his forces had suffered further attrition, decided the battle was lost and that he must save his mobile troops by withdrawing to Fuka. He warned Hitler on 2 November that his army was without fuel and faced annihilation—a signal which, thanks to ULTRA, was in Montgomery's hands the next morning—but when, in a second signal, he said a withdrawal had begun Hitler ordered him to stand fast. Rommel tried to do so but, once started, the process could not be reversed. A night attack by the 51st Highland Division overran its objectives and at dawn on 4 November it found Tell El Aqqaqir abandoned. At midday Rommel's defences caved in and that evening Hitler gave him permission to withdraw. But by then Rommel's defeated army had started its headlong retreat across Libya during which Montgomery netted 30,000 prisoners-of-war. Allied casualties during the battle had amounted to 13,560. El Alamein was the climax of the Western Desert campaigns and one of the turning-points of the war; the victory, as intended, influenced the French to co-operate in the North African campaign after initially opposing the landings there. Bibliography Hamilton, N. , Monty: The Making of a General, 1887–1942 (London, 1981), ad fin. |
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Cite this article
I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "El Alamein." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "El Alamein." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-ElAlamein.html I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "El Alamein." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-ElAlamein.html |
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El Alamein
El Alamein or Al Alamayn , town, N Egypt, on the Mediterranean Sea. It was the site of a decisive British victory in World War II (see North Africa, campaigns in ). In preparation for an attack by German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel from Libya (begun May 26, 1942) the British forces retreated into Egypt and by June 30 had set up a defense line extending 35 mi (56 km) from Alamein S to the Qattara Depression, a badland which could neither be crossed nor flanked. If this position had fallen, the British might have lost Alexandria and been forced to withdraw from North Africa. In August, Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery took command of the 8th Army. The British offensive opened on Oct. 23 with tremendous air and artillery bombardments. Montgomery's forces cleared the German minefields and on Nov. 1 and 2 burst through the German lines near the sea and forced a swift Axis retreat out of Egypt, across Libya, and into E Tunisia. Egypt was definitely saved, and with the landing on Nov. 7 and 8 of American troops in Algeria the Axis soon suffered (May, 1943) total defeat in North Africa. For his victory Montgomery was made a viscount with the title Montgomery of Alamein.
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Cite this article
"El Alamein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "El Alamein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Alamein.html "El Alamein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Alamein.html |
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El Alamein
El Alamein (al‐'Alamayn), Egypt It is difficult to get the meaning. 'Alam means ‘mark’, ‘sign’, or ‘flag’ with 'alamein being the dual form. Thus it could mean ‘The Two Signs’, perhaps local physical features. Well‐known as the site of the battles in 1942 between the British 8th Army and German and Italian forces, it is usually referred to as el‐Alamein.
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JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "El Alamein." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "El Alamein." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-ElAlamein.html JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "El Alamein." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-ElAlamein.html |
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El Alamein
El Alamein Village in n Egypt. In October 1942, the British 8th Army, led by General Montgomery, launched a successful attack on Axis forces here, and eventually drove them back to Tunisia. The battle was a turning point in the North Africa campaign of World War II.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_el_alamein.htm |
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Cite this article
"El Alamein." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "El Alamein." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-ElAlamein.html "El Alamein." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-ElAlamein.html |
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El Alamein
El Alamein see Alamein, El , Egypt. |
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Cite this article
"El Alamein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "El Alamein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-ElAlamei.html "El Alamein." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-ElAlamei.html |
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Alamein, El
Alamein, El See El Alamein
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Cite this article
"Alamein, El." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Alamein, El." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-AlameinEl.html "Alamein, El." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-AlameinEl.html |
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El Alamein
El Alamein See ALAMEIN, EL.
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Cite this article
"El Alamein." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "El Alamein." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-ElAlamein.html "El Alamein." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-ElAlamein.html |
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