The battle of El Alamein.

In 1942 things were not going well for the British and Commonwealth forces in north Africa. In early August Winston Churchill replaced General Auchinleck as C-in-C Middle East with General Sir Harold Alexander. Lieutenant-General Gott was to take command of Eighth Army but was killed soon after being chosen, when the transport plane he was travelling in was shot down so Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery became Eighth Army commander. At the end of August Rommel attacked the El Alamein defensive line and was stopped at Alam el Halfa ridge. After six weeks of building up his forces in which the 8th army received 300 Sherman tanks Montgomery attacked with 220,000 men and 1100 tanks against 115,000 men and 559 tanks of Rommel's forces. A number of these tanks were poor Italian tanks which could not match the new Sherman's. The battle started on October 23with over 800 artillery guns firing at the German and Italian lines. 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. For anybody that's interested in 20th century military and home front collecting have a look at my web site to see my collection.There are also more videos plus speeches and news broadcasts of the 20th century. Plus veteran recording. And don't miss the veterans section look for the poppy. http://server.microlite16.com/josephs-militaria-and-homefront-collection.co.uk/