“A tank battle of extreme violence developed with heavy casualties on both sides. Their ammunition supply was inexhaustible. Our situation on the other hand was now desperate. During the course of the day we shot off 450 tonnes of ammunition and received only 190 tonnes. Even that was delivered by destroyers to Tobruk, 300 miles away”
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL FRITZ BAYERLEIN, ON EL ALAMEIN
A Tiger on its way to the front is the subject of intense interest from the locals during the final battles for Tunisia.
In the weeks that followed the battle of Alam el Halfa a steady supply of reinforcements, munitions and supplies poured into the British camp. The Sherman M3 Medium tank known to the British as ‘The Grant’ greatly strengthened British firepower with its 75mm gun. Montgomery was preparing to attack the German’s position at El Alamein but had resolved that the men under his command would never be needlessly sacrificed. The offensive would begin on the night of 23rd October 1942.
As the initial 1000 gun artillery barrage began, the British and Commonwealth forces outnumbered the Germans and Italians almost two-to-one in men and tanks, and had vastly superior air power. Montgomery could rapidly make good any losses, with the Royal Navy dominating the Mediterranean; Rommel could not. More critically, the Afrika Korps possessed only one-tenth of the fuel which they required for full operational mobility, and operations would soon be restricted. There had also been widespread outbreaks of disease amongst the German forces and Rommel himself had fallen ill. On the first day of the battle of El Alamein Rommel was convalescing in Austria.
Montgomery’s initial plan was for a major thrust to the north screened by a feint to the south. The first two days were spent probing passages through the deep minefields in what Montgomery called the ‘crumbling process’ - the wearing down of the enemy’s entrenched defences. The German anti-tank positions proved too resilient and the hope for breakthrough into the open desert to the German rear did not succeed.
The adaptable Montgomery decided on a change of tactics and on 28th October he struck north towards the coast. Rommel rapidly and successfully countered. In these fierce tank battles the Germans were destroying four machines for every one lost. Montgomery again changed tactics and a third attack began on November 2nd. It met with fierce resistance and at the end of the day 200 tanks on both sides were out of action, but a corridor had been forced through the German defences. The two armoured divisions comprising the main striking arm of the Afrika Korps had now dwindled to 2,000 men and some thirty-five tanks.
On 3rd November Rommel was forced to organise a general withdrawal. Montgomery had won the battle for El Alamein.
It was now that Montgomery’s instinctive caution worked against him. The follow-up was slow and hesitant. With a combination of skill and luck Rommel’s small forces eluded the vastly superior British and Commonwealth forces. However, Operation Torch was just round the corner and on 8th November British and American Forces began to land in north-west Africa. Rommel launched his last counter-attack on 16th March in an attempt to hold the Mareth line in Libya, but it was easily beaten off. Shortly thereafter he was recalled to Germany. Hitler was disappointed in his Field Marshall but he wanted him well out of the way before the ignominy of final capitulation.