The Afrika Korps set off nearly four hours late, at 0645 hours, tired and recovering from an air attack. The 'box' at Deir el Abyad turned out not to exist, and the Germans didn’t make contact with the British until 0900 hours, when they ran into the 18th Infantry Brigade at Deir el Shein, at the western end of Auckinleck's defensive in depth. However, during the second half of July, Rommel proved not only to be a good commander during offensive operations, but also in defence. Home page. Lego First Battle of El Alamein Lego World War 2 Stop Motion. Connell, J, Auchinleck. Before this stage of the campaign, a reliable source had existed in Cairo. The Germans were pinned down by heavy defensive fire, and were unable to make any progress. This would give Auchinleck enough confidence to order a counterattack on the following day. On the same day the Australians attacked towards Miteiriya, on the southern side of their salient on the coast, and once again defeated part of the Sabratha division, before withdrawing to their original positions. This would have been the right time to launch the XXX Corps attack in the north, but General Morshead, commander of the 9th Australian Division, objected to his role, on the grounds that his men were exhausted. However, the Axis forces were far from beaten and Auchinleck decided to transfer the 9th Australian Division from the Nile Delta to capture Tell el Eisa to put Rommel's forces under more pressure. Agar-Hamilton, J A I, and Turner, L C F, Crisis in the Desert, May-July 1942 (London, 1952). Churchill settled on General Alexander for the Near East, with Gott in charge of the Eighth Army (Churchill would probably have been happy with Auchinleck in this post, but that would have been a clear demotion). The perception already existed that the latter had an irresponsible attitude towards human losses. During these attacks, the South Africans played mainly a supportive role. Churchill's first idea was that Auchinleck should return to Cairo to concentrate on his role as C-in-C in the Middle East, while General Gott was given command of the Eighth Army. By last light, the 79th British Anti-Tank Regiment was also deployed near the threatened point but, by that time, the German attack had lost its momentum (Tungay, Cape Town, pp 252-3). Help - F.A.Q. They had just arrived from Iraq and were placed in hastily prepared defensive positions. The attack on 14 July was against the new Australian salient on the coast, and was no more successful. Lieutenant-General Neil R… Neither attack made much progress. He had decided  to fly to Moscow to visit Stalin and try and explain why the Western Allies were invading North Africa and not France. Rommel's extensive use of minefields, covered by infantry and small, mobile armoured forces, enabled him to thwart the British efforts that lacked proper coordination and cooperation between infantry, armour and artillery. British officers did not always understand this. The Northern Front consisted of Palestine, Trans Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Iran. of the 1st South African Division at El Alamein, Maj Gen D H Pienaar. Unlike most of the other positions fought over in North Africa it couldn’t be outflanked to the south. German Panzer tanks were severely hit by these and the rest were held up and became sitting targets for Allied fighter planes that could easily pick off tank after tank. Based on this experience, Montgomery, Auchinleck's replacement as commander of the Eighth Army, could later find suitable solutions to defeat Rommel at El Alamein (Dorman O'Gowan, 1967, pp 1 072-5). General Claude Auchinleck No South Africans were killed on 1 July (Div Docs 105, File 1 SAD/A2/2: Battle Casualties, June-July 1942). At the same time, British reinforcements were arriving at such a slow rate that a large-scale offensive before September was out of the question. Owing to several reasons, conflict between British and South African officers was inevitable. He prepared orders for a full scale attack on the southern front, to be carried out on the following day. Rommel launched a counterattack, and by the late afternoon had recaptured Point 63. Auchinleck realised that it was crucial to slow down the tempo of operations to win time and to allow the Eighth Army to build up strength for a counter-offensive (Playfair, 1960, p 333). On the surface, it looked as if this would be easy to achieve. Division would be deployed by the end of June 1942 (Agar-Hamilton and Turner, 1952, p 271). The 90th Light Division began its advance on time at 0300 hours on 1 July, but took the wrong route, and instead of passing to the south of the El Alamein position ran into the defensive works. In attempting this, Rommel was losing tanks fast. The First Battle of El Alamein was fought July 1-27, 1942, during World War II (1939-1945). XXX Corps (General Norrie) was given the task of defending the northern part of the line. A force of armoured cars, sent ahead of a relief effort by the 22nd Armoured Brigade reported that everything was quiet, and so the brigade stayed put. The Second Battle of El Alamein was fought from October 23, 1942 to November 5, 1942 during World War II (1939-1945) and was the turning point of the campaign in the Western Desert. Rommel now finally admitted to himself that he wouldn't be able to conduct any more major offensives with the army currently at his disposal. Before Alamein, it seems as if the British commanders in the Western Desert would never find a way to defeat the Desert Fox, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Barnett, C, The Desert Generals (London, Pan, 1983). (Source: M Wright (ed), The World at Arms, Reader's Digest Illustrated History of World War II, p 90). WD 372, File A 15/ME 63: War Diary 1 st Field Regiment South African Artillery. The … However, the operation failed mainly because the British armour could not move fast enough through the breaches in the minefields. He then turned south to eliminate the Bir Hacheim Box, at the southern end of the line, which was abandoned on the night of 10-11 June. Between them the Germans and Italians had 500 guns, but only 29 of the precious 88mms. Rommel decided to sent the Afrika Korps east towards Alam el Onsol, to the south-east of El Alamein, to cut the coast road. The 2nd South African Brigade was five miles to the east/ north-east of the 1st Brigade. Van Creveld, M, Supplying War. By last light on 1 July, Rommel's forces had not progressed further east than Deir el Shein and the Eighth Army was still in control of the situation (Playfair, 1960, p 341). The reasons for this were that, only on 13 July did the German panzers attack them specifically, and Pienaar did everything in his power to prevent a repetition of Tobruk and Deir el Shein. Before the column had advanced one kilometre, three British tanks had become stuck in a minefield and were hit by anti-tank fire, while others experienced mechanical problems. Thus, he could use forces from Iraq and Persia to enable the Eighth Army to conduct offensive operations. During this battle, they were extremely hesitant to use their tanks once a weak point had been discovered in the Axis defensive positions. Its 3rd South African Brigade was given the task of defending the western side of the fortifications. He wanted at least a South African brigade to attack the Miteirya Ridge to the south. The infantry attacks began at 2300 hours on 14 July, and at first all went well. Rommel attempted to retake the area around Point 64, but two counterattacks on 16 July were repulsed by British anti-tank and artillery fire. A heavy artillery bombardment began at 0330 (waking up Rommel), and the 9th Australian Division and 1st South African Division advanced against the Sabratha division. They had to cover a gap of twelve kilometres between the left flank of the South Africans and the right flank of 13th Corps. South African losses on this day entailed nine dead and 42 wounded (Roll of Honour, 19391945; Div Docs 105, File 1 SAD/A2/ 2: Battle Casualties, 13 July 1942). The task facing the South Africans was made much easier by events to the south-west of their positions. Rommel was planning to chance his axis of attack. The Eighth Army on the defensive, 28 July 1942. On the other side, Rommel concentrated his German formations to break through at Bab el Quattara. The First Battle of El Alamein begins. 15 Panzer, on the German right, clashed with 1st Armoured Division, and neither side could advance. Aftermath. The Italian XXI Corps would attack the El Alamein box from the west. Auchinleck's one advantage was that Rommel's men were almost as exhausted by the fighting of the last few weeks, and were now at the far end of their supply line. Auchinleck's concentrated artillery fire was proving to be very effective. However, the effort was not wasted as the Eighth Army gained valuable experience in German defensive tactics. Tobruk harbour could only handle a limited quantity of Rommel's supply needs and the only other two suitable harbours, Tripoli and Benghazi, were respectively 2 080km and 1 280km from the front at El Alamein. That night part of the Corps managed to break through the German lines, while XIII Corps retreated from the Fuka line. By holding on to the El Alamein Box, the pivot of the El Alamein line was kept intact at a critical stage when the British armour was still on its way from Mersa Matruh to El Alamein. The importance of the South African contribution was that it was part of a team effort. In this capacity he lectures in military history to different courses in the SANDF, such as the Army Officers' Formative Courses, Junior Command and Staff Courses and the Senior Command and Staff Programme at the South African National War College. 30 were lost in the minefield, and others as they advanced past it. Subscribe Subscribed Unsubscribe 390. During July 1942, 12 700 officers and men of the Eighth Army were reported killed, wounded or missing in action (Auchinleck, January, 1948, p 330). By the end of the day the Germans had pushed a salient into the Allied lines, running along the northern side of Ruweisat Ridge, but they weren’t close to breaking through at the eastern end of the salient, and Auchinleck had strong forces to the north and south. If this attack failed to break the Axis lines, then XXX Corps would attack south-west from its salient west of El Alamein and try and get into the enemy rear area. Auchinleck's next target was the western end of Ruweisat Ridge, which was now defended by the Italian Brescia and Pavia divisions. By now Rommel realised that his force was running out of steam. British Army Weapons and Theories of War, 1904-1945 (London, 1982). Hartshorne, E P, Avenge Tobruk (Cape Town, 1960). Eventually the Eighth Army would be able to fortify the entire gap, but that wasn't the case in July 1942. The rest of the Axis forces conducted fixing attacks against the rest of the Eighth Army. Auchinleck struck first. German artillery fire was very accurate and the possibility existed that the panzers could swing the axis of their advance to a more north-westerly direction and destroy the brigade, which had a severe shortage of anti-tank guns. While this was distracting the Germans, the New Zealand division out of its old positions. Unintentionally, the Afrika Korps made contact with the 18th Indian Brigade at Deir el Shein. On 26 May Rommel launched an attack on this line (battle of Gazala, 26 May-14 June 1942). The 6th New Zealand Brigade was posted at Bab el Qattara, slightly more than half way between El Alamein and the Qattara Depression, with the rest of the New Zealand Division further east at Deir el Munassib. Too little time to prepare, movement over unknown terrain, and insufficient reconnaissance, doomed it from the start. After the battle of Gazala, the British Eighth Army retreated to El Alamein line. Rommel's second onslaught against the El Alamein line, 2-3 July 1942 . Mussolini has given explicit orders that Italy's forces were to reach the city first. In the Box, the Royal Durban Light Infantry bore the brunt of the fighting. The loss of the El Alamein Box would have ruptured the El Alamein line, cut off the Australians from the rest of the Eighth Army and probably forced a general retreat to the Nile Delta. He believed that the survivors of X Corps, battered at Mersa Matruh, was all that was standing around El Alamein, while the fresher XIII Corps was fifteen miles further south, blocking the road to Cairo. Having been badly defeated by Axis forces at Gazala in June 1942, the British Eighth Army retreated east into Egypt and assumed a defensive position near El Alamein. He joined the SADF in 1973 and served as an armour officer at 1 Special Service Battalion in Bloemfontein. The danger to the Eighth Army had not diminished completely. First Battle of El Alamein. Young, P, Atlas of the Second World War (New York, 1974). He also had to deal with a request from the commander of the 1st South African Division to allow the 1st Brigade to withdraw east towards Alam el Onsol. Ariete was hit by the New Zealanders, and by noon had lost 350 men and 44 guns, and only have five tanks left. The 4th New Zealand Brigade had the hardest task, advancing north-west to Point 63. The aim of this study is to analyse the role of the South Africans during the First Battle of El Alamein with specific reference to the 1st South African Infantry Division. The main fighting occurred in the vicinity of the Ruweisat Ridge, involving the 1st British Armoured Division, but the South Africans did not escape unscathed. Brooke was offered the new post, but turned it down. The result was that the tanks did not advance before first light, as was the intention, but only at 11.00, straight into killing zone of the waiting German anti-tank gunners (UWH Narratives and Reports, Middle East, Vol II, 1st SA Division, Tobruk to El Alamein, p 1, Interview with Colonel H F C Cilliers on 26 April 1949). Next was the 7th Motorised Brigade. However, Pienaar did not want the 1st South African Rommel forced to defend his Brigade to suffer the same fate as positions the 18th Indian Brigade. 105, File 1 SAD/A2/2, Battle Casualties, 2 July 1942). Although this wasn't the case, 1st Armoured Division came close to overrunning 15 Panzer Division, and although the Germans escaped, they were pushed by four miles. His academic qualifications include the B Mil, University of Stellenbosch, 1976; BA Hons, Strategic Studies, UN/SA, 1981; Hons B Mil, Military History, University of Stellenbosch, 1984; MA, Cum Laude, History, University of Stellenbosch, 1988; and PHD, History, University of the Orange Free State, 1994. General Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, was sent ahead to examine the situation and report to Churchill. Div Docs, 105, File 1 SAD/A22: Battle Casualties, June to July 1942. The concept was that these two brigades would serve as the mobile component supporting the 3rd Brigade and the 18th Indian Brigade (Divisional Documents, 68, File 64: Operational Report, 1st SA Division, El Alamein Defensive Battle, 29 June - 30 September 1942, p 2). Rommel was forced to commit his last German troops to the front line. Rommel threw everything at the Eighth Army during the next two days. The German advance was stopped by 1st Armoured Division, although Ackcol was forced to abandon its position. It was part of the Western Desert Campaign.The Field Marshal Commander Erwin Rommel led the … Rommel's First Attack He also served at the SANDF Documentation Services (Archives). The New Zealanders were to be supported by 2nd Armoured Brigade, coming from the eastern end of the ridge. The first Battle of El Alamein occurred between July 1-27, 1942. The Germans didn’t realise they had gone, and on 9 July carried out a full scale assault on the empty Bab el Qattara box, led by the Littorio division and supported by 90th Light and the German artillery. The Quattara Depression, more or less 60km south-west of El Alamein, constitutes an area of 200km2 and consists mostly of salt lakes and soft sand so that even camels carrying a load could not navigate it. This time they inflicted heavy losses on the Trieste division. Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (London, 1977). Thus, the attackers had to withdraw westward to regroup and to try to find another way further to the south. The Battle of El Alamein begins On July 1, 1942, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is brought to a standstill in the battle for control of North Africa. Apart from the situation of the Axis forces, British reinforcements arrived at a steady pace and the British war cabinet assured Auchinleck that it would be a long time before the German forces in Russia would be able to reach the Middle East through the Caucasus. A series of British counterattacks also achieved little, and the battle ended as a stalemate. The 1st South African Division escaped along the coast, and was at Tobruk by the following day. The 5th Indian Brigade held the Naqb Abu Dweis box, on the edge of the depression. 1-4 July 1942 Theatre: North Africa Area: Around the Egyptian town of El Alamein, 100km (60 miles) west of Alexandria. The British forces in the Middle East had to defend on two fronts. Unfortunatly General Gott didn't realise that the attack had failed, and so at 0800 he ordered 23rd Armoured Brigade to begin its advance, towards the second objective, further west in the El Mreir area. Auchinleck would remain in charge of the area east of the Suez Canal, while a new Commander-in-Chief in the Near East would take over west of the Canal. In 1983, he became a lecturer in military history at the Military Academy, Saldanha, and in 1989 became the head of the Department of Military History. The 18th Indian Brigade was deployed on the western part of the ridge, at Deir el Shein. 23rd Armoured Brigade was also available. This attack would hit the Afrika Korps, which Rommel had been forced to deploy in the front line between El Mreir and the Ruweisat Ridge. SANDF Documentation Centre). It was a battle that lasted 27 days and prevented Afrika Korps from reaching Cairo. Butler, J R M (ed), History of the Second World War, UK Military Series (Playfair, ISO (et al), The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume III, September 1941-September 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein took place near railway depot near the Mediterranean Sea, between 1 and 27 July. Auchinleck's Second Attack (Source: P Young (ed), Atlas of the Second World War, p 47). The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, fought between Axis forces (Germany and Italy) of the Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika) commanded by Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) Erwin Rommel, and Allied (specifically, British Imperial) … Once again he planned to attack along the Ruweisat Ridge, aiming for the centre of Rommel's line around Deir el Shein and El Mreir, at the western edge of the ridge. Home » First Battle of El Alamein (1-27 July 1942) Articles. The Middle East Defence Committee asked for advice, and on 12 July Churchill replied that the only way that they would be able to do that would be by 'defeating or destroying General Rommel and driving him to at least a safe distance'. Sloan, C E E, Mine Warfare on Land (London, 1986). The 50th Division had a more difficult task, and had to break out west, through the Italian front line, turn south to get past Bir Hacheim and then east to head for the Egyptian frontier. Therefore, the army headquarters issued instructions to the corps commanders to prepare to defend their positions, bringing the 1st Battle of El Alamein to an end (Playfair, 1960, p 359). Loading... Unsubscribe from Lego World War 2 Stop Motion? This was of vital importance to the Allied war effort, as it enabled the British forces, in cooperation with their American allies, to drive the Axis forces from North Africa. However, the British were hampered by poor strategy and communications. Pienaar replied that, without armoured support, this would be suicide, but, against his better judgement, eventually gave in to the suggestion that a South African column of the 2nd Brigade, supported by seventeen British tanks, occupy part of the ridge with the aim of conducting raids to the south However, Rommel's situation was aggravated by the loss of reliable information about the Eighth Army. At the western end of the ridge was the 18th Indian Brigade, newly arrived from Iraq. Thus, in retrospect, the South Africans had thwarted the key component of Rommel's plan. A Tactical study of the Royal Artillery in the Twentieth Century (London, 1970). The salient had been turned into more of a curve. The fate of the New Zealanders was still unclear, and so work on clearing gaps in the minefield continued. - Contact Us - Search - Recent - About Us -  Subscribe in a reader - Join our Google Group The first came on 7 August, when General Gott was killed when his aircraft was shot down. At the same time, the 1st British Armoured Division tried to envelope the Germans, causing a gap between them and the 1st South African Brigade which made the brigade's southern flank even more vulnerable (WD 347, File A3/ME 37: War Diary, 1st SA Division HQ, 2 July 1942). In the Nile Delta, 10 Corps was deployed in depth. At the same time, the Afrika Korps (21st and 15th Panzer Divisions) advanced south of the 90th Light with the aim of reaching a position east of the British 13th Corps. In the days immediately before Rommel's first attack on the El Alamein position Allied troops were fed into the position from east and west. The one thing that Moorehead missed was the Battle of El Alamein. The Afrika Korps was to be used for an attack south-east across the battlefield, starting at Tell el Aqqaqir, (north of Deir al Abyad, west of Tobruk) and heading south-east across Ruweisat Ridge towards Alam Nayil (east of the 6th New Zealand Brigade position), to attack XIII Corps from the rear. Furthermore, concentrated artillery fire improved the fire power of the defending British forces, while making the attackers' task more difficult. Auchinleck backed up Norrie, but also gave him permission to replace the South Africans with Ackcol, part of the 50th Division. (Source: SANDF Documentation Centre). Rommel's attack on 13 July was a desperate effort to cut off the Australians from the main El Alamein positions and to disrupt the British defence system. On 2 July, the 1st South African Brigade was in the brunt of the fighting, being hit by the left wing of attacks by the German panzers. The First Battle of El Alamein took place near the El Alamein train station almost by the sea, between 1 and 27 July 1942. Churchill's plan was stopped by two unexpected developments. The defensive position was divided into three corps areas with 30th Corps near the coast and 13th Corps in the south. 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