GREAT POLISH GENERALS OF WW2: Stanislaw Franciszek Sosabowski

General Stanislaw Sosabowski

No other Allied General during World War II had been so villified and ostracized by British Command as General Stanislaw Franciszek Sosabowski. He was Commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade which fought valiantly in Operation Market Garden, a battle which ended with disastrous casualties of allied troops including the Polish division. Sosabowski attempted to divert disaster by warning British command of their flawed strategy but it was not heeded nor tolerated and ultimately resulted in a swift and humiliating dismissal from his command. Sosabowski was a brilliant strategist with an illustrious career in the military yet British command made him a scapegoat so as to avoid admitting their own culpability in the tragic debacle.

To the rest of the world the name Stanislaw Sosabowski has since faded into virtual obscurity, that is until 2007 when a Polish documentary was produced that finally exposed the slander and libel that has tarnished the legacy of a great man and a great General. The film, Honor Generala (A General's Honor) has succeeded in restoring honour to his name, and to the men that served his unit. (video at end of post)

Stanislaw Sosabowski was born on May 8, 1892 in Stanislawow. At the time, Poland was under foreign occupation having been partitioned in 1772 by the imperial powers of Russia, Prussia and Austria. It was one of three partitions that virtually obliterated the Polish state for 123 years. Stanislowow is now part of the Ukraine which is now called Ivano-Franivsk. Before the partitions, the city of Stanislawow was a private fortress that had been built in the 17th century by the Potocki family and owned by them until they were constrained to relinquish it to the House of Habsburg. (Incidentally, the Potocki name comes from a long line of Polish aristocratic land-owners whose legacy has been indelibly intertwined with the Polish history and culture of the region.)

Sosabowski's early life was one of struggle and self-sacrifice. He was one of four children - two boys and two girls but Stanislaw Andrzej Janina and Kazimiera died at a young age. His father worked as a railway clerk. In 1910 Sosabowski was accepted by the Faculty of Economics at the University of Krakow but when his father passed away he abandoned his studies and returned to Stanislawow to assume the responsibilities of caring for his family, working as a bank clerk.

Polska Druzyna Strzelecka

He joined the Druzyny Strzeleckie (Polish Rifle Team), an underground Polish scouting organization and was very soon promoted to head all the Polish scouting groups in the region. Their mission was to prepare and mobilize to fight for the independence of the Polish fatherland.

By 1913 Sosabowski had been drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army and soon after having completed his training was promoted to the rank of Corporal in the 58th Infantry Division. He led his unit into battle when World War I broke out and fought with great distinction in the Battles of Rzeszow, Dukla Pass and Gorlice.

Sosabowski helped to defend the Austrian fortress city of Przemysl and was one of the only three survivors of a total company of 250 men. He was decorated with numerous medals for his bravery and service and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. But in 1915 Sosasbowski was badly wounded in action and had to withdraw from the front. He spent many months in hospital with Maria Tokarska at his side, whom he later married.

In 1917 Sosabowski was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant but because of his war wounds he was instead appointed to Staff Officer of the Archduke Franz Josef HQ in Tyrol. His first son, Stanislaw Janusz was born in Brno.

When Poland regained it's independence on November 11, 1918 Sosabowski pledged allegiance to the re-emerged Polish State. He was made Captain of the new Polish Army and organized the disarming of Ukrainian soldiers, and former units of the Austrian army. Sosabowski and his family took up residence in Zoliborz - a very upscale district of Warsaw - then and now. From 1919-20 he worked at the Ministry of Army Affairs in Warsaw as materiel and supplies specialist and also served as member of the Polish Mission to the Inter Allied Council in Spa, Belgium. (He was fluent in French.)

Following the end of the Polish-Soviet War, Sosabowski was promoted to the rank of Major. In 1922 he attended the Wyszwsz Szkola Wojskowa in Warsaw, the Polish Army General Staff College - prestigious institutions accessible only to a privileged few. Among his classmates was Przedrzymirski Heller Ulrich who would later achieve very high military stature. During this time Sosabowski's second son, Jacek was born. The family house, located at 11 Josef Haukiego Street, was constructed in grand style consisting of basement, two floors and a large garden. (It's market value today is in the millions.)

In 1928 he was promoted to rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the 75th Regiment at Chorzow, and at Rybnik, and then made Deputy Commanding Officer of the 3rd Podhale Rifle Regiment, an elite infantry division.


From 1930 to 1936 he served as lecturer and head of the Polish General Staff College, and during that time published two books which have since become standard for military texts. After a prolonged absence he finally returned to the front line as CO of the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division in Zamosc. Just at that time, tragedy struck and his younger son Jacek had died in a horrible accident.

In 1937 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and was appointed commanding officer of the 9th Polish Legions Infantry Regiment in Zamosc. Two years later he was given command of the prestigious 21st "Children of Warsaw" Infantry Regiment. (Dzieci Warszawy)

Schleswig Holstein fires first shots of WWII

When Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939, Sosabowski's regiment was stationed at Ciechanow, in east-central Poland, where it was held as a strategic reserve of the Modlin Army. By the 3rd day his unit had already relocated near Mlawa and entered combat with the enemy. Though Sosabowski's regiment succeeded in capturing Przasnysz, his troops were surrounded by the Germans and destroyed. Sosabowski and the remnants of his regiment retreated towards Warsaw.

Sosabowski's unit, attached to the 8th Infantry Division had reached the Modlin Fortress by September 8 and after several days of defensive battles, the unit headed towards Warsaw 50 kilometers away. As soon as they arrived, Sosabowski's regiment was ordered to defend Grochow, Kamionek and Praga against the Nazi 10th Infantry Division.

During the Siege of Warsaw, Sosabowski and his men, against all odds managed to maintain their objectives. When the Germans launched a general assault on Praga, the Polish infantry succeeded in not only repelling their attacks but conducted successful counter-attacks and destroyed many enemy troops. Warsaw capitulated on September 29 but despite the overwhelming power of the German war machine Sosabowski and his men managed to keep fighting the enemy until the end of September. General Juliusz Rommel awarded Col. Sosabowski and the entire company of 21st Infantry Regiment with the highest military decoration for bravery, the Virtuti Militari.

Sosabowski was taken prisoner and interned at a German camp near Zyradow, but luckily he managed to escape and returned to Warsaw under an alias and joined the Polish resistance ready to continue fighting. But he was ordered to leave Poland immediately and head for France with important documents detailing the situation in Nazi-occupied Poland and set out on a long and perilous journey through Hungary and Romania. Once having arrived in Paris, the Polish government in exile appointed Sosabowski as commanding officer of the Polish 4th Infantry Division.

At first the French authorities were reluctant to provide the Polish unit with equipment and armaments but eventually cooperated albeit with equipment that predated World War I. In April 1940 the Polish division had been moved to a training post at Parthenay and were supplied with weapons they had been expecting since January, but only 3,150 weapons were available to distribute among the 11,000 soldiers. Time was running out. The Germans invaded in May and France fell. The commander of the unit, General Rudolf Dreszer,ordered the troops to withdraw to the Atlantic coast. On June 19, 1940 Sosabowski and his men were among the 6,000 Polish soldiers who made their way to La Pallice to evacuate to Great Britain.

Polish soldiers evacuation by boat presumably from France to England 1940

The Polish General Staff in London assigned Sosabowski the command of the 4th Rifles Brigade. Recruits were mainly young Polish men from Canada, and it became quickly apparent that there were not enough men with which to create a division. Sosabowski envisaged a transformation of his unit into that of a specialist parachute brigade - the first of its kind in the Polish Army. Soon recruits were flooding in from all sectors of the Polish Army and a parachute training camp was established at Largo House.

Largo House Fife Scotland - Training Camp of Polish paratroopers

Sosabowski joined his men in the training schedules and passed the tests. At the age of 49 he made his first parachute jumps. Their objective was to assist in the national uprising in Poland and were planning to be the first wave of the troops from the Polish army-in-exile to reach the fatherland. Their motto was Najkrotsza Droga, the Shortest Way. The unit was named the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade and by October 1942 they were ready for combat.

Polish paratroopers training  ( Special Cichociemni forces)

But British authorities had other ideas. In September 1943, Lt. General Frederick Browning made a proposition to transform Sosabowski's unit into a British division, with the remaining posts filled by British soldiers. And in an effort to sweeten the deal, Browning offered command of the unit to Sosabowski along with a promised promotion to rank of General. Sosabowski adamantly refused to accept those terms. He was intent on maintaining the unit's independence from British Command, and insisted that only Polish troops were eligible to enlist. Nevertheless, on June 15, 1944 Sosabowski was promoted to Brigadier General.

After years of covert preparation, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) launched the Warsaw Uprising on August 1, 1944. British authorities had been notified in advance, and the expectation was quite high among Polish troops that the British would provide military assistance and supplies to the Home Army at the appropriate time. The 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was at the ready to drop over Warsaw and fight alongside their colleagues. However British Command, loyal to their new ally, Stalin, would not allow Sosabowski's men to provide assistance to the Warsaw defenders. British authorities insisted that the mission would be jeopardized because transport aircraft could not make a round trip of such a great distance. The awful truth was that Stalin denied them access to Soviet airfields.

The bad news impacted the Polish troops quite severely and they were on the verge of a mutiny. When British Command threatened the Polish unit with disarmament, Sosabowski had to resume control of his unit. The Polish Commander-in-Chief Kazimerz Sosnkowski had no choice but to put the brigade under the authority of British Command - and the hopes and plans of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were crushed. Instead of fighting for their own country, they were compelled to fight at Arnhem.

OPERATION MARKET GARDEN - BATTLE AT ARNHEM

 

The Battle of Arnhem (September 17-26, 1944) was an ambitious project proposed by Field Marshal Montgomery albeit an unsuccessful one - to bypass the Siegfried line and attack directly into the industrial heartland of Germany through the Rhine. Originally he had planned to launch Operation Comet, which would combine the forces of the 1st Airborne Division and the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade. However, on September 10th the Operation had to be scrapped because of bad weather having lasted for several days, as well as concerns by Montgomery of increasing German resistance in the area.

An allied victory was greatly anticipated as well as the expectation of shortening the war by several months. It was the largest airborne operation yet devised combining the airborne divisions of the US 101st and 82nd, the British 1st and the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, as well as land forces including the XXX Corp. Major-General Urquhart was given command of the British and Polish divisions. The mission's tactical objectives called for the capture of several bridges across the Maas, securing the Waal and the Lower Rhine in addition to several canals and tributaries - the most important of which was the Arnhem Bridge. While the allied had initial success, it was minimal.

Though British Command was fervently optimistic, the mission was doomed to failure. Despite numerous warnings from General Sosobowski, which was supported by Major-General Urquhart and other officers, plans went ahead anyway for the invasion.

L-R: General Sosabowski and Browning

Browning believed that German resistance would be minimal, but in reality Arnhem was heavily defended by German panzer divisions. Major Urquhart, Browning's intelligence officer, ordered an aerial reconnaissance which confirmed it, but General Browning chose to ignore the report and ordered Urquhart on sick leave. From the start there was considerable disagreement between General Sosabowski and Browning regarding the Operation's strategy but no amount of reasoning could persuade Browning of this folly.

Allied Landings - Operation Market Garden - Battle of Arnhem

A massive aerial armada commenced on September 17, 1944, transporting thousands of personnel and equipment from Britain to Holland. But instead of flying several sorties and dropping all paratroopers on one day, the second contingent was dropped only the next day. With Operation Market Garden already underway, the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade was still in England, it's departure postponed due to bad weather and heavy fog. To compound the difficulties, the Brigade's artillery had been dropped with the 101st while the howitzers were being shipped by sea - a scenario which made it virtually impossible for the Polish forces to function effectively.

Polish soldiers of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade boarding plane

Because of a severe shortage of transport planes the Polish brigade had to be split up into separate contingents. On September 19 two of the brigades' three battalions were dropped opposite the position of the 1st Airborne Division south of the Rhine near Driel and the remainder were to arrive two days later at a distance town, Grave. It was a suicide mission. Many paratroopers dropped right into enemy territory and were cut down by a barrage of heavy gun fire.

Polish troops were called in to provide reinforcements to the besieged 1st Airborne Division, however they had no choice but to withdraw to Driel. The opposite bank of the river was heavily reinforced by Germans, and the ferry that the British thought was available had been sunk and was unsalvageable. The Polish Brigade were ordered to make the crossing using small rubber boats. After three attempts, under heavy German fire, about 200 Polish troops made it across, but with heavy casualties.

General Sosabowski at Driel with Polish troops

Casualties suffered by the Polish Brigade were as high as 40%, the result of General Browning's decision to drop the troops 7 kilometers distance from the bridge. Landings were made too far from the Arnhem bridge and the poor logistical coordination by the RAF resulted in supplies being dropped 15 km (9.3 miles) distance from the opposite side of the Rhine. General Sosobowski had tried to warn Browning several times of the dire consequences in conducting this ill-fated strategy but to no avail.

At a staff meeting on September 24, Sosabowski made a suggestion that the battle could still be won by uniting the troops of XXX Corps and the Polish Brigade for an all-out assault on enemy positions in an effort to break through the Rhine. British Command rejected the plan and ordered him to lead his troops southward and provide cover for the retreating remnants of the 1st Airborne Division. An evacuation was undertaken on September 25th.

Montgomery sent a letter to General Sosabowski on October 5, 1944 commending the Polish soldiers for their valor in battle and offering to award ten of his soldiers. But a week later Montgomery wrote another letter, to British Command, in which he blamed General Sosabowski for the failure of Market Garden, and accused him of being argumentative, "difficult to work with" and "unable to adapt himself to the level of a parachute brigade commander" and so on. He issued a report claiming that the Polish troops had "fought very badly and the men showed no keenness to fight".

These were scathing words that ultimately put enormous pressure on Polish Command to respond, and resulted in Sosabowski's dismissal. He was utterly humiliated and reassigned as commander of guard troops. Apparently Sosabowski was replaced with a younger man who was easy to manipulate. Despite Sosabowskis' efforts to warn British Command of their flawed strategy, the failure of the Operation was placed squarely on his shoulders, and he was made the scapegoat.

At the end of the war the Soviet-controlled communist government in Poland stripped Sosabowski of his Polish citizenship. Luckily he was able to get his wife and son out of Poland in time. It was only at the end of the war that General Sosabowski was informed that his son, Stanislaw "Stasinek" had lost his sight during the fighting in the Warsaw Uprising. He was a medic and member of the Kedyw. Sosabowski spent the remaining years of his life in exile, living in London, where he worked as a factory worker for the CAV Electric plant in Acton. He passed away on September 25, 1967. His friends and colleagues had not known of his military achievements until they were read out loud at his funeral. General Sosabowskis' remains are interred in the Powazki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands

The British, it has been said, are loathe to acknowledge their own failures and defeats. Much easier for them to use others as scapegoats. Irregardless of British sentiment, General Sosabowski and the men of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade have been duly honored by the people of The Netherlands.

On May 31, 2006 Queen Beatrix conferred the Military Williams Order (fourth class) to the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, and the prestigious Bronze Lion, posthumously to General Stanislaw Sosabowski, the highest Dutch decorations awarded for bravery.

Recognition of the Polish forces had been proposed in 2005 by then Minister of Defense, Henk Kamp. It was followed by a thorough investigation and assessment that lasted eight months. Finally, the Chamber's decision to present the awards was unanimous.

Apparently British diplomacy did not approve.

AWARDS AND MEDALS

Knight's Cross of the Virtuti Militari

Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
(posthumously)

Cross of Independence

Polish Cross of Valor

Gold Cross of Merit with Swords

Bronze Lion (Netherlands)
(posthumously)

Bronze Lion awarded posthumously to General Sosobowski

Military Williams Order (fourth class)
 to the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

Banner of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

 

NAJKROTSZA DROGA

BY THE SHORTEST WAY

REMEMBRANCE: EL ALAMEIN

(11/11) Battlefield II El Alamein Ep10 World War II    (03:42m)

In the First Battle of El Alamein, from July 1st to 27th, 1942,  Allied Forces  (Great Britain, British India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) under the command of Claude Auchinleck fought against the Axis. The First battle ended in a stalemate but it succeeded in halting the German advance on Alexandria and then Cairo and Suez Canal.  The British Eighth Army suffered over 13,000 casualties, the New Zealand Division 4,000, the 5th Indian Infantry Division 3,000, and the 9th Australian Division 2,552 casualties. But overall number of prisoners taken were 7,000 with heavy damages inflicted on Axis men and machinery.  In early August Winston Churchill replaced Auchinleck with Lieutenant-General William Gott. However, a Messerschmidtt intercepted the air transport carrying Gott, who was killed by enemy fire.  Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed in his place. Rommel made a second attempt to break Allied positions but was repelled during the Battle of Alam Halfa in August. During the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, the Eighth Army decisively defeated the Axis forces.

The following contains only excerpts or highlights of a few of the battles.  It does not in any way represent a complete account of the First Battle of El Alamein and the Second Battle of El Alamein.   My apologies for the fragmentation.

In the early hours of July 1st, the German 90th Light Infantry Division spearheaded the attack but overextended its advance and were pinned down when it ran into the defense zone of the 1st South African Division. Attacks planned by the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions were delayed by a sandstorm, after which they were heavily bombed by Allied air attacks. By daylight, the Germans arrived in the area east of Deir el Abyad at Deir el Shein too late and were surprised to find it was already occupied by the Indian 18th Infantry Brigade.

By 10:00 hours the 21st Panzer Division attacked the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade at Deir el Shein. By evening, after a day of desperate fighting were able to overrun them. However, it bought the Allies time to reorganize its defence of the western part of Ruweisat Ridge.  Meanwhile the 1st Armoured Division was sent to intervene at Deir el Shein where they ran right into the 15th Panzer Division. By the end of the day's fighting the Germans lost a third of their tanks.


The British defence of Ruweisat Ridge code named Robcol, was heavily fortified by a regiment each of Field artillery and light anti-aircraft artillery and a company of infantry.  Two British armoured brigades joined the contingent with the 4th Armoured Brigade, and engaged the 15th Panzer and 22nd Armoured Brigade 21st Panzer in battle. They succeeded in driving the Germans back.  By evening,  Robcol was reinforced and was renamed Walgroup. Meanwhile, the RAF had been making heavy air attacks on Axis units.

The next day, enemy attack was renewed, led this time led by the Italian XX Motorised Corp. It was a clear indication that the Germans were weakening, its tanks now down to 26.  Although the Italian Ariete Armoured Division made good progress along Ruweisat Ridge, they were greatly outnumbered by British tanks of the 4 Armoured Brigade. By morning The Axis advance was halted by a combination of British artillery fire and air attacks. That day the RAF flew 780 sorties.

On the following day, the 2nd New Zealand Division supported by the 5th Indian Division and 7th Motor Brigade advanced north on German positions and encountered fierce artillery fire from the Ariete Armoured Division. The Ariete lost 531 men, 36 pieces of artillery, 6 or 8 tanks, and 55 trucks. At the end of the day they had only five tanks left. The RAF flew 900 sorties that day.

From July 8th the Allied and Axis units engaged in fierce battle for the capture of Tel el Eisa. But after seven days of fierce fighting, the battle in the north for Tel el Eisa salient petered out.  Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The 9th Australian Division estimated that at least 2,000 Axis troops had been killed and more than 3,700 taken prisoner. Despite the impasse, the Allies won a major victory in that the Australians had captured Signals Intercept Company 621. This unit had been providing Rommel with intelligence reports obtained from intercepted British radio communications.

The turning point came during the Second Battle of El Alamein which lasted from October 23 to November 5, 1942.  The Germans hoped to gain access to Middle Eastern oil fields by occupying Egypt and taking control of the Suez Canal.  Their hopes were ended.

The Second Battle of El Alamein was divided into five phases, consisting of the break-in (23–24 October), the crumbling (24–25 October), the counter (26–28 October), Operation Supercharge (1–2 November) and the breakout (3–7 November). No name is given to the period from 29–31 October, when the battle was at a standstill.

In this battle the 50th (Northumbrian) Division was initially deployed in the south, where it was to attack the Italian 185th Parachute Division Folgore. Since the unit was understrength, owing to the loss of the 150th Infantry Brigade, the 1st Free French Brigade and 1st Greek Brigade were attached to it. It was then transferred north to take part in Operation Supercharge.

The first phase began with the mission codenamed Operation Lightfoot.  Gunfire from all 882 Allied guns from Field and Medium batteries landed across the entire 40 mile front at the same time, and lasted for a period of about twenty minutes. The Allies then switched to precision targets in order to support their advancing infantry. After five and half hours, each battery had fired 600 shells. The moniker "Lightfoot" referred to the Allied infantrymen who ran across the anti-tank mine field.  They were too light to set off the mines, hence the name "Lightfoot". As the infantry advanced, engineers had to clear a path for the tanks coming behind. Each section of land cleared of mines had to be 24 ft (7.3 m) wide -  just wide enough for tanks to get through in single file.  The cleared area had to extend for a distance of five miles (8.0 km)  through the 'Devil’s Gardens' but could not be completed because of the depth of the Axis minefields.

(NB: In 1941,  Polish engineer and signals officer, Lt. Jozef Kosacki, stationed in Scotland, had designed a Mine Detector that was to be used for the first time in action. His design was accepted by British Command and five hundred of these were immediately sent to the British Eighth Army at El Alamein.  The Polish Metal Detectors doubled the speed at which heavily mined sands could be cleared, from around 100 to about 200 meters an hour. During the war more than 100,000 of these detectors were produced and used during the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Allied Invasion of Italy, and the Invasion of Normandy. In fact, the British army had used them up until 1995.

British Commonwealth infantry defensive position near El Alamein17 July 1942.

In phase two of the battle, Montgomery ordered that the northern corridor be cleared, and deployed the New Zealand Division (supported by 10th Armoured) to advance southward from Miteirya Ridge, while the 9th Australian Division in the north began planning for a crumbling operation. Meanwhile, the 7th Armoured was given the mission to try to break through the minefields with support from 44th Division.

Throughout the day Allied Forces made over 1,000 sorties attacking Axis positions with the objective of "crumbling" Axis forces. By late afternoon, little progress was made.

The first major tank battle began at dusk at El Alamein; Axis tanks from the 15th Panzer Division and Italian Littorio Divisions engaged the 1st Armoured Division in which over 100 tanks were involved. By dark, half were destroyed and neither position was altered. The 10th Armoured Division from Miteirya Ridge launched an attack which proved unsuccessful. Far too much time was spent lifting mines from Miteirya Ridge and beyond, that the 8th Armoured Brigade was caught by an air attack and dispersed. By daylight they were still behind schedule and were receiving considerable fire from tanks and anti-tank guns.  The next day the Allies had advanced through the minefields and were firmly entrenched atop Miteirya Ridge in the southeast while the Axis forces were still in their original positions. The battle came to a standstill.

Montgomery now decided that XXX Corps, while keeping firm hold of Miteirya, should strike northwards towards the coast with 9th Australian Division. Meanwhile, 1st Armoured Division, on the Australians' left, should continue to attack west and northwest, and activity to the south on both Corps fronts would be confined to patrolling. The battle would be concentrated at the Kidney feature and Tel el Eisa until a breakthrough occurred.

The Australians attacked Point 29, a 20-foot (6.1 m) high Axis artillery observation post southwest of Tel el Eisa. Their objective was to surround the Axis coastal salient containing the German 164th Light Division and Italian infantry. For the next few days it was the scene of heated battle. The Australian 26th Brigade attacked at midnight, supported by artillery and 30 tanks of 40th Royal Tank Regiment and gained the position, taking 240 prisoners.  Meanwhile, RAF bombers dropped 115 tons of bombs on targets in the battle field and fourteen tons on the Stuka base at Sidi Haneish, while night fighters flew patrols over the battle area and the Axis forward landing grounds.

By phase three of the battle, Allied artillery and air attacks were constant and ferocious resulting in very heavy German casualties. The Italian Trento Division lost 50% of its infantry and most of its artillery.

Rommel ordered a counterattack in an effort to regain Point 29 and deployed 15th Panzer, 164th Light Divisions, and some elements of Italian XX Corps. But it achieved nothing. He began to draw out his reserve forces but their progress was slow under continual heavy bombardment. Despite British efforts to move forward they were stopped by anti-tank guns, stalling the Allied offensive. Churchill railed, "Is it really impossible to find a general who can win a battle?"

On a brighter note for the British, Beaufort torpedo bombers of No. 42 Squadron RAF, attached to No. 47 Squadron,sank at Tobruk the tanker Proserpina which was the last hope for refueling Rommel's army.

Montgomery was concerned that the impetus of the offensive was waning. He therefore decided that over the next two days, while continuing the process of attrition, he would thin out his front line to create a reserve with which to restore his momentum. The reserve was to include the New Zealand Division (with 9th Armoured Brigade under command),10th Armoured Division and 7th Armoured Division.

On the night of October 28-29, the 20th Australian Infantry Brigade with the support of 40th R.T.R. advanced northwest from Point 29 to form a base for 26th Australian Infantry Brigade with support of the 46th R.T.R. Their objective was to strike northeast of the enemy-held position called "Thompson's Post". (south of the railway). Following that they were to cover the railway to the coast road where they would advance south east to close on the rear of the Axis troops in the coastal salient. An attack by the division's third brigade would then be launched on the salient from the southeast.

Because of the distances involved, the troops were riding on 46th R.T.R.'s Valentine tanks as well as carriers, which mines and anti-tank guns soon brought to grief forcing the infantry to dismount. The infantry and armour lost touch with each other in the ensuing fighting with the German 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and a battalion of 7th Bersaglieri Regiment sent to reinforce the sector and the advance came to a halt. The Australians suffered 200 casualties in that attack and overall suffered 27 killed and 290 wounded.

It became clear that there were no longer enough hours of darkness left to reform, continue the attack and see it to its conclusion, so the operation was called off.

The Italian anti-tank gunners had fought fiercely and all were killed or died of wounds, except for 20 wounded men who were captured the following morning.

By the end of the day, the British had 800 tanks still in operation, while the  Germans had 148 and the Italians 187 tanks.  The Axis was dealt another blow with the sinking of the German tanker Luisiano off the west coast of Greece by a torpedo from a Wellington bomber: Rommel told his commanders, "It will be quite impossible for us to disengage from the enemy. There is no gasoline for such a manoeuvre. We have only one choice and that is to fight to the end at Alamein."

By the end of the night the Australians had reached the road and the railway making the position of the Axis troops in the salient precarious. The next day Rommel deployed a battlegroup from the 21st Panzer Division and launched four successive attacks against "Thompson's Post".  Despite intense fighting, often hand-to-hand battle, no ground was won by the Axis.

One of the Australians, Sargeant William Kibby, was killed on 31st for his heroic actions in making a lone attack on a machine gun. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.
 

Allied infantry

The next day, Rommel launched another attack to attempt to dislodge the Australians, but lost even more men and equipment in the process.

Two more German supply ships, the Tripolino and the Ostia were torpedoed and sunk northwest of Tobruk.

Rommel began to plan a retreat anticipating retiring to Fuka, some 50 mi (80 km) west. Ironically, large amounts of fuel arrived at Benghazi after the German forces had started to retreat, but little of it reached the front.

The fourth phase of the battle began at 01:00 hours on November 2nd with the objective of destroying enemy armour, forcing the enemy to fight in the open, depleting Axis oil supplies, attacking and occupying enemy supply routes, and causing the disintegration of enemy rank and file. The mission codenamed "Supercharge" was greater than anything witnessed so far. The objective of this operation was the base of Axis defense at Tel el Aqqaqir, located about 3 mi (4.8 km) northwest of the Kidney feature and situated on the Rahman lateral track.

The attack was carried out by a division composed of the 2nd New Zealand Division, the 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade, the 28th (Maori) Infantry Battalion with 151st (Durham) Brigade from 50th Division under its command, 152nd (Seaforth and Camerons) Brigade from 51st Division and the 133rd Royal Sussex Lorried Infantry Brigade. In addition, the division was to have British 9th Armoured Brigade under command.

Supercharge started with a seven hour aerial bombardment concentrated on Tel el Aqqaqir and Sidi Abd el Rahman. The two assault brigades gained most of their objectives with moderate losses. On the right of the main attack 28th (Maori) battalion captured positions to protect the right flank of the newly formed salient and 133rd Lorried Infantry did the same on the left. New Zealand engineers cleared five lines through the mines allowing the Royal Dragoons armoured car regiment to slip out into the open and spend the day raiding the Axis communications.

In Phase Five, codenamed the "Breakout", Rommels forces were at an standstill. On November 2 he dispatched a communique to Hitler informing him that "the army's strength was so exhausted after its ten days of battle that it was not now capable of offering any effective opposition to the enemy's next break-through attempt… With our great shortage of vehicles an orderly withdrawal of the non-motorised forces appeared impossible…In these circumstances we had to reckon, at the least, with the gradual destruction of the army.". Rommel was determined to hold the battlefield. Meanwhile in what was its biggest day of the battle, the Allies flew 1,208 sorties and dropped 396 short tons (359 t) of bombs over Axis positions.

The plan for pursuit was set into motion on November 4th. At dawn the Eighth Army called upon the 7th Armoured Division to swing northward and roll up the Axis units still in the forward lines, and  the 2nd New Zealand Division with two lorry borne infantry brigades, the 9th Armoured and 4th Light Armoured Brigades to advance west along desert tracks to the escarpment above Fuka, about 60 mi (97 km) away. The New Zealand units were dispersed and took some time to concentrate their troops. Further delays were caused by congestion of the paths through the minefields.



In addition to the Ariete Division, was also the destruction of the Littorio Division and the Trieste Motorised Division. The Italians fought to the last man. Private Sid Martindale, 1st Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, wrote about 25th Bologna Infantry Division, which had taken the full weight of the British armoured attack:

"The more we advanced the more we realized that the Italians did not have much fight on them after putting up a strong resistance to our overwhelming advance and they started surrendering to our lead troops in droves. There was not much action to see but we came across lots of burnt out Italian tanks that had been destroyed by our tanks. I had never seen a battlefield before and the site of so many dead was sickening."

Bologna and the remainder of Trento Division tried to fight their way out of Alamein and marched in the desert without water, food, or transport before surrendering exhausted and dying from dehydration. In a symbolic act of final defiance none of the Italian troops raised their hands. Harry Zinder of Time magazine noted that the Italians fought better than had been expected, and commented that for the Italians:

It was a terrific letdown by their German allies. They had fought a good fight. In the south, the famed Folgore parachute division fought to the last round of ammunition. Two armoured divisions and a motorised division, which had been interspersed among the German formations, thought they would be allowed to retire gracefully with Rommel's 21st, 15th and 19th light. But even that was denied them. When it became obvious to Rommel that there would be little chance to hold anything between El Daba and the frontier, his Panzers dissolved, disintegrated and turned tail, leaving the Italians to fight a rear-guard action.

By late morning on 4 November, Rommel realized his situation was dire: "The picture in the early afternoon of the 4th was as follows: powerful enemy armoured forces… had burst a 12-mile hole in our front, through which strong bodies of tanks were moving to the west. As a result of this, our forces in the north were threatened with encirclement by enemy formations 20 times their number in tanks… There were no reserves, as every available man and gun had been put into the line. So now it had come, the thing we had done everything in our power to avoid – our front broken and the fully motorised enemy streaming into our rear. Superior orders could no longer count. We had to save what there was to be saved."

Subsequently the Allies captured von Thoma, and had encircled Ariete and Trento divisions. Rommel telegraphed Hitler for permission to retreat. By 17:30 hours not having received any response, Rommel gave the order to retreat.


On the morning of 6 November, the 7th Armoured Division had come upon 21st Panzer and the Voss Reconnaissance Group and a series of clashes broke out during the day during which 21st Panzer lost 16 tanks and numerous guns. The Germans narrowly escaped encirclement, and by evening had retreated to Mersa Matruh.

During the day U.S. heavy bombers attacked Tobruk, sinking Etopia and later attacked Benghazi, sinking the Mars and setting alight the tanker Portofino.

The Battles of El Alamein had been ferocious but in the end, the Allies' had total victory. Axis casualties of 37,000 amounted or 30% of their total force. By comparison Allied casualties of 13,500 were a small proportion of their total force.  At the end of the battle, the Panzer army numbered about 5,000 troops, 20 tanks, 20 anti-tank guns and 50 field guns.  The Allies were taken by surprise with Rommel's withdrawal and were slow to pursue him, failing to cut him off at Fuka and then Mersa Matruh.


El Alamein was the first great offensive against the Germans in which the Western Allies were victorious. Winston Churchill famously summed up the battle on 10 November 1942 with the words,  

"This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. 

But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." 

ANIMATED MAP THE BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN

General Montgomery

Winston Churchill

Link:

Polish Greatness.com