NOVEMBER 2 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

NOVEMBER 2

1938

The First Vienna Award was signed on November 2, 1938, a treaty between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy that was a direct result of the Munich Agreement in the previous month.  The treaty established the partitioning of Czechoslovakia which separated the Magyar-populated territories in southern Slovakia and southern Carpathian Rus from Czechoslovakia, granting them to Hungary.  Thus Hungary regained some of the territories in present-day Slovakia and Ukraine which had been lost in the Treaty of Trianon in the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.   In mid-March 1939, Adolf Hitler granted Hungary permission to occupy the remainder of Carpatho-Ukraine,which extended its territory further north up to the Polish border. This created a common Hungarian-Polish border, which had once existed, prior to the 18th-century Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.  In September 1939 when German invaded Poland,  the Polish government and a large part of its military evacuated Poland, escaping to Hungary and Romania, and from there to France to continue fighting against the Nazis.  (nb: After World War II,  the First Vienna Award was declare null and void, at the 1947 Treaty of Paris.)

1940

Greek Hero and Legend of WW2:  Marinos Mitralexis was a Greek Air Force pilot, and hero.  During battle, when he ran out of ammunition, he used his plane to ram into the tail of an enemy bomber.  Upon landing his plane, Mitralexis captured the Italian crew that had parachuted  to safety. It was one of the most extraordinary aviation event in World War Two!  Mitralexis was praised by his countrymen as a war hero and was decorated with numerous medals, including the Gold Cross of Valour, Greece's highest award for bravery.  When Greece capitulated to Germany (April 1941) he and the rest of the surviving Greek Air Force personnel and aircraft escaped to North Africa and joined the Allied forces. (nb. Marinos Mitralexis flew the PZL P.24, a Polish all-metal fighter aircraft.  It was designed by Polish aeronautical engineer Zygmunt Pulawski and produced in the 1930s at the PZL factory in Warsaw.)

1942

General Montgomery broke through Rommel’s defensive line at El Alamein, Egypt, forcing the Nazis to retreat. It marked the beginning of the end of the Axis occupation of North Africa. The operation code-named Supercharge was launched with a seven-hour aerial bombardment directed on Tel el Aqqaqir and Sidi Abd el Rahman, followed by a four and a half hour barrage of 360 guns firing about 15,000 shells. The two assault brigades started their attack at 01:05 on November 2, 1942 and achieved their objectives on schedule, 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.  Rommel reported to Hitler 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....." Hitler replied -  ordering Rommel to stand ground and not surrender, and told him that "....you can show them no other road than that to victory or death....."

D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy: Sights and Sounds

 DAY 6/6/44

D-Day will forever be remembered by the world. It was the greatest - the largest amphibious invasion in the history of mankind. 


On Tuesday, June 6, 1944 at 6:30 British Double Summertime (GMT+2) over 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. They were supported by over 5,000 ships manned by more than 195,000 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel and accompanied by 13,000 aircraft. This was Operation Neptune. The first phase was an airborne assault launched shortly after midnight in which over 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French troops, which was followed by the amphibious landing beginning at 06:30 hours.

Troops from the United States, United Kingdom, Free France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway and, little known to many people, the Polish troops of the 1st Armoured Division, took part in this massive Operation which ultimately freed Fortress Europe from the Nazi scourge.





D-Day Polish Army, Brutus Fortitude operation (00:03:39m)

Eisenhower statement, in case of failure

Just before the start of the invasion, General Eisenhower gave an historic speech to the Allied Expeditionary Force.

His opening words were, "You are about to embark upon the great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months......" 

Despite the enormous magnitude of this Operation, there existed a unspoken yet palpable trepidation that the invasion might not succeed.  For in his pocket, General Eisenhower had prepared a statement to be read in the event that the invasion failed. It was dated July 6 in error.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower's D-Day Speech

George Hicks, London Bureau Chief for the Blue Network (later to become ABC) was aboard the Allied communications ship, the U.S.S. Ancon, and gave an eye-witness radio report of the D Day invasion on the 7th of June, 1944.  Click here to listen



The Invasion was slated to begin on June 5th but bad weather postponed the Operation.  There were only a few days each month suitable to launch an attack, that is, during a full moon and high tide. The illumination of navigational landmarks were vital for the airborne landing divisions, and the latter made it possible for landing craft to maneuver safely and avoid defensive obstacles beneath. There was a full moon on June the 6th however overcast skies limited the field of vision of Allied air support.


Due to bad weather conditions, the Germans had a false sense of security believing that the Allied invasion would be delayed. They had no idea that the invasion was already underway. Though the Allied Expeditionary Force was a formidable presence indeed, its landing troops  faced horrendous fire from the German defenses.

By June 6th, 1944 the German troops were solidly entrenched - 157 divisions in the Soviet Union,  6 in Finland,  12 in Norway,  6 in Denmark, 9 in Germany, 21 in the Balkans, 26 in Italy,  and 59 in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.  However, according to German statistics, their divisions in the east were greatly depleted due to heavy fighting, and by spring 1944 the average personnel was roughly half of its original size.

What made the German defenses so invincible was their interlocking firing style, a tactic which permitted them to protect areas that were under heavy fire. Moreover, the Germans had, during the past four years, constructed impenetrable concrete bunkers, atop the cliffs and hills from which their machine gunners had clear views of the beaches.

German tobrouk manning MG-42 machine guns.

Rommel, assigned to command the Normandy coast, fortified German positions along the Atlantic Wall with tank top turrets, laid hundreds of thousands of mines along the littoral, and flooded the meadows to impede the Allied advance.  German power was indeed a force to contend with. Between Barfleur and Le Havre, the Germans had at least six coastal artillery batteries: located at Merville, Long-sur-Mer, Pointe du Hoc, Maisy, Azeville, and Crisbecq. From these positions, German gunners were able to fire at a range of 30 kilometers.

50mm German gun near Merville battery

The Atlantic Wall, as outlined in the map above, was a virtual German fortress comprising of a web of radar tracking stations, many of them defended with 88 mm anti-aircraft guns.  From the Norwegian coast all the way to Spain, the Germans not only had radar stations but also "listening" stations: between Cherbourg, Vire and Le Havre, there were 1 identification radar, 2 "Freya" type radars, 5 long-range coastal radars,  7 mid-range radars,  and 14 "Wurzburg" giant radars.

German sentinel watching the horizon

The Germans knew of the impeding invasion though not the exact time - nor place.  Nevertheless, German armoured and infantry divisions were dug in and waiting. German Command believed that the Invasion would begin at the Pas-de Calais area - the shortest route from the British mainland. This belief was due entirely to Operation Fortitude, Churchill's ingenious plan by which the Allied forces staged fake military activity in the south-east England, using inflatable tanks and wooden guns and warships as props. From the perspective of German reconnaissance aircraft, they looked quite real. In addition to this, Allied intelligence fed misinformation to the enemy that the Allied units were under the command of the feared General Patton. The Germans fell for it. 


It was vital to the success of the Allied invasion that the Germans believed that the invasion would begin at Pas-de-Calais, the consequence of which was to delay the full brunt of their military presence on the Normandy beachhead.


Under the command of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force, the Allied armada comprised of warships from eight different navies including that of Poland. In all there were 6,939 vessels: 1,213 warships,  4,126 transport vessels, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels.  The flotilla was divided into two task forces:  Western, under the command of Rear-Admiral Alan G. Kirk, and Eastern, under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian.

Leo Pikulski was part of the Polish contingent which fought on the Normandy Beaches, together with the First Canadian Corps and at the Battle of Falaise.

HMS X-24

In Operation Gambit, British X class submarines (midget submarines) HMS X20 and HMS X23 were already in position on June 4th, 1944.  Their mission was to provide navigational aids to incoming Allied troops: an 18-foot telescopic mast with a light shining to seaward, a radio beacon and echo sounder tapping out a message for the minelayers approaching 'Sword' and 'Juno' beaches.

The main thrust of Operation Neptune was to ensure the isolation of invasion routes and beaches from any intervention by the Kriegsmarine, the Germany Navy. According to the Royal Navy Home Fleet, the threat was two-fold: a surface attack by German vessels coming from Scandinavian ports and the Baltic Sea and that of U-boats transferred from the Atlantic. However, German warships were seriously damaged and fuel supplies cut by a third. As for the latter, few U-boats were spotted by the RAF air surveillance. In any event, the Royal Navy was fully capable of repelling any enemy attack, and had mined the Kiel Canal area while the RAF maintained a cordon well west of Land's end.

The HMS Ramillies and Warspite and the monitor HMS Roberts were old battleships used to suppress shore batteries located east of the Orne; cruisers targeted shore batteries at Ver-sur-Mer and Moulineaux; eleven destroyers provided local fire support.  In addition, there were modified landing-craft: 8 "Landing Craft Gun", each having two 4.7-inch guns; 4 "Landing Craft Support" with automatic cannon; 8 Landing Craft Tank, each with a single salvo of 1,100 5-inch rockets; 8 Landing Craft Assault (Hedgerow), each with twenty-four bombs intended to detonate beach mines prematurely. Twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carried "Priest" self-propelled howitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach.  The Allies had similar arrangements at other beaches.

During D Day there was minimal naval contact - four German torpedo boats launching eighteen torpedoes sank the Norwegian destroyer Svenner off the coast of Sword beach but missed the battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Ramillies. Immediately after having fired, the enemy vessels veered away and escaped into a smoke screen. A great debt of gratitude goes to ULTRA, whose intelligence work discovered the location of German channels through their own minefields, and thus the Allies were able to limit their losses. Unfortunately,the USS Corry sank off the coast of Utah, as well as the USS PC-1261, a 173-foot patrol craft; three LCTs and two LCIs.)

The mission of Naval operations was to provide cover for transport vessels from the threat of enemy ships, submarines and aircraft. More importantly, their purpose was to support Allied landings by launching continuous bombardment of enemy positions ashore, to suppress shore defenses as well as to break up enemy concentrations as the troops began to move inland.

Veterans speak about D-Day.

D-Day Memories of Allied Veterans

Complete Radio Broadcast D-Day from CBS World News

Normandy veteran remembers D-Day invasion (00:06:45m)

The amphibious landings were particularly vulnerable to very strong German counterattacks and depended on the establishment of a secure lodgement in order to expand the beachhead and build up a sufficient force capable of breaking out.  During this most critical period, Allied bombers were the key to slowing down the German's ability to prepare and launch counterattacks. Their main targets were bridges, roads and the eastern and western flanks of landing areas. The U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were assigned to objectives west of Utah Beach while the British 6th Airborne Division were assigned to similar objectives on the eastern flank; and 530 Free French paratroopers from the British Special Air Service Brigade were assigned to objectives in Brittany (from 5 June to August.)

East of the landing area, the open, flat, floodplain between the Orne and Dives Rivers was an ideal position from which the Germans could launch counterattacks.  However, the landing area and floodplain were separated by the Orne River, which flowed northeast from Caen into the bay of the Seine and the only crossing of the Orne River north of Caen was 7 kilometres (4.5 mi) from the coast, near Bénouville and Ranville. The crossing was vital to the Germans as well as to the Allies:  to the Germans, it provided the only route for a flanking attack on the beaches from the east, and to the Allies, the crossing was vital for any attack on Caen from the east.

The tactical objectives of the British 6th Airborne Division were to capture intact the bridges of the Bénouville-Ranville crossing, defend the crossing against the inevitable armoured counter-attacks,  destroy German artillery at the Merville battery which threatened Sword Beach, and destroy five bridges over the Dives River to further restrict movement of ground forces from the east.

Shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944,  paratroopers of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades, including the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, began landing and immediately encountered elements of the German 716th Infantry Division.  At dawn the Battle Group von Luck of the 21st Panzer Division counterattacked from the south on both sides of the Orne River. By this time the paratroopers had established a defensive perimeter surrounding the bridgehead. Casualties were heavy on both sides but the airborne troops held. By afternoon, they were received reinforcements of commandos of the 1st Special Service Brigade.


By the end of D-Day, 6th Airborne had accomplished each of its objectives. For several days, both British and German forces took heavy casualties as they struggled for positions around the Orne bridgehead.  On June 10th, the German 346th Infantry Division succeeded in breaking through the eastern edge of the defensive line but finally, British paratroopers were able to overwhelm the panzergrenadiers (Battle of Bréville on 12 June). The Germans did not post a threat to the bridgehead again and the 6th Airborne remained on the line until it was evacuated in early September.

Over 13,000 American paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed from 12 troop carrier groups of the IX Troop Carrier Command.  These courageous men were less fortunate in completing their mission.  In order to maintain the element of surprise, the drops were planned to approach Normandy from the west however various factors affected their plans. That the drop was to commence under the cover of night, was itself a serious impediment, and a tactic not used again during the war.  The result was that about 45 % of the units were scattered over a wide area and unable to rally.  Moreover, landing zones were not effectively marked by the early pathfinder teams, and the most serious impediment was the unreliability of the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar beacons to guide in the C-47 Skytrains.

America the Story of the US:  D-Day Invasion (00:03:07)

Between the hours of 00:48 and 01:40 three regiments of 101st Airborne paratroopers were the first to be air dropped, quickly followed by the 82nd Airborne's drops between 01:51 and 02:42.  Each operation was a massive undertaking requiring about 400 C-47 aircraft.  Just before dawn, two glider landings brought in anti-tank guns and support troops for each division. By the evening on D-Day, two additional glider landings brought in two battalions of artillery and 24 howitzers to the 82nd Airborne. Additional glider operations on 7 June delivered the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment to the 82nd Airborne, and two large supply parachute drops that date were ineffective. After 24 hours, only 2,500 troops (a third)of the 101st and 2,000 of the 82nd were under the control of their divisions. The dispersal of the American airborne troops, however, had the effect of confusing the Germans and fragmenting their response. Moreover, the defensive flooding created by German units, at least in the early stages, posed an advantage to American troops, protecting their southern flank. For the next several days paratroopers continued to roam and fight behind enemy lines, many of them consolidated into small groups. Many of them rallied with NCOs or junior officers, and comprised a mix of soldiers from different companies, battalions, regiments, and even divisions. 

The first town to be liberated during the invasion was Sainte-Mère-Église in the early morning hours of June 6th, 1944, by the troops of the 82nd Division. The Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy at  Sword -  Juno - Gold -  Omaha - Utah.   Of 73,000 Americans who landed, 23,250 were on Utah beach; 34,250 on Omaha; and 15,500 were airborne units. British (61,715) and Canadian (21,400) troops landed - more precisely, 24,970 on Gold beach, 21,400 on Juno, 28,845 on Sword, and 7,900 airborne troops.  On D Day, Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties, and lost 127 planes. 

During the airborne landings on D Day, 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders were used by the RAF and USAAF.  Of the thousands of Allied Vessels in operation on June 6th, included 1,213 naval combat ships, 4,126 landing ships and craft, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels.  Of the 195,700 personnel assigned to Operation Neptune, 52,889 were American, 112,824 were British and the remaining 4,988 from other Allied countries (including Poland). By the end of June 11th (that is D + 5), about 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies had landed on the beaches of Normandy. Casualties were very heavy except for Sword where in comparison, British infantry suffered light casualties and at Utah where 197 men were killed of a total of 23,000 troops that landed there.  By a twist of fate, the 4th Infantry Division had landed at the wrong place at Victor Sector instead of Tare Green and Uncle Red Sectors. Those soldiers met with minimal German opposition and by afternoon they were able to rendezvous with the 101st Airborne and advance inland quickly.  

By the days end about 10,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded in action.  Total German casualties on D-Day are not known but have been estimated between 4,000 and 9,000 men. During the Battle of Normandy,  the Allies suffered 209,000 casualties with about 37,000 ground forces killed, and another 16,714 killed from Allied air forces. Of these casualties, 83,045 were from the 21st Army Group comprising British, Canadian and Polish ground forces) and 125,847 from US ground forces.  The Allies captured 200,000 prisoners of war.  Allied naval losses for June 1944 included 24 warships and 35 merchantmen or auxiliaries sunk and an additional 120 vessels damaged. German casualties on D-Day are not known but have been estimated between 4,000 and 9,000 men.  Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded during the Battle of Normandy.  The fighting around the Falaise Pocket in August 1944, resulted in German casualties of approximately 90,000 including prisoners. There are 27 war cemeteries which hold the remains of over 110,000 remains of soldiers who fought during the Battle of Normandy:  77,866 German,  9,386 American, 17,769 British, 5,002 Canadians and 650 Poles.

 Winston S.Churchill - We Shall Fight on the Beaches (00:02:25m)

VISIT ALSO
 REMEMBRANCE: D DAY

 

Sources:  Wikipedia The Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War (Leo Pikulski) BBC History - Voices of D Day The US National Archives and Records Administration (Eisenhower Statement) Radio News The D-Day and Normandy Fellowship (D Day Memories) Preparations of the Normandy Landing - Operation Fortitude D-Day Museum Atlantic Wall in Normandy Internet Archive - Old Time Radio  


Suggested Links: The Battle of Normandy: Minute by Minute X Class Submarine Eye-witness memories of World War II (D Day Normandy and beyond) Polish hero honoured 66 years later Invasion of Normandy A Civilian's View Naval History and Heritage Command(USA)  Rundstedt report on Allied Invasion of Normandy


 Special Mention: The National D Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia

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