First Battle of El Alamein

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First Battle of El Alamein
Part of World War II, North African Campaign
Image:1stAlameinBritDefense.jpg
British infantry manning a sandbagged defensive position near El Alamein, 17 July 1942.
Date July 1–July 27, 1942
Location El Alamein, Egypt
Result Tactical stalemate; Strategic Allied victory
Combatants
Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svgAllies (mostly British Empire forces) Axis
Commanders
Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svgClaude Auchinleck
Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Dorman Smith 		Erwin Rommel
Strength
150,000 troops in 3 army corps, 7 infantry and 3 armoured divisions 1,114 tanks, over 1,000 artillery and over 1,500 planes 96,000 troops (including 56,000 Italians) 8 infantry and 4 armoured divisions (2 Panzer 2 Italian) 585 tanks (less than half of which were Panzers), less than 500 planes.
Casualties
13,250[1] 15,000-20,000 Killed or Wounded
7,000 Captured
v • d • e
Western Desert Campaign
Compass – Sonnenblume – Tobruk – Brevity – Battleaxe – Flipper – Crusader – Gazala – Bir Hakeim – Bir-el Harmat – 1st Alamein – Alam Halfa – Agreement – 2nd Alamein
Image:WesternDesertBattle Area1941 en.svg
Area of Western Desert Campaign 1941/2 (Click to enlarge)

The First Battle of El Alamein July 1–27 1942 was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of World War II, fought between Axis forces commanded by Erwin Rommel, and Allied forces commanded by Claude Auchinleck. The battle halted the furthest (and final) advance made by the Axis forces into Egypt, El Alamein being only just over 50 miles from Alexandria.

Contents

[edit] Prelude

[edit] Retreat from Gazala

Following the defeat at the Battle of Gazala in June 1942, the Eighth Army had retreated from the Gazala line to Mersa Matruh, roughly 100 miles inside the Egyptian border. On 25 June General Claude Auchinleck, C-in-C Middle East Command relieved Neil Ritchie and assumed direct command of Eighth Army himself. He decided not to seek a confrontation at the Mersa Matruh position: it had an open left flank to the south of the sort well exploited by Rommel at Gazala. He decided instead to withdraw a further 100 miles or more east to near El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. Only 40 miles (60 km) to the south of El Alamein the steep slopes of the Qattara Depression ruled out the possibility of armour moving round the southern flank of his defenses and limited the width of the front he had to defend.

[edit] Battle of Mersa Matruh

While preparing the Alamein positions Auchinleck fought strong delaying actions first at Mersa Matruh on 26 June and then Fuka on 27 June. The late change of orders resulted in some confusion in the forward formations (X Corps and XIII Corps) between the desire to inflict damage on the enemy and the intention not to get trapped in the Matruh position but retreat in good order. As a result there was poor coordination between the two forward Corps and units within them. Inland the 2nd New Zealand Division found itself surrounded by 21st Panzer Division at Minqar Qaim but succeeded in breaking out on the night of 27 June to join the rest of XIII Corps at the Alamein position without serious losses.[2] However, the withdrawal of XIII Corps had left the southern flank of X Corps on the coast at Matruh exposed and their line of retreat compromised. They too had to also had to break out and in the process sustained heavy casualties including the destruction on Indian 29th Infantry Brigade at Fuka.

[edit] Defenses at El Alamein

Auchinleck created a strong defensive box at each end of the El Alamein line (held by the fresh 1st South African Division and 2nd New Zealand Division which had not taken part in the Battle of Gazala) and connected them with a series of dug defensive positions and gun emplacements. In the centre of the line and just behind it lay the Ruweisat Ridge, a tongue of high ground ending in a sudden bluff which commanded the ground on either side.[3]

When Rommel's forces reached the Alamein position on 30 June, in addition to the two divisions in the boxes, Indian 18th Infantry Brigade had been detached from 8th Indian Infantry Division in Iraq and hastily sent with supporting artillery to occupy the Deir el Shein ridges four miles north west of the western end of Ruweisat Ridge. However, they had only arrived on 28 June and despite 48 hours of continuous work, late arrival of heavy digging equipment and mines meant that the position was still vulnerable to armoured attack.[4] At this time, the units which had been conducting the fighting retreat were still disorganised and needed at least a further 24 hours before being ready to return to battle.

[edit] Battle

On 30 June Rommel attacked first along the coast but was repulsed by the 1st South African Division in the Alamein box.[5]

Just after 9 a.m. on July 1 Panzer Army Africa attacked Deir el Shein. The Indian brigade held out the whole day in desperate fighting but by the evening had been overrun. However, the time they bought allowed Auchinleck to organise a mixed infantry and artillery battle group from elements of Indian 10th Infantry Division, which had been ordered to the Nile delta area to refit, and get them into position at the western end of Ruweisat Ridge to meet the attack that began at 10 a.m. on 2 July. Repeated attempts by the Axis armour were driven back and by dusk they withdrew. Ruweisat was further reinforced on the night of 2 July.[6]

To relieve the pressure on the right and center of his line Auchinleck launched a counterattack from the Qattara box (also known as the Kaponga box by the New Zealanders) on 3 July. In the first assault on 3 July, elements of 4th New Zealand Brigade, supported by four batteries of New Zealand artillery, advanced from three directions towards the Ariete Armoured Division positions deployed inside a large depression. The Italian commander ordered his battalions to fight their way out independently but the Ariete lost 531 men (about 350 were prisoners) 36 pieces of artillery, six or eight tanks and 55 trucks. Determined to cut off the rest of the "Ariete" at El Mreir the New Zealanders pushed on again on 5 July but came under heavy fire from the "Brescia" Division at El Mreir and eventually called off their attack.[7]

The attacks by the New Zealand Division, the remaining Brigade of Indian 5th Infantry Division (Indian 9th Infantry Brigade) and 7th Motorised Brigade drove north into Rommel's flank and in three days heavy fighting almost reached Deir el Shein. During one of the night attacks, a Maori battalion from the 2dn New Zealand Division penetrated the sector held by the Italian "Pavia" Division. They were later counterattacked by the Italian division and lost part of the newly won ground.[8] The New Zealand Official History talks about "enemy forces seeping south threatened to outflank the Divison" but nothing more. By this time Rommel however, had decided to regroup his exhausted forces and dig in and the battlefield became static and difficult for either side to make progress.[9]

Rommel was by this time suffering from the extended length of his supply lines. The Allied Desert Air Force was concentrating fiercely on his fragile and elongated supply routes while British mobile columns moving west and striking from the south were causing havoc in the Axis rear echelons.[10] Rommel could afford these losses even less since shipments from Italy had been substantially reduced (during June he received 5,000 tons of supplies compared with 34,000 in May and 400 vehicles compared with 2,000 in May)[11] Meanwhile, the Eighth Army was reorganising and rebuilding, benefitting from its short lines of communication. New 6-pounder anti-tank guns were arriving in quantity to replace the ineffectual 2-pounders and Sherman Tanks with a powerful 75mm gun were on the way.[12] By 4 July 9th Australian Division was back in the line behind the Alamein box and on 9 July Indian 5th Infantry Brigade also returned taking over the Ruweisat position. At the same time the depleted Indian 5th Infantry Division was reinforced with the fresh Indian 161st Infantry Brigade.[13]

Auchinleck attacked again on July 10 at Tel el Eisa in the north and 89 Germans of the 621st Radio Intercept Company and 835 Italian troops that were largely part of an infantry battalion and artillery group of the "Sabratha" Division were taken prisoners by the 2/48th Battalion. A battalion of the Italian division was committed to plug the gap and initially recovered some of the lost ground at Tel el Eisa and even took 13 prisoners but achieved little else in the face of overwhelming fire. According to the 2/48th Battalion diary, "At approx 2000 hrs enemy tks--number unknown-- and inf attacked D Coy front. They overrun posn and enemy inf forced D Coy to withdraw and occupied their psn." [1]Auchinleck then attacked again in the centre at the Ruweisat Ridge in two battles (the First and Second Battles of Ruweisat on July 14 and July 21). Neither battle was successful and the failure of armour to reach the infantry in time at the Second Battle led to the loss of 700 men. A notable feature of the first battle was the result of the engagement between 21st Panzer Division and Indian 5th Infantry Brigade which had recently had its 2-pounder anti-tank guns replaced with the new 6-pounder guns. These proved highly effective and knocked out 24 of the attacking tanks before they withdrew.[14]

In the meantime on 17 July at 2.30 am a battalion of Australian infantry stormed the feature Trig 22 but came almost immediately under fierce artillery fire, which effectively neutralised it. The 3rd Battalion 62nd Regiment of the "Trento" Division counterattacked unexpectedly with a column of M.13/40 tanks from the "Ariete" Division and succeeded in capturing 200 troops from the 2/32nd Battalion. Although the Australian Official History describes the battalion's opponents as "German",[15] the Australian historian Mark Johnston reports that German records indicate that the Italians were responsible.[16]

Auchinleck was determined to retain the initiative and another two attacks were launched on July 27. One in the north at Tel el Eisa was a moderate failure. The other at Miteiriya, however, sustained heavy losses as the minefields were not cleared and the infantry were left without armour support when faced with a German counter-attack.

The Eighth Army was exhausted, and by July 31 Auchinleck ordered an end to offensive operations and the strengthening of the defences to meet a major counter-offensive.

[edit] Aftermath

The battle was a stalemate, but the Axis advance on Alexandria (and then Cairo) was halted. Eighth Army had sustained over 13,000 casualties in July (including 4,000 in the New Zealand Division and 3,000 in Indian 5th Infantry Division) but had taken 7,000 prisoners and inflicted heavy damage on the Axis forces in terms of men and armour.[1]

In early August Winston Churchill and General Alan Brooke, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff visited Cairo on their way to meet Joseph Stalin in Moscow. They decided to replace Auchinleck, appointing XIII Corps commander Lieutenant-General William Gott to the Eighth Army command and General Sir Harold Alexander as C-in-C Middle East Command. Persia and Iraq were to be split from Middle East Command as a separate Persia and Iraq Command and Auchinleck offered the post of C-in-C (which he refused).[17] But Gott was killed on the way to take up his command when his air transport was caught by a Messerschmitt and Gott was shot through the heart.[18] Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed in his place.[1]

A second attempt by Rommel to bypass or break the Commonwealth position was repulsed in the Battle of Alam Halfa in August, and in October the Eighth Army decisively defeated the Axis forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein.

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Compton Mackenzie, p. 589
  2. ^ The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945; Battle for Egypt, Chapters 10, 11 and 12
  3. ^ Compton Mackenzie, p. 580
  4. ^ Compton Mackenzie, pp. 580 - 581
  5. ^ Compton Mackenzie, p. 581
  6. ^ Compton Mackenzie, pp.581 - 582
  7. ^ Mitcham, Samuel Rommel's Desert War: The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps, Stackpole Books, p. 113
  8. ^ Lanza p. 692
  9. ^ Compton Mackenzie, pp.582 - 583
  10. ^ Alexander Clifford, p.285
  11. ^ The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945; The Battle for Egypt, p. 79
  12. ^ Alexander Clifford, p.294
  13. ^ Compton Mackenzie, p. 583
  14. ^ Compton Mackenzie, p. 587
  15. ^ Australian War Memorial: 2/32 Battalion, Accessed 27 December, 2007
  16. ^ Johnston, p. 13
  17. ^ Alanbrooke, p.294
  18. ^ Alexander Clifford, p.296

[edit] External links

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Second Battle of El Alamein

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