First battle of El Alamein

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First battle of El Alamein
British troops during the excavation of defensive positions
British troops during the excavation of defensive positions
date July 1. bis 31 July 1942
place El Alamein , Egypt
output tactical tie; strategic British victory
consequences German-Italian advance stopped
Parties to the conflict

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire Italy
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) 

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom British India South African Union Australia New Zealand Free France Greece
British IndiaBritish India 
South Africa 1928South African Union 
AustraliaAustralia 
New ZealandNew Zealand 
Free FranceFree France 
GreeceKingdom of Greece (service and war flag on land) 

Commander

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) Erwin Rommel

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Claude Auchinleck

Troop strength
96,000 men
70 tanks
approx. 500 aircraft 		150,000 men
179 tanks
approx. 1,500 aircraft
losses

10,000 killed, wounded or captured

13,250 killed, wounded or captured

Major military operations during the Africa campaign (1940-1943)

The first battle of El Alamein was the fighting between the German-Italian Panzer Army Africa , commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel , and the British 8th Army during the Africa campaign in World War II at El Alamein in Egypt between July 1 and 31, 1942 , named under Claude Auchinleck . The battle ended Rommel's advance through Egypt and, together with the following Battle of Alam Halfa and finally the second Battle of El Alamein, marked the failure of the Axis' expansion efforts in North Africa.

background

Italy had declared war on France and Great Britain on June 10, 1940. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini assumed that the war would only be brief and hoped to be able to satisfy some of Italy's territorial claims through an alliance with the German Empire. In North Africa, on the one hand, these consisted of an expansion of the colony of Italian Libya to the west to include the French protectorate of Tunisia . To the east, Italy sought control over Egypt and the strategically important Suez Canal , as well as establishing a direct land connection to its colonies in East Africa . After France had been defeated in the western campaign and Tunisia belonged to the now allied Vichy France , the Italian expansion goals in North Africa turned entirely to Egypt. On September 9, 1940, Italy finally invaded Egypt with the 10th Army .

Course of the war in Africa

However, the invasion was not very successful and, due to the poor supply and equipment of the troops, it only came to a halt a little more than 100 km behind the Egyptian-Libyan border. On December 8, the Allies launched a counter-offensive with Operation Compass . Originally limited to just a few days and aimed at driving the Italian army out of Egypt, it turned out to be so successful that the advance into Libya was continued. By the beginning of February 1941 the Allied troops had occupied the Cyrenaica up to and including El Agheila and almost completely wiped out the Italian 10th Army.

The complete capture of Italian Libya did not occur, however, because parts of the Allied troops deployed in North Africa were needed to ward off the impending Balkan campaign of the German Reich in April 1941. While the Allies withdrew troops to defend Greece from February 1941 , Germany secretly shipped its first troop contingents to Tripoli in the so-called company Sonnenblume and founded the German Africa Corps . Only a few weeks after his arrival, the Afrikakorps commanded by Erwin Rommel and the Italian divisions in Libya started another offensive. The few and mostly inexperienced Allied troops quickly withdrew from Cyrenaica.

In the course of April, the Axis powers had again advanced to the Halfaya Pass on Egyptian territory. Only the strategically important deep water port of Tobruk was still held by an Allied occupation. After a series of attacks on Tobruk in April and early May 1941 had failed, Rommel prepared for a longer siege of the city in order to save his limited resources . The Allied High Command in the Middle East under Archibald Wavell began planning and preparing a counter-offensive to regain control of Cyrenaica and to relieve the besieged city. The first counter-offensive, called Operation Brevity , started on May 15, but was able to achieve little more than recapturing the Halfaya Pass (and only until May 27). At the same time (May 20 - June 1, 1941) the airborne battle for Crete was fought, which, should the German Reich be successful, would significantly improve air support and supplies to the Axis powers. A second Allied offensive launched on June 15, Operation Battleaxe , failed with great losses of tanks, with the Allied troops barely escaping encirclement and destruction. After this failure, Archibald Wavell was replaced as Commander in Chief of the Middle East Command by Claude Auchinleck .

Auchinleck finally succeeded with an offensive launched in November 1941, called Operation Crusader , to relieve the besieged city of Tobruk and to bring the entire area up to the Egyptian-Libyan border under Allied control. A renewed occupation of the remaining Kyrenaika failed because of a quickly initiated counter-offensive by Rommel, which finally led to a stalemate at the beginning of February at the Allied defense belt near Gazala. After a break of several months, which both sides used to rebuild their troops, Rommel finally attacked the Allies near Gazala on May 26, 1942 in the so-called Theseus company . The battle, which lasted about three weeks, led to the withdrawal of the British 8th Army to Egypt and the capture of Tobruk by the Panzer Army of Africa . Rommel let no time pass, but immediately after the fall of the city began to pursue the Allied troops and the invasion of Egypt.

Military starting position

After the defeat at the Battle of Gazala in June 1942, the British 8th Army had withdrawn first on Marsa Matruh in Egypt, then on the Alamein Line, which is about 160 km further east. Auchinleck had the safe withdrawal of his troops covered by small but powerful formations, which involved the Rommel armored army in time-consuming battles, first at Mersa Matruh, then at Fuka . On their final line of defense, the Allies held a 65 km wide, relatively flat strip of desert between the city of El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast and the Qattara Depression in the south, which is impassable for heavy equipment . After the experience at the Battle of Gazala, Auchinleck wanted to ensure that Rommel would not have the opportunity to bypass his position again. The defensive positions themselves had hardly been prepared for lack of time and had neither wire barriers nor minefields . Instead of a continuous line of positions, the Allied troops concentrated at three strategically important points: at the el-Alamein railway station in the north, Bab el Qattara in the center and Naqb Abu in the south on the edge of the valley. At the end of June 1942, the Axis forces reached the Allied positions at el-Alamein.

Rommel's plan of attack

Originally the plans of the Axis Powers had provided for a six-week break after the capture of Tobruk to rest and supply the troops. In view of the withdrawal of the 8th Army, Rommel wanted to take advantage of the situation as quickly as possible and not give Auchinleck the opportunity to regroup his troops. If the 8th Army were overcome, all of Egypt and the Middle East would be open. The Panzer Army Africa therefore continued its advance eastwards immediately after the fall of Tobruk. When she arrived at el-Alamein, the supplies, especially of fuel, were largely exhausted, the supply routes were stretched to the limit and the soldiers were exhausted. Rommel knew that he had to succeed in penetrating the Allied defenses in one swift thrust and cutting off the 8th Army's retreat.

His plan was to advance with the 90th light Africa division north of the Ruweisat ridge , and with the 15th and 21st Panzer divisions south of it. The two armored divisions would then turn south and advance to the Miteirya ridge. The 90th light was to take up position east of el-Alamein. While the German troops covered the Allied defensive positions to the east, the Italian divisions would attack them from the west, namely the XXI. Corps el-Alamein in the north and the XX. Corps Bab el Qattara in the south. In the subsequent Kesselschlacht the Allied units were to be wiped out and at the same time possible reinforcements from the east were to be repulsed. As soon as the vast majority of the Allied defenders were destroyed, the final advance on Alexandria could take place.

Involved armed forces

Axis powers

Allies

Middle East Command Claude Auchinleck

Course of the battle

The further advance to the east led to the first battle of El Alamein. In this, according to plans by the Axis powers , a breakthrough of the Alamein position in the north was to be brought about on July 1st. After initial success, however, the attempt failed due to the resistance of the Allied troops. The high command of the tank army suspected that British counterattacks would occur. Therefore, on July 3, the order was issued to go over to the defense and move troops to prepare for the resumption of the offensive. The British interpreted this in combination with the radio message decrypted by Ultra , which transmitted the order to cease the attack, as the beginning of a general retreat by Rommel. Therefore, the Allied troops went over to the supposed pursuit and came across the German-Italian anti-tank screen, which was mostly made up of dummies , but served its purpose. Smaller local advances were made, which the German-Italian troops were able to repel with difficulty.

The regroupings on the south wing were completed by July 9th. According to battle reports of the Panzer Army Africa, it was considered particularly necessary to eliminate the New Zealand 2nd Division. The reason for this was that the division held a promontory to the west, which was a permanent threat to the German-Italian troops standing northeast of the unit. After the success of attacks by the 21st Panzer Division , the 33 Reconnaissance Division and the 90th Light Africa Division on July 9, Rommel assumed that the British 8th Army would withdraw. Therefore, he ordered an attack by the southern wing of the Panzer Army Africa at dawn the following day.

This advance began according to plan and the Axis forces made good progress. In the far north of the front, meanwhile, a large British attack started at 6:00 a.m., which had been prepared by powerful one-hour artillery attacks. The Australian 9th Division, supported by the 1st Army Tank Brigade, was able to achieve a breakthrough in the Italian Sabratha Division north of the coastal road. This was almost completely smashed on their flight, with the majority of the Italian troops and the long-range reconnaissance company 621 going into captivity. Only five kilometers to the west did the newly introduced 382 infantry regiment, together with the support of flak and machine guns, bring the advance to a standstill. The next day the attacks continued south of the coastal road. Due to renewed successes, large parts of the army artillery and new formations had to be brought in to seal off the breakthrough. For this reason, Rommel stopped the offensive in the south.

The 21st Panzer Division resumed its attack from the south at 12 noon on July 13th on the Alamein Box, which it was supposed to penetrate and advance to the coastal road. This attack was stopped by the defensive fire of the Allied artillery despite the strong support of dive bombers . After another advance, now on the Australian front ledge, failed, the tank army went over to the defense due to the exhaustion of their combat strength.

After the radio reconnaissance had informed Claude Auchinleck of the northward shift of the 21st Panzer Division on July 13th, he immediately started planning another major attack in the center of the front because the German units appeared to him to be overstretched. According to these plans, the Indian 5th Division , the 1st Panzer Division and the New Zealand 2nd Division were to attack in the middle of the front. Shortly after the start of the operation on July 15 at 4:30 a.m., successes were achieved that ultimately led to the destruction of a large part of the Italian Xth Army Corps. A counter-attack by 15th Panzer Division and Reconnaissance Departments 3 and 33 stabilized the situation again. Nevertheless, new attacks by the 8th Army continued. In an attack by two battle groups of the Australian 9th Division reinforced by tanks, the Italian Trieste division lost a battalion and the Trento division an artillery division. The advances could be stopped by the forces of Combat Group Briel, Reconnaissance Departments 3 and 33 and parts of Rifle Regiment 104, which were brought up from the central section, until the evening, with the attacking troops being pushed back.

As a result of the successes, the high command of the 8th Army formed the opinion that the Italian forces were not far from a collapse, which in turn led to the planning of a major offensive operation of the XIII Corps led in the following days. Ultimately, the offensive of the Indian 5th Division and the 1st Panzer Division could not achieve their goals despite strong artillery support. One reason for this was, among other things, that the attacking associations encountered German forces that prevented a breakthrough to the Italians. The British RAF carried out bombings of the highest intensity without interruption, which, however, according to the war diary of the 21st Panzer Division, were completely insignificant, at least in their area. Nevertheless, the connection between the Afrikakorps and its units was destroyed, so that there was widespread confusion. Walther Nehring , the commanding general of the Afrikakorps, therefore gave the order to break off a counterattack by the 21st Panzer Division with the 8th Panzer Regiment of the 15th Panzer Division in order to be able to carry out another offensive with all the forces at the break of day . The attack launched on July 22nd was successful, with New Zealand troops in particular suffering heavy losses. In a subsequent attack by the New Zealanders with tank support, the units achieved a breakthrough through the Italian lines, with the Italian troops surrendering and the advance to height 63. At the now reached Qattara runway, the German 5th Panzer Regiment launched a counterattack, as a result of which the 23rd British Tank Brigade lost 203 men and 40 of their 100 tanks. Furthermore, 47 pieces were badly damaged. In addition, another break-in in a minefield was cleared up. Another strong British attack with the aim of advancing to the Italian troops and subsequently bringing about a collapse of the front failed after initial successes by the Indians and New Zealanders. Both the British 8th Army and the Panzer Army Africa suffered heavy losses, with two experienced infantry brigades on the British side being completely destroyed and one tank brigade two-thirds destroyed.

At the same time, on July 22nd, the Panzer Army lost two weak battalions of the 104th Rifle Regiment and one company of the 155th Infantry Regiment. It was found that both the Italian and the German intervening units had reached the upper limit of their capabilities. The Army High Command was of the opinion that although the situation had stabilized, the crisis was not over yet. Another, last attempt at a breakthrough by Allied units in the night of July 26th to 27th failed after promising initial successes due to poor coordination between infantry and armored forces.

Eighth Army's forces were exhausted, and on July 31, Auchinleck called for an end to offensive operations and reinforcement of the defense in order to prepare for a major offensive.

consequences

The battle ended in a stalemate, but the Axis advance on Alexandria (and then Cairo ) was halted. A second attempt by Rommel to break through the Allied positions was prevented at the Battle of Alam Halfa in August. Claude Auchinleck, who had refused to launch another attack before regrouping his forces, was replaced by General Harold Alexander as Commander in Chief Middle East and General Bernard Montgomery as Commander in 8th Army. In October the 8th Army, now under the command of Bernard Montgomery, defeated the Axis Powers in the second battle of El Alamein .

War cemeteries around El Alamein

German war cemetery in El Alamein

The Commonwealth War Cemetery in El Alamein with 7500 graves as well as the German war grave memorial with 4213 fallen and the Italian memorial for the fallen of World War II are also visited by tourists in El Alamein . The cemetery of the Libyan soldiers and the Greek memorial are also located around El Alamein.

literature

Web links

Commons : first battle of El Alamein  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Stumpf: The War in the Mediterranean 1942/43 - The operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean. P. 654.
  2. ↑ Reinhard Stumpf: The War in the Mediterranean 1942/43 - The operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean. P. 658.
  3. ↑ a b c Reinhard Stumpf: The war in the Mediterranean region 1942/43 - the operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean. P. 660.
  4. ↑ a b Reinhard Stumpf: The War in the Mediterranean 1942/43 - The operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean. P. 661.
  5. ↑ Reinhard Stumpf: The War in the Mediterranean 1942/43 - The operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean. P. 662.
  6. ↑ a b Reinhard Stumpf: The War in the Mediterranean 1942/43 - The operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean. P. 663.
  7. ↑ a b Reinhard Stumpf: The War in the Mediterranean 1942/43 - The operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean. P. 664.
  8. ↑ Alamein at Wikivoyage