Changes

}}

}}

The '''First Battle of El Alamein''' took place near railway depot near the [[Mediterranean Sea]], between 1 and 27 July. The British Commonwealth forces, under General [[Claude John Eyre Auchinleck]], emerged victorious in the battle, having stopped the [[Afrika Korps]] under Field Marshal [[Erwin Rommel]] in Egypt. The battle marked the end of several Axis victories obtained at Gazala, Tobruk, Mersa Matruh, Fuka and elsewhere, and was the first in a series of battles which would result in the liberation of French Algeria and Tunisia from Axis forces, and the invasion of Italy.

The '''First Battle of El Alamein''' took place near railway depot near the [[Mediterranean Sea]], between July 1 and 27. The British Commonwealth forces, under General [[Claude John Eyre Auchinleck]], emerged victorious in the battle, having stopped the [[Afrika Korps]] under Field Marshal [[Erwin Rommel]] in Egypt. The battle marked the end of several Axis victories obtained at Gazala, Tobruk, Mersa Matruh, Fuka and elsewhere, and was the first in a series of battles which would result in the liberation of French Algeria and Tunisia from Axis forces, and the invasion of Italy.

The Afrika Korps had been successfully fighting their way ever closer to the Egyptian border. Italian "battleship convoys" personally commanded by Admiral [[Angelo Iachino]], and good solid intelligence from the Italian Military Information Service (Servizio Informazione Militare or SIM) obtained through theft of secret documents from the US Embassy in Rome, had greatly assisted Rommel in winning battles at Benghazi, Tobruk and Mersa Matruh.<ref>"...this time with crucial Italian - not German - intelligence giving him the daily British order of battle, and with the new self-propelled Semovente 75/18mm which gave the Marcks Group a powerful Italian punch." The American Experience in World War II, Walter L. Hixson, p.255, Taylor & Francis, 2003</ref><ref>[http://www.historynet.com/intercepted-communications-for-field-marshal-erwin-rommel.htm Intercepted Communications for Field Marshal Erwin Rommel]</ref> Unfortunately for Rommel, the British discovered this security breach and the deciphered daily reports to Washington coming from Colonel [[Bonner Fellers]] (US military attache in Cairo), stopped almost a week after the fall of Tobruk. To make matters worse, his divisions were now running very low on fuel. The scenario was soon set for a major Allied counteroffensive, that aimed to completely break through the Italian divisions and the panzer divisions sent forward to assist them.

The Afrika Korps had been successfully fighting their way ever closer to the Egyptian border. Italian "battleship convoys" personally commanded by Admiral [[Angelo Iachino]], and good solid intelligence from the Italian Military Information Service (Servizio Informazione Militare or SIM) obtained through theft of secret documents from the US Embassy in Rome, had greatly assisted Rommel in winning battles at Benghazi, Tobruk and Mersa Matruh.<ref>"...this time with crucial Italian - not German - intelligence giving him the daily British order of battle, and with the new self-propelled Semovente 75/18mm which gave the Marcks Group a powerful Italian punch." The American Experience in World War II, Walter L. Hixson, p.255, Taylor & Francis, 2003</ref><ref>[http://www.historynet.com/intercepted-communications-for-field-marshal-erwin-rommel.htm Intercepted Communications for Field Marshal Erwin Rommel]</ref> Unfortunately for Rommel, the British discovered this security breach and the deciphered daily reports to Washington coming from Colonel [[Bonner Fellers]] (US military attache in Cairo), stopped almost a week after the fall of Tobruk. To make matters worse, his divisions were now running very low on fuel. The scenario was soon set for a major Allied counteroffensive, that aimed to completely break through the Italian divisions and the panzer divisions sent forward to assist them.