Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein took place from 23 October to 5 November 1942, outside the El Alamein train station near the sea and the large Quattara Depression to the south. General Bernard Montgomery commanded the British 8th Army and General Erwin Rommel commanded the Panzerarmee Afrika' during this battle.
General Rommel's Italo-German forces had been pushing ever closer to the Suez Canal and the oil-rich fields of Egypt, thanks in large part to the Italian "battleship convoys" (under Admiral Angelo Iachino) that delivered much needed fuel and tanks, and intercepted Allied signals from the Italian Military Information Service (Servizio Informazione Militare or SIM), that helped Rommel obtain the Axis victories at Gazala, Tobruk, Mersa Matruh and Fuka.
Unfortunately for the Axis, this important source of intelligence intercepted from the reports that the US military attache in Cairo, Colonel Bonner Fellers sent to Washington, stopped at the start of the First Battle of El Alamein. Rommel then tried to overrun the opposing British Commonwealth forces during the Battle of Alam el Halfa, but this attack also failed. The scenario was now set for what would prove be the final confrontation in Egypt, that would result in the Axis retreat across Egypt and deep into Tunisia.
Operation Lightfoot
Operation Supercharge
Axis retreat
General Rommel sent a message to Hitler explaining his untenable position, seeking permission to withdraw but was told to fight till the end. Von Thoma, who had been promoted to Lieutenant-General on 1 November, told Rommel, "I've just been around the battlefield. 15th Panzer's got ten tanks left, 21st Panzer only fourteen and Littorio seventeen." Rommel read him Hitler's message, and von Thoma left to take charge of the remaining panzers.
When 150 British tanks attacked the remnants of the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions, von Thoma directed the German defence. He was in the command tank and remained in the battlefield until the last panzer was destroyed. At the end of the tank battle, von Thoma contemplated the scene of destruction that was later nicknamed the "panzer graveyard".
A 12 miles-wide (19 km) hole had been punched in the Axis line. Rommel ordered the Axis retreat against Hitler's orders. Due to insufficient fuel and transportation, the great bulk of the Italian divisions were abandoned, with some German units commandeering Italian trucks and fuel at gunpoint.
On 4 November, the final Allied attacks were made. The British 1st, 7th and 10th Armoured Divisions (under Major-General Gatehouse) passed through the Axis lines, and advanced towards Fuka. The Germans were in full retreat. This day saw the destruction of the Ariete and Littorio Armoured Divisions, and the Trieste Motorised Division. The Ariete (under General Francesco Arena) fought well at El Alamein, effectively derailing Montgomery's plans to encircle and completely destroy the retreating Afrika Korps. The German Army High Command recognized the Italian effort and claimed that the "British were made to pay for their penetration with enormous losses in men and material. The Italians fought to the last man."
