El Alamein

 

It’s the middle of the week and we are back in the year 1942 and while the 6^th Australian Division walked out of steaming jungle into the deserted village of Kokoda, the 9^th Australian Division were under fierce fire on the hot desert sands of Egypt.

This post is about the battles at El Alamein, the first was in July 1942 which ended with an up in the air result and neither side being the clear victor.

Then between 23 October to the 5 November saw another battle and the axis army on a retreat they didn’t recover from.

The Battle of El Alamein was the last great imperial battle. More than 13,500 men in the Eighth Army were killed, wounded or missing including 2,694 Australians from the 9th Division, approximately one-fifth of the Eighth Army's total casualties.

El Alamein was an obscure railway siding on the line from Alexandria. It was between the sea and an impassable swamp of the Qattara Depression. It was also the last defendable position before the Suez Canal 320 kilometres (199 miles) away.

The Aussies had been fighting in the European, Middle Eastern, and North African theatres of the war since 1940. During most of 1942 RAAF squadrons were active in the area providing air-cover for the various battles fought in the area.

From June to November 1942 the AIF and RAAF would play an important role in the battles and victory at El Alamein.

The purpose of the fighting in North Africa was to prevent the Axis powers from threatening Alexandria and the Suez Canal.

In 1941 with the arrival of the German General Erwin Rommel things most of the Allies gains in the area were lost to the Germans. After heavy fighting to Benghazi the Allies had fallen back to Tobruk, were Rommel held the 9th Australian Division under siege for ten months. The besieged men were referred to as trapped rats by Lord Haw Haw and the Aussie’s took pride in the name the Rats of Tobruk.

In an amazing logistical operation during the nights of September and October 1941, destroyers and cruisers slipped into the port and evacuated 15,000 Aussie troops, sadly at the end of October some of the evacuation convoys were bombed resulting in heavy casualties. Also, some Aussie infantry troops were standard at Tobruk leaving by road on 16 December.

Events outside the desert war in North Africa diverted Aussie troops and equipment elsewhere and even though the United States entered the war after Pearl Harbour and their presence was welcomed it became obvious that the need to defend Australia was realised. This led to the withdrawal of Australian troops from the middle east.

More next week.