What started the Battle of El Alamein?

Answer 1

General Montgomery (British) got hold of Rommel's (German) battle plans, which also showed the route of his supplies. So, the British sabotaged the supply trucks, and by August 1942, only 33% of what Rommel's troops needed was getting through to them. Rommel was also acutely aware that while he was being starved of supplies, the Allies were getting vast amounts through as they still controlled the Suez and were predominant in the Mediterranean. To resolve what could only become a more difficult situation, Rommel decided to attack quickly even if he was not well-equipped.

pffft, yeah

as if that was the ACTUAL start of the battle of EL Alamein.

I believe the whole bat-man, cat-women, santa, tooth fairy thing.

sooooooooooooooooo much more realistic :D

Ahhh but that bit no longer exists coz I eated it :D

Yeah i agree ^^ is not true that some how the English got the German plans they dindnt manage to sneak past a whole army... but did win... evenually :-)

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The war in the Western Desert was dominated by the fact that there was an open flank in the interior while the other flank was anchored on the coast.

Time and time again the army with the most resources simply moved around the line and forced the other side into retreat.

Rommel proved more effective at this than his British rivals and the British had been forced back almost to Alexander and the Suez canal.

After the Battle of Gazala the British had virtually no tank forces left so there was no way to counter a German encircling movement

The British line stabilized at El Alamein because to the south there was an area of shifting sand called the Quattera Depression. This was impassable to vehicles and would prevent Rommel from utilizing his superior tank mobility.

The British simply had to dig in and face a head on assault.

If Germans broke through. They could take Alexander, less than 70 miles away, capture the Suez Canal and possibly Cairo too. The Middle Eastern Oil fields would be wide open to Hitler, so even if his attacks into Southern Russia failed at Stalingrad, he would have control of the oil he needed to continue the war.

When Rommel attacked, the Germans failed to make any headway and he committed his Afrika Corps units to the main assault rather than keeping them in reserve to exploit a breakthrough. Eventually he was forced to abandon any attempt at further advance and to try to hold his position against counterattack.

At this point resupply was becoming a problem for Rommel. He had advanced a considerable distance from his supply base and also the Russian campaign was recieving priority in resources.

The Battle ended as a stalemate with both sides holding their defensive positions, but in a similar way to Gettysburg the Germans would find this to be the end of their offensive capability.

Auchinleck the British Commander understood that the Germans would only get weaker, while he had time to build up his offensive capability.

Unfortunately for him Churchill was impatient for a victory and replaced him as Commander, first by Gort and when his plane was shot down on the way to Egypt, Montgomery took over.

Montgomery also favoured a delay in attacking and waited even longer than Auchinleck had proposed. The British, using their ULTRA intelligence were able to prevent the resupply of Rommel's army even by sinking the ships before they reached North Africa. By the time the British attacked in October they had nearly twice as many men and twice as many tanks. Rommel had over 500 tanks and the British over 1000, including 300 brand new American Sherman tanks. The British outnumbered the Germans 3 to 1 in anti tank guns.

One of Rommel's favoured tactics was to use his Panzers to draw the British tanks into a killing ground for his anti tank guns. With the limied resources available and without the open battlefield that typified the desert war there was no oppertunity to do this.

In 10 days the British destroyed Rommel's armoured force and sent him into full retreat into Tunisia.