Chapter 1: Exit Aukkie, Enter Gott
In the middle of 1942, things were starting to look good for the Allies. Although much of Europe was still under the Nazi jackboot, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour had brought the U.S.A. into the war on the Allied side to aid in their quest to liberate Europe. It would, however, take some time before American forces could be seen fighting in Europe. In the East, the Soviet Union was holding her own with the help of American Lend Lease equipment against the relentless hordes of the Wehrmacht. Britain too, was fighting for her life in the deserts of North Africa as Panzerarmee Afrika, under the command of Generaloberst Erwin 'The Desert Fox' Rommel, threatens to roll into Egypt after the debacle that was Gazala.
Rommel conferring with one of his officers about this next move
Having sacked Neil Ritchie as the commander of the Eighth Army after the Battle of Gazala, General Claude Auchinleck was now it's de facto commander. As CinC Middle east, he could do that; the 8th was the only army under his command and it was in a dire need of a commanding officer. There was nothing he could do to reverse the situation. For now, the only hope he had of saving the Eighth Army to fight another day was to employ delaying tactics while withdrawing a further 100 miles or more east to near El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. Only 40 miles to the south of El Alamein, the steep slopes of the Qattara Depression ruled out the possibility of armour moving round the southern flank of his defenses and limited the width of the front he had to defend.
The fate of the North African campaign now rests on Auchinleck's shoulders
These delaying actions fought by Auchinleck took place at Mersa Matruh on 26th and 27th June and at Fuka on the 28th. Communication breakdown and poor coordination had caused widespread confusion among the troops, leading to one division destroyed and forty tanks captured along with an enormous quantity of supplies. The chaos that resulted from the rout spread as far as Cairo, where personnel from British headquarters, rear echelon units, and the British Embassy frantically burned confidential papers in anticipation of the entry of Axis troops into the city. This was referred to as 'Ash Wednesday'. Furthermore, the rout at Mersa Matruh created problems in Auchinleck's defence arrangements, namely the scattering of X Corps.
To remedy these problems, he ordered XXX Corps (1st South African, 50th and 10th Indian Infantry Divisions) to take the coastal sector on the right of the front and XIII Corps (New Zealand and 5th Indian Divisions) to be on the left. The remains of 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions were to be held as a mobile army reserve. His intention was the fixed defensive positions should canalize and disorganize the enemy's advance while mobile units would attack their flanks and rear. The British defences at El Alamein was made up of several "boxes" (localities with dug-outs and surrounded by minefields and barbed wire), the most developed being around the railway station at Alamein. Most of the "line", however, was just open, empty desert.
The British stand vigilant, ready to fight for King and country.
While things were looking very dismal for the British, Rommel has several problems of his own. Panzerarmee Afrika was exhausted and understrength. He had driven them forward ruthlessly, being confident that, provided he struck quickly before Eighth Army had time to settle, his momentum would take him through the Alamein position and he could then advance to the Nile with little further opposition. Supplies remained a problem because the Axis staff had originally expected a pause of six weeks after the capture of Tobruk. While captured supplies proved useful, water and ammunition were constantly in short supply while shortage of transport impeded the distribution of the supplies that they did have.
Rommel's plan was for the 90th Light Division and the two Afrika Korps armoured divisions to penetrate the Eighth Army lines between the Alamein box and Deir el Abyad (which he believed was defended). 90th Light was then to veer north to cut the coastal road and trap the Alamein box defenders (which he thought was occupied by the remains of 50th Infantry Division) and the Afrika Korps would veer right to attack the rear of XIII Corps. An Italian division was to attack the Alamein box from the west and another was to follow 90th Light. Italian XX Corps was to follow the Afrika Korps and deal with the Qattara box while the Italian Littoro Armoured Division and German reconnaissance units would protect the right flank.
Rommel made his first move and attacked on July 1st. The British line near El Alamein was not overrun until the evening, stalling the advance. Rommel then decided to concentrate his forces in the north on the next day, intending to break through around El Alamein. Auchinleck ordered a counter-attack at the centre of the German line but the attack failed. The British also attacked in the south and were more successful against the Italians. Because of these turn of events, Rommel decided to regroup and defend the line reached. Another British attack was carried out on July 10 at Tel el Eisa in the north and over one thousand prisoners were taken. Rommel's counterattack at Tel el Eisa achieved little.
With these successes, Auchinleck decided to attack again in the centre at the Ruweisat Ridge in two battles - the First and Second Battles of Ruweisat on July 14 and July 21. Neither battle was succcessful and the failure of armour to reach the infantry in time at the Second Battle led to the loss of 700 men. Despite this another two attacks were launched on July 27. The first in the north at Tel el Eisa was a moderate failure. The other at Miteiriya was more chaotic, as the minefields were not cleared and the infantry was left without armour support when faced with a German counter-attack. The fighting had drained the Eighth Army, and by July 31 Auchinleck ordered an end to offensive operations and the strengthening of the defences to meet a major counter-offensive courtesy of Panzerarmee Afrika.
The First Battle of El Alamein had successfully halted the toboggan that was Panzerarmee Afrika
The First Battle of El Alamein had thus ended, it's result a stalemate. However, but the Axis advance on Alexandria (and then Cairo) was halted. Still, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain, was not satisfied with the progress that Auchinleck was making. In early August Winston Churchill and General Alan Brooke, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff visited Cairo on their way to meet Joseph Stalin in Moscow. They decided to replace Auchinleck, appointing XIII Corps commander Lieutenant-General William 'Strafer' Gott to the Eighth Army command and General Sir Harold Alexander as C-in-C Middle East Command.
Lieutenant-General William 'Strafer' Gott as a Lieutenant Colonel
A big man with an aggressive, outgoing personality, Gott was popular with soldiers under his command. His nickname, Strafer, was not only a pun on the German phrase "Gott strafe England' but also an indicator to his personality. However, he was considered by some to be out of depth as a senior commander. Gott's aggressive and somewhat impetuous personality appealed to Churchill, who wanted the Eighth Army rampaging across North Africa.
It should be interesting to note that when Gott flew into El Alamein from Cairo to assume command of the Eighth Army, a massive sandstorm swept over the north-eastern end of Cyrenaica and parts of Egypt adjacent. This grounded all Luftwaffe flights in North Africa. German meteorologists had failed to predict this onslaught of nature and as a result, many planes that were out in the airfields preparing for take off had to be struck off the operational list for maintenance as sand had gotten into their engines. This was a precursor of the events that would follow later in the year.
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Comments and critique are very much welcome.
EDIT:
Note: In OTL, a schwarm from 5/JG27 spotted the Bristol Bombay carrying Gott to his new command in El Alamein. Oberfeldwebel Emil Clade was credited with forcing the Bombay down onto the desert sands, while fellow fighter pilot Bernd Schneider delivered the killing blow to Gott.
In the middle of 1942, things were starting to look good for the Allies. Although much of Europe was still under the Nazi jackboot, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour had brought the U.S.A. into the war on the Allied side to aid in their quest to liberate Europe. It would, however, take some time before American forces could be seen fighting in Europe. In the East, the Soviet Union was holding her own with the help of American Lend Lease equipment against the relentless hordes of the Wehrmacht. Britain too, was fighting for her life in the deserts of North Africa as Panzerarmee Afrika, under the command of Generaloberst Erwin 'The Desert Fox' Rommel, threatens to roll into Egypt after the debacle that was Gazala.
Rommel conferring with one of his officers about this next move
Having sacked Neil Ritchie as the commander of the Eighth Army after the Battle of Gazala, General Claude Auchinleck was now it's de facto commander. As CinC Middle east, he could do that; the 8th was the only army under his command and it was in a dire need of a commanding officer. There was nothing he could do to reverse the situation. For now, the only hope he had of saving the Eighth Army to fight another day was to employ delaying tactics while withdrawing a further 100 miles or more east to near El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. Only 40 miles to the south of El Alamein, the steep slopes of the Qattara Depression ruled out the possibility of armour moving round the southern flank of his defenses and limited the width of the front he had to defend.
The fate of the North African campaign now rests on Auchinleck's shoulders
These delaying actions fought by Auchinleck took place at Mersa Matruh on 26th and 27th June and at Fuka on the 28th. Communication breakdown and poor coordination had caused widespread confusion among the troops, leading to one division destroyed and forty tanks captured along with an enormous quantity of supplies. The chaos that resulted from the rout spread as far as Cairo, where personnel from British headquarters, rear echelon units, and the British Embassy frantically burned confidential papers in anticipation of the entry of Axis troops into the city. This was referred to as 'Ash Wednesday'. Furthermore, the rout at Mersa Matruh created problems in Auchinleck's defence arrangements, namely the scattering of X Corps.
To remedy these problems, he ordered XXX Corps (1st South African, 50th and 10th Indian Infantry Divisions) to take the coastal sector on the right of the front and XIII Corps (New Zealand and 5th Indian Divisions) to be on the left. The remains of 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions were to be held as a mobile army reserve. His intention was the fixed defensive positions should canalize and disorganize the enemy's advance while mobile units would attack their flanks and rear. The British defences at El Alamein was made up of several "boxes" (localities with dug-outs and surrounded by minefields and barbed wire), the most developed being around the railway station at Alamein. Most of the "line", however, was just open, empty desert.
The British stand vigilant, ready to fight for King and country.
While things were looking very dismal for the British, Rommel has several problems of his own. Panzerarmee Afrika was exhausted and understrength. He had driven them forward ruthlessly, being confident that, provided he struck quickly before Eighth Army had time to settle, his momentum would take him through the Alamein position and he could then advance to the Nile with little further opposition. Supplies remained a problem because the Axis staff had originally expected a pause of six weeks after the capture of Tobruk. While captured supplies proved useful, water and ammunition were constantly in short supply while shortage of transport impeded the distribution of the supplies that they did have.
Rommel's plan was for the 90th Light Division and the two Afrika Korps armoured divisions to penetrate the Eighth Army lines between the Alamein box and Deir el Abyad (which he believed was defended). 90th Light was then to veer north to cut the coastal road and trap the Alamein box defenders (which he thought was occupied by the remains of 50th Infantry Division) and the Afrika Korps would veer right to attack the rear of XIII Corps. An Italian division was to attack the Alamein box from the west and another was to follow 90th Light. Italian XX Corps was to follow the Afrika Korps and deal with the Qattara box while the Italian Littoro Armoured Division and German reconnaissance units would protect the right flank.
Rommel made his first move and attacked on July 1st. The British line near El Alamein was not overrun until the evening, stalling the advance. Rommel then decided to concentrate his forces in the north on the next day, intending to break through around El Alamein. Auchinleck ordered a counter-attack at the centre of the German line but the attack failed. The British also attacked in the south and were more successful against the Italians. Because of these turn of events, Rommel decided to regroup and defend the line reached. Another British attack was carried out on July 10 at Tel el Eisa in the north and over one thousand prisoners were taken. Rommel's counterattack at Tel el Eisa achieved little.
With these successes, Auchinleck decided to attack again in the centre at the Ruweisat Ridge in two battles - the First and Second Battles of Ruweisat on July 14 and July 21. Neither battle was succcessful and the failure of armour to reach the infantry in time at the Second Battle led to the loss of 700 men. Despite this another two attacks were launched on July 27. The first in the north at Tel el Eisa was a moderate failure. The other at Miteiriya was more chaotic, as the minefields were not cleared and the infantry was left without armour support when faced with a German counter-attack. The fighting had drained the Eighth Army, and by July 31 Auchinleck ordered an end to offensive operations and the strengthening of the defences to meet a major counter-offensive courtesy of Panzerarmee Afrika.
The First Battle of El Alamein had successfully halted the toboggan that was Panzerarmee Afrika
The First Battle of El Alamein had thus ended, it's result a stalemate. However, but the Axis advance on Alexandria (and then Cairo) was halted. Still, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain, was not satisfied with the progress that Auchinleck was making. In early August Winston Churchill and General Alan Brooke, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff visited Cairo on their way to meet Joseph Stalin in Moscow. They decided to replace Auchinleck, appointing XIII Corps commander Lieutenant-General William 'Strafer' Gott to the Eighth Army command and General Sir Harold Alexander as C-in-C Middle East Command.
Lieutenant-General William 'Strafer' Gott as a Lieutenant Colonel
A big man with an aggressive, outgoing personality, Gott was popular with soldiers under his command. His nickname, Strafer, was not only a pun on the German phrase "Gott strafe England' but also an indicator to his personality. However, he was considered by some to be out of depth as a senior commander. Gott's aggressive and somewhat impetuous personality appealed to Churchill, who wanted the Eighth Army rampaging across North Africa.
It should be interesting to note that when Gott flew into El Alamein from Cairo to assume command of the Eighth Army, a massive sandstorm swept over the north-eastern end of Cyrenaica and parts of Egypt adjacent. This grounded all Luftwaffe flights in North Africa. German meteorologists had failed to predict this onslaught of nature and as a result, many planes that were out in the airfields preparing for take off had to be struck off the operational list for maintenance as sand had gotten into their engines. This was a precursor of the events that would follow later in the year.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments and critique are very much welcome.
EDIT:
Note: In OTL, a schwarm from 5/JG27 spotted the Bristol Bombay carrying Gott to his new command in El Alamein. Oberfeldwebel Emil Clade was credited with forcing the Bombay down onto the desert sands, while fellow fighter pilot Bernd Schneider delivered the killing blow to Gott.
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There will be some interesting books.
