Battle Plan: Battle of El Alamein - BBC Documentary - Peter and Dan Snow

The battle that turned the tide in North Africa in World War II.

I worked on this show long, long ago. It was great fun, except for getting ill and having to urgently relieve myself in the remains of an 88 gun emplacement.

I wonder if the impact of Bonner Fellers will be mentioned, sending his daily dispatches to Washington using a code the Germans were able to read before the information was read in Washington.

Monty has 10 times more tanks and artillery pieces and 6-7 times more men than the DAK. He was also much better supplied by the Americans than Rommel by the Italians. DAK only received about 20-30% of their supplies from the Italian Navy. Yet despite the overwhelming superiority in men and materials, Monty couldn’t manage to crush DAK but in fact was chased by Rommel twice across the Libyan desert.

General Gort didn’t perish in a plane crash. He survived that plane crash and was trying to help many crew members to get out of the burning plane when it blew up and killed nearly everyone.

Ram,ram,ji,

Beautiful script and mesmerizing narration.

Great documentary!

Sadly every single ANZAC who served his country or sacrificed his life for Australia's freedom and sovereignty, did so for nothing.
They fought fascism and communism in the 20th century. Yet in the 21st their complacent and naive grandchildren let totalitarianism gain significant control over our economy and thus compromise both our way of life and future independence.

My grandfather's on both sides fought against fascism and yet we lost the peace to exactly what they fought against. If people can't connect the dots regarding our evolution as a nation over the past two decades then I fear their judgement is suspect.

We only have ourselves to blame. Conquered by pure greed.
I'm no longer proud to be Australian.

The Italian army was full of masonic spies that did not want to Mussolini to win, they are the ones that relied the informations

Montgomery was a stooge, Auchinleck was the real hero.

Stupid video, at the beginning there was no mention of the Italians that were 80% of the axis armies.

Monty showed the same excessive optimism in planning as with Market Garden...

I don't agree with the assessment that "they had shown for the first time in WWII that Hitler could be defeated". That glory belongs to the red army in the winter of 1941/42. Furthermore Operation Crusader had achieved victory as well. The difference being that this time the German army did not have a comeback. But (without wanting to slight Mr Montgomery) that had mainly economic reasons. The US industry was by now producing war material on a scale that was just unmatched by the Axis powers. I wonder if without the battle the German army might have withdrawn after the development on the eastern front. The loss of 25000 soldiers at El Alamein pales beside the losses of many battles on the Eastern Front in Russia.
That being said it of course is the turning point in the desert war in hindsight. However, while it was the major front for Great Britain it was a secondary front in German strategy. The Africa Corps was officially under the command of the Italian army and was severely lacking in logistics, weapons and reinforcements - something that can't be said for the British 8th army. Again, not wanting to slight the achievements or the suffering of British soldiers - the battle kind of seems like a price boxer fighting against another price boxer who is locked in a fight with another boxer as well. 900 tanks vs 300 tanks says it all.

interesting 20min the rest is ken burns like crap

The Italians fought quite well under Rommel's command.

Montgomery was the most savvy and adept commander in the North African campaign. He changed the allied mindset more or less overnight, getting rid of mindless tank charges and placing far greater emphasis on artillery and closer ground to air cooperation in addition to instilling greater morale with his hands on command ethos.

Rommel was an excellent divisional or corps level armour tactician but he was out of his depth against Montgomery in the wider campaign strategy, particularly when it came to logistics. Unlike Rommel, Montgomery never outran his supply lines.

His 8th Army also carried out the fastest long advance of any army in WW2. 1,300 km in just 20 days November 4th to 23rd 1942 from El Alamein to El Agheila. And that was after suffering 15,000 casualties in an intense two week battle and getting through half a million mines. His advance had to then halt while supplies caught up from Alexandria and the port of Benghazi repaired.

"From late 1942, US tanks were required in increasing numbers to make up for the deficiencies of home-grown products. Only in 1944 was British industry able to deliver a tank reasonably fit for a fast-moving battlefield, and even then it was scarcely a match for its opponents."
Imperial War Museum BRITAIN'S STRUGGLE TO BUILD EFFECTIVE TANKS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR page

"Over the next six weeks Montgomery began to stockpile vast quantities of weapons and ammunition to make sure that by the time he attacked he possessed overwhelming firepower. By the middle of October the Eighth Army totalled 195,000 men, 1,351 tanks and 1,900 pieces of artillery. This included large numbers of recently delivered Sherman M4 and Grant M3 tanks."
Jewish virtual library Bernard Law Montgomery page

Fascinating insight, what really changed this battle was the Sherman tank, until then British tanks had been slow and inferior and in effect attacks were suicide missions with them. And the somewhat-conceited Montgomery, at last a leader who showed strategic skill and foresight and one who communicated with his troops. God bless all the brave tank personnel and infantry, special thanks must go the wonderful ANZACS and South Africans and Indians (along with others like Polish, Czech, Greek, Free-French) who fought so gallantly alongside British soldiers. God bless you all.

Churchill "Their very best tanks—the Shermans—were just coming out of the factories. The first batch had been newly placed in the hands of their divisions who had been waiting for them and looking forward to receiving them. The President took a large number of these tanks back from the troops to whom they had just been given. They were placed on board ship in the early days of July and they sailed direct to Suez under American escort for a considerable part of the voyage.   22 
The President also sent us a large number of self-propelled 105 mm. guns, which are most useful weapons for contending with the 88 mm. high velocity guns, of which the Germans have made so much use. One ship in this convoy—this precious convoy—was sunk by a U-boat, but immediately, without being asked, the United States replaced it with another ship carrying an equal number of these weapons." 
Hansard Debate on the address 11 November 1942 on line

 The US Army had M3 mediums when it landed in North Africa. The M7 105mm howitzer was the first modern purpose built self propelled gun in British service.

Tanks fit for action at the start of Alamein totaled 1,029: 252 Shermans, 170 Grants, 249 Crusaders, 119 Stuarts and 194 Valentines.

The Sherman wasn’t the only tank whose gun could deal with the panzers. The final Crusader had improved armour and a 6-pdr gun and greater reliability. 6pdr armed Crusader tanks sliced through the Germans and Italians in the Desert. A big problem was the US derived Liberty engine, which Nuffield eventually ironed out the problems. Its speed a was a great problem for the Germans. They had nothing that fast.

The British had some influence over the design of the Sherman:

Though reluctant to adopt British weapons into their arsenal, the American designers were prepared to accept proven British ideas. British ideas, as embodied in a tank designed by the Canadian General Staff, also influenced the development of the American Sherman tank.

British teams were in the United States in 1940 providing input on the designs of the Stuart, Grant, and Sherman tanks. A British brigadier named Geiger had a memorable meeting with the ranking general in the United States Army, George C. Marshall, to make sure his recommendations on internal layouts were incorporated.

The US were eager to supply about 250 unproven Sherman tanks out of about 1,500 in total. The US were desperate to get the tank blooded in battle, so the British could do that for them.

The Sherman on introduction was generally no better than British tanks, but more reliable being new. In fact it was worse than many especially the well armoured 6-pdr Churchill. The Sherman’s first showing was at El Alemein, as unproven it was pitted against lesser Italian units. The Sherman tank supplied was complex, as they never had a proper tank engine it had five Cadillac engines arranged in a circle, supposedly synched up - note: US forces never used this complex excuse for a tank engine - the Sherman was built from as many existing commercial vehicle parts as possible. The British worked with the makers to improve the complex engine and tank generally - the E8, the ultimate Sherman was derived from suggestions by the British.

El Alamein was primarily fought by infantry with heavy artillery support in the way of 900 British25pdrs.DAF ground attack and bombers also flew many sorties against axis positions. Allied armour barely played a part because it was stuck in the minefields the Germans called “the Devil’s Garden”, until the final stages of the battle when the outcome was already decided.

Further, they were found to be shaky at first and consume huge amounts of petrol.

......At the same time it is only right to remember that much of Eighth Army had had little experience of warfare of any sort.The original 51st Division had been forced to surrender at St Valery during the Battle of France–to Rommel, as had not been forgotten–and its present successor had seen no action. Alam Halfa had been 44th Division’s first battle and its experiences then and thereafter had not been happy ones: 69th Brigade had not seen combat since it had been reformed in mid-September; 9th and 24th Armoured Brigades were totally inexperienced new arrivals; and 8th Armoured Brigade had been in action as a formation only in its unsatisfactory clash with von Vaerst during Alam Halfa.

In addition, the new equipment reaching Eighth Army greatly increased the problems of inexperience – 8th, 9th and 24th Armoured Brigades for instance all received their new Shermans too late to gain any real practice with them before the battle began. They also found that there was a dearth of spare parts and many important items of equipment, such as compasses, were missing altogether. The Shermans later gained a deserved reputation for reliability but in those early days when neither their crews nor the maintenance units were used to them, it is hardly surprising that, in the tactful words of Lucas Phillips, ‘several of them were found to be mechanically shaky’._

......As a crowning misfortune, the Shermans revealed another defect which had been concealed by the static nature of the fighting at Alamein: in these difficult conditions they consumed what the Official History calls ‘fantastic quantities of fuel’.

......Currie’s brigade had been built up to 121 tanks of which seventy-two were Shermans or Grants and the rest Crusaders, but by this stage of the battle a number of the Shermans in both 9th Armoured Brigade and 1st Armoured Division were very much ‘mechanically shaky’.”

— Eighth Army's Greatest Victories: Alam Halfa to Tunis 1942–1943 by Adrian Turner

At Alam Halfa Rommel had enough fuel for seven days battle.

”In fact on this occasion, as Horrocks points out, the shortage of petrol was not ‘quite so acute as Rommel claimed’.Four tankers had reached Tobruk in the last ten days of August, as had some ammunition ships. Three other tankers had been sunk en route, but ‪on 30 August‬, Kesselring transferred 1,500 tons of fuel from Luftwaffe stocks, which when added to the supplies already with Rommel’s units, gave Panzerarmee Afrika enough for a seven days’ battle. In addition, Kesselring agreed to fly in a further 500 tons daily–a promise which, von Mellenthin confirms, he ‘did in fact fulfill....

.......Rommel’s advance this time was far more than just a ‘try-on’–as he was very well aware. He called it a ‘decisive battle’ which would result in ‘the final destruction of the enemy’; he urged his soldiers to give of their utmost ‘during these decisive hours’; he told his wife that his blow ‘might go some way towards deciding the whole course of the war’......


....At the time he made his decisiwon, it appears that Rommel had also heard bad news from further afield. On the night of 1st/ ‪2nd September‬, the Abruzzi and the Picci Fassio, two of the five tankers promised by Cavallero, had been torpedoed by RAF Beauforts–both sank next day. Two more, the Bianchi and the Padenna, would be sunk by combined air and submarine attacks ‪on 4 September‬, though on that same day, the Sportivo with her 800 tons of petrol would reach Tobruk safely. By that time, in any case, losses or arrivals were irrelevant, for Panzerarmee Afrika was already in full retreat. The loss of the first two tankers, however, would give Rommel the opportunity, rather meanly, of blaming Cavallero for the defeat, insisting that ‘the petrol which was an essential condition for the fulfilment of our plan had not arrived’.

Yet the fuel carried in Cavallero’s tankers had not been intended to supply Rommel during the battle but to replenish the stocks which the battle was likely to consume. Rommel would later go so far as to complain that he had ‘only one petrol issue left’ by the evening of ‪1 September‬, but in his signal to Berlin on the evening of the following day, he stated that he could only continue ‘at the full rate of expenditure’ ‪until 5 September‬, which gives a totally different picture. In fact since his fuel losses had been heavier than expected as a result of the constant air attacks, it confirms that he had possessed, as he intended, seven days’ supply when the battle began. Indeed Rommel’s complaint to Kesselring about Montgomery not attacking would have been pointless if he had not had the fuel to deal with the ‘swine’ once the attacks began. Interestingly enough, many German accounts reject Rommel’s claims. Von Mellenthin supports him and specifically mentions that lack of petrol ‘prevented any large-scale withdrawal’ during ‪2 September‬, but von Mellenthin is less reliable than usual on this occasion, for, as he admits, he ‘can speak only with indirect knowledge of the course of this battle’–he remained throughout at Panzerarmee Afrika’s main HQ at Sidi Abd el Rahman, some 10 miles behind the front line on the coast, suffering from a severe attack of dysentery. He was certainly misinformed about the events of ‪2 September‬, for in reality Panzerarmee Afrika spent this towing asmany of its damaged vehicles as possible to safety, including, it appears, all those knocked-out but repairable tanks that had previously been recovered. Rommel was also able to strengthen his flanks against the expected British interference, sending the remainder of Ramcke’s Parachute Brigade and the bulk of the Folgore Parachute Division to reinforce the Axis troops facing the New Zealanders, withdrawing part of 90th Light Division westward to provide a reserve, and ordering twenty-five of Ariete’s tanks to the area east of Himeimat to guard against any moves by 7th Armoured Division. Field Marshal Kesselring by contrast points out flatly in his Memoirs that Rommel–as we have seen–had originally had sufficient fuel to enable him to continue the battle for almost a week. He concludes therefore that ‘lack of petrol supplies could not be blamed’ for the defeat – though his belief that it was a ‘cast-iron determination to follow through that was lacking’ does less than justice to either Rommel or his opponent.”

Still more convincing is the judgement of Rommel’s chief German subordinate during the battle. Paul Carell reports that Major General von Vaerst explained to him that there was certainly a fuel shortage but to attribute the defeat to this was a ‘fallacy’. Carell also interviewed other senior ‘surviving witnesses’ and confirms that the argument that Rommel’s failure arose from his petrol problems ‘cannot be supported’. Possibly,’ adds Carell doubtfully, ‘a more favourable fuel position for the Afrika Korps and the resultant improved mobility and manoeuvrability could once more have turned the tables against the obstinate British defence. Possibly. But it cannot be denied that the British air supremacy was also a decisive factor in the battle.’ This last point is surely a crucial one. Rommel’s difficulty was not that he did not possess the fuel he needed but that to bring it to his fighting soldiers in the front line his petrol lorries had to pass through perilous restricted gaps in minefields under continuous air attacks from a dominant Desert Air Force.This difficulty, it may be added, could not have been solved even if all Cavallero’s tankers had arrived safely.”

-Eighth Army's Greatest Victories: Alam Halfa to Tunis. Adrian Turner

My dad was an Infantry Staff Sergeant during this lot. This excellent film is a credit to his memory.

I think George S Patton had a hand in defeating the Afrika Corps too

And so at a stroke, Gott is written out of history. Probably another disastrous pick by Churchill. Fate does work in mysterious ways.

Steel Commanders
Rule the battlefield
Spearhead Flanders
Tankers leading the
Storm of panzers
Battle calling the
Steel Commanders

Churchill did NOT choose Montgomery as his first choice. he chose Gort who was killed in aplane crash on the way out there. Then he chose Montgomery.

getting out of the sherman was easier the the british tanks

They aimed at the bagpipes noise

Monty told Churchill to back off and butt out.
Speeches don't bring victory .
aknowlegment of your own situation and tailoring with that in mind does.
Far to much attributing to heroic disposition.
Enigma ,quality of troops and equipment, material logistics All played a part .

Wish my Father and I had the relationship they share.

Best explanation of this battle I have seen. Monty knew his foe, used deception, relied on Ultra and took delivery from a convoy that travelled 13,000 miles the long way around. Superb and with more than a little help from the RAF Rommel was chased out of Africa. Ah, Africa then used to attack the "soft underbelly". Well, it turned out not to be soft but again deception was used brilliantly to make Hitler believe that the Allies would come up through Greece in the case of "the man who never was".

Please remember these brave men who sacrificed their lives for our peace and freedom.
26th February 1943: 155th Battery RA and Hampshires hold 10th Panzer at Sidi Nsir

Does anyone know what tv show this is? I know this isn't part of the 20th century battlefields so what tv series is this?

Great to see The Australian 9th Division get a proper mention. They were also the Rats Of Tobruk

As well as achieving the first victories against the ‘unstoppable’ German military war machine, Britain achieved that which no other nation in the world could even possibly dream of accomplishing in the early 1940s – namely fighting, at any one time, a global war in the Middle East, the Far East, the Indian subcontinent, the Pacific, North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, the North Atlantic, the South Atlantic, the North Sea, the Barents and Arctic seas, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic and of course mainland Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia too.



They were the only military power in human history to achieve this.Germany’s war was regional by comparison. Japan’s and Italy’s war the @t 1941 the British were fighting in all theatres of war, concurrently, in all corners of the globe and against better prepared forces of vastly superior numbers.



Not only was Britain, for the third year running, trying to prop up a blitzkrieged ally - France, then Russia, then the United States - but the incapacity of the U.S. Navy to provide any convoy protection on its east coast almost lost the allies the Battle of the Atlantic. Even after the British hastily deployed 60 escort vessels to cover the US coast, shipping losses climbed to a level that undermined British ability to feed themselves, keep the Russians in the war, keep the reinforcements flowing to the Middle East and Asia, and pander to a panicked Australian government.



For most of 1942 the British Commonwealth held the line, kept back the combined efforts of Germany and Italy and Japan (with fairly minimal imput from the United States compared to her potential power), and kept the Atlantic and Indian oceans open and suppliers flowing to the vital armies in the Middle East and Asia, and to the Soviets.



No other empire in the history of the world has been capable of such a sustained multi-continent and multi-ocean operation. The British Empire and Commonwealth was fighting a three continent, 4 ocean campaign, against three major powers and incidentally trying to keep the Russians supplied and in the war, providing thousands of tanks and aircraft that would have saved Singapore.



Nonetheless the total British losses of territory and people were - one third of the territory the Soviets lost, and one half of the people the Americans ( Philippines) even though those nations were fighting only on one front and only against one of the three powers.



Throughout 1942 British Comonwealth troops were fighting, or seriously expecting to be attacked, in French North Africa, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, Syria (torn between expecting airborne assault, and preparing to reinforce Turkey if that country was attacked), Iraq and Iran (German invasion from the north was attracting more British troop deployment until after Stalingrad than those facing Japan and Rommel combined), Madagascar (fighting the Vichy French to prevent them from inviting the Japanese in as they had done in Indochina), Ceylon (at the time of the Japanese naval raid that looked like it might prefigure and invasion), India, Burma, outposts of the East Indies, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and other Pacific Islands.



For the next two years the British Commonwealth and Empire had far more ground troops in action against the Japanese than the Americans (and again the British were supposed to maintain sea control over the North and South Atlantic's, the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans - and provided aircraft carriers and cruisers to help in the Pacific - while the Americans concentrated on just one of those powers).

It's nice to see that we (other nations) have been actually acknowledged fighting at El Alamein in an English documentary about this battle.
But you stuffed up at the end saying that Hitler could be defeated in WW2 at this battle? Rommel was first defeated at Tobruk when he could not take this town with several attempts in 1941, as historians I thought you would have known this??? Don't try to change history ok! They weren't completely defeated at Tobruk but they were stopped,...full stop! And that was the first time in WW2,...that's a defeat to me when an army can't advance any further???

This was a really good video. Many More, please.

My Grandfather was Haveldar (Sergeant) in the British Punjab 1st. Regiment, Third Brigade and fought in the battle of Al Alamein...He fondly remembers his Highlander comrades and his Infantry formation accompanied them - playing bagpipes and marching, while German fire was all around them....frying eggs on the Tanks Armour was something I vividly remember him mentioning, with a wry smile...Also he was chosen as one of two or three 'runners' to scout German formations from the relatively higher grounds of Quattara Depression...We, the Muslims of Northern Punjab are very proud of him, our Villagemen and their sacrifices...They were the Gallant Warriors..plain and simple..My Great Grandfather was a Lance Naik (or Corporal) in the First Baloch Regiment of British Army and this Muslim Punjabi contingent was part of soldiers sent to suppress the Boxer Rebellion (China) in 1900 and rescue the British garrison in Shanghai...its a shame that our soldiers did not get the recognition accorded to other Commonwealth Martial contributions...

Rommel was only there to tie down as many British troops as possible. Hitler never thought of North Africa as anything but a side show. Russia was where the war was at and where the best troops and all the tanks and supplies went. There was never a serious strategy to drive on to the Suez and then the middle east. In fact, Rommel's fuel and supplies began to dwindle to almost nothing while Monty took his time building up his forces' strength for a big push. I don't know if Monty was so good as Auchinlech was so bad.

Should have mentioned that Rommel was in hospital in Germany until the 3rd day of Alamein.

They're not convincing, those young actors in uniform, just reciting the lines.

24 foot wide lanes for the tanks to pass over through the minefield - inevitably the narrow lanes become blocked with broken down tanks. The same thing happened at Market Garden later on. Monty just did not understand how tanks could break down and block a road.

Peter looks a lot like Montgomery

it's preatty easy to win a decisive battle when you have total naval and air superiority, double the troops, three times the tanks and countless more various artillery pieces, better logistics and much better supply situation, full strenght armor divisions with brand new shermans, a united central command and full intelligence on the enemy (enigma decoded), i can't really see this great mind behind the victory.

I wish my dad worked at the BBC. I wouldn't mind a nice paying job on the telly.

It was not first major defeat of Germans, they were crushed in battle of Moscow 6 months earlier . But I guess anything Russian is no-go.