Rommel's Worst Defeat: Second Battle of El Alamein | Animated History

hey guys we just released a huge poster of the entire north african campaign in the year of 1942 including all major battles and offensives go to store.armchairhistory.tv to check it out the panzers tear across the sand driving hard toward the front memories of the battle of gaza are fresh in our commander's mind driving him to greater daring he glances down at his fuel gauge the needle resting squarely on the half tank yet suddenly the panzer screeches to a halt the driver clambers out of the tank and hopes that these last drops of allied fuel will be enough to get his crew to the front line hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian irwin rommel is one of the most instantly recognizable military figures in history his exploits in the early part of the second world war defined the concept of armored warfare and played a major part in the swift conquest of france yet it was the fearsome and dynamic campaign against commonwealth forces in north africa that would lead him to be dubbed the desert fox by his adversaries many of whom would go on to call him the finest axis general of the war but for all of rommel's skill ingenuity and cunning the second battle of el alamein would not only be a clear defeat for the axis but mark a turning point for the entire campaign as winston churchill would famously state before alamein we never had a victory after alamein we never had a defeat join us now as we cover this pivotal shift in ax's fortunes and explore exactly how the desert fox was driven from north africa in november of 1942 [Music] the second battle of el alamein would have been a far bloodier affair if the allies had not realized the axis had broken american codes and rommel was listening in on every report sent back to washington about the disposition of commonwealth forces but if montgomery had only known about the sponsor of today's video nordvpn he could have been alerted to the situation far sooner nordvpn has recently introduced a new dark web monitor program which automatically alerts you if your personal data has been leaked to the shadier side of the internet this is in addition to all of nordvpn's regular essential features like encrypted browsing virtual location hopping and protection from bandwidth throttling upgrade your personal security to the next level and receive a huge discount and nord's 30-day money-back guarantee by clicking the link in the description below or by going to nordvpn.com history vpn to sign up today [Music] we joined the action with the allies and the axis having been fighting in north africa for over two years throughout his african adventure irwin rommel struggled with his greatest opponent lieutenant logistics bane of commanders from the freezing east to the scorching sands of libya early victories against the british 8th army had enabled him to wage a campaign fueled primarily with seized allied supplies to the point that rommel himself used a british aec dorchester command vehicle until late 1941 but with the russian front devouring men and materiel at a terrifying rate north africa slipped increasingly far down the priority list when it came to receiving fuel munitions and reinforcements from home despite these limitations rommel continued scoring victories against the british eighth army before gambling everything on an invasion of egypt but his seemingly inexorable advance ended with a bloody stalemate at alam el halfa leaving the desert fox finally on the back foot the british ultra program had also cracked german security codes enabling them to identify the majority of german supply ships destined for north africa as a result by early october rommel's famous africa corps was down to just three days of fuel for sustained operations meanwhile the british 8th army had been heavily reinforced and now possessed over 200 000 fighting men compared to only about 120 000 german and italian soldiers to make matters worse rommel's health had deteriorated in the harsh desert environment and he had been forced to hand over command to general georg stuma while he returned to germany to receive treatment eager to take advantage of the situation the recently arrived general bernard montgomery planned a massive two-pronged attack on the now entrenched axis line with his primary thrust taking place in the north while a strong diversionary attack occupied the italians in the south but a significant obstacle stood in his path mines the british had used their own minefields to great effect during the earlier axis assault at alam el halfa where they had forced rommel's lethal panzer divisions to slow to a crawl in the open desert terrain leaving them easy targets for british artillery but the desert fox was a cunning and adaptable opponent and had ordered his own minefields laid in preparation for the inevitable british counter-attack allied forces were further disadvantaged by a relative lack of experience with most of their reinforcements being men straight out of basic training montgomery however remained publicly confident inspiring his troops before the start of the battle with the famous words all that is necessary is that each and every officer and men should enter this battle with the determination to see it through to fight and kill and finally to win montgomery's use of the word finally in this speech betrayed a measure of his inner doubts since the german's arrival allied forces in the north african campaign had not won a decisive victory against their tenacious axis foes instead achieving most of their successes via attritional warfare and simply outlasting the poorly supplied africa corps the allies were perpetually wary of rommel's unorthodox tactics and were unwilling to take the kind of daring risks that could result in a decisive breakthrough instead montgomery's initial battle plan relied primarily on overwhelming firepower to crack open the axis defenses and clear the way for his armored units to overrun entrenched nazi positions with his hands now firmly on the levers of command montgomery chose to attack the town of el alamein where only months earlier the germans and british had ground to a four-week stalemate on october 23rd after six weeks of continuous build-up on both sides the second battle of el alamein began with a heavy skirmish between the 24th australian brigade and the 15th panzer division shortly thereafter at 9 40 pm a massive artillery barrage began with nearly a thousand british guns pounding axis positions for 20 minutes this marked the start of operation lightfoot a daring attack conducted almost entirely by infantry whose job was to march through the anti-tank minefields and provide cover while engineers disarmed them by 10 pm the next phase of the attack was underway with more diversionary actions taking place in the south and center of the axis line while four infantry divisions of the 34 attempted to establish a bridgehead in the north while the battle raged on the ground a fleet of six wellington bombers from the desert air force flew up and down the front lines targeting axis artillery positions spotted by an escort of 20 albacore biplanes unfortunately for the commonwealth freedom in the air was not mirrored by liberty on the ground and by 4 am their ponderous advance had already slowed to a crawl as the first tanks began to file through the narrow corridors that the sappers had created they kicked up massive dust plumes forcing vehicles further back in the column to halt creating a traffic jam as dawn crept closer fierce fighting erupted in the south as the seventh armored division and a free french brigade engaged german and italian armored forces in an effort to keep them diverted from the northern sector with the first rays of sunlight came reports from aerial reconnaissance flights confirming that the majority of ax's positions were still intact general georg stuma had managed to conduct an effective defense despite being both caught by surprise and left mostly blind after allied artillery fire destroyed most of his telephone lines 30 core had created a small bulge in the german lines to the north but less than half of the infantry divisions had achieved their objectives and not a single tank had made it through the double layered minefields determined to retake the initiative general stuma drove out to the front lines to inspect the situation personally only to abruptly suffer a fatal heart attack when his car came under allied artillery fire this momentary loss of effective leadership paralyzed the axis forces giving montgomery the time he needed to assess the situation and organize a new offensive this marked phase two of the battle which began with a sustained bombing campaign that lasted until early evening of the 24th but german and italian defenses held remarkably well even after being pounded by over a thousand sorties from the desert air force at around 6 pm the first major tank battle of el alamein occurred when the 15th panzer and litorio divisions engaged the commonwealth first armored division over control of kidney ridge in the north another armored division attempted to capture the nearby maiteria ridge but became bogged down in the seemingly endless minefields four hours later a sudden strike by the luftwaffe scattered at least one armored brigade and blew up an entire convoy of supply vehicles in the south the first greek brigade engaged in a furious battle with the elite italian fallberry division alongside the british 50th infantry division the greek soldiers bravely defended british sappers as they cleared a small path through the minefields while under heavy fire by the 25th of october miteria ridge was in allied hands establishing a relatively safe corridor through the minefields in the north but the remaining axis positions still stood strong and german tanks soon began a series of probing counter-attacks against the tenuous allied line deciding to once again wait till after sunset montgomery ordered a highland division to advance on kidney ridge and an australian division to throw drop bears at an axis artillery observation post designated .29 supported by both artillery and armor the australians captured the point at midnight securing 240 prisoners in the process further south the greek brigade continued its fierce struggle against the falgeries as allied tanks crept forward through the minefields but were unable to overcome the enemy defenses it was at this moment that erwin rommel re-entered the fray having been sent back to command the africa corps after a period of convalescence in germany he quickly guessed montgomery's strategy in the north and ordered a large force of both infantry and panzers to retake point 29 deeming it the linchpin to any successful defense in the area while this attack stalled due to constant harassment by allied artillery and aircraft italian troops made it through the crossfire and retook part of kidney ridge this sudden reversal infuriated prime minister winston churchill so much that he reacted to the news by raging had we not got a single general who could win even one single battle realizing he had to move quickly montgomery resumed his advance on the evening of the 26th leveraging commonwealth air superiority to constantly disrupt any major concentration of axis armor the decisive blow came when torpedo bombers sank two axis oil tankers at to brook eliminating any chance of resupply for the africa corps by the 26th of october 30 corps had secured a bridgehead west of the last german mine belt but the tanks were still lagging behind with minimal armored support the infantry were forced to engage in a battle of attrition taking heavy losses even against the numerically inferior axis forces even so the offensive ground on and at 11 pm two battalions struck out from the reclaimed kidney ridge to capture two german positions designated outpost woodcock and outpost snipe although snipe was captured with little resistance the battalion aimed at woodcock ran into stubborn opposition as did the tanks dispatched to assist them by 4 pm the next day the defenders of snipe were under heavy axis assault but conducted a heroic defense that left some 30 enemy tanks smoking on the battlefield the exhausted defenders were then ordered to withdraw but miscommunication resulted in no reinforcements being sent to occupy the now deserted outpost what followed was a comedy of errors as no less than three british battalions attempted to recapture the outpost only to all misjudge their positions and dig in well short of the target in the end rommel ordered his men to fall back from the area after a failed counter-offensive resulted in the last of his armored forces being bombed and shelled for nearly three hours straight leaving the embarrassed defenders finally in control of both outposts as the first week of fighting drew to a close commonwealth forces had carved deep into the access line corridors had been cut through the minefields and 800 allied tanks were now lined up against fewer than 300 german and italian tanks rommel's supplies were all but exhausted and with two more tankers being sunk at to brooke on the 1st of november he was left relying on whatever dregs could be flown from crete but allied losses had been extremely heavy particularly in the armor department many times during the battle failures in communication had resulted in units being isolated reinforcements being delayed or newly captured territory being abandoned this highlighted just how cautious many british commanders had become after months of defeat at the hands of the desert fox montgomery however remained unwaveringly committed to victory and was already busy planning his coup de grace against the exhausted defenders known as operation supercharge montgomery's plan involved tencor pushing northwards towards the axis stronghold of tel-el akakir where rommel had concentrated the majority of his remaining tanks and heavy guns supercharge began at 1am on november 2nd after nearly 12 hours of non-stop bomber and artillery strikes on enemy positions two assault brigades then marched forward across the resulting moonscape of craters quickly seizing their objectives from the shall-shocked defenders new zealand engineers followed behind to clear the anti-tank mines while the 28th maori battalion protected their flanks the ninth armored brigade was considerably less fortunate having spent all night advancing from the el alamein railway station and losing almost a third of its number before making contact with the enemy with no infantry support around 100 tanks charged a solid wall of german and italian anti-tank guns in perhaps the most heroic single action of the entire battle when the dust cleared fewer than 20 tanks were left operational but dozens of anti-tank guns had been destroyed rommel then counter-attacked only to clash with the newly arrived 8th armored brigade and the ensuing battle wiped out the majority of the remaining german and italian tanks ultimately though supercharged failed to cause a significant breakthrough in the german lines it convinced rommel that retreat was the only sane course of action naturally adolf hitler rejected any notion of retreat instead ordering the desert fox to hold fast and await italian reinforcements knowing these reinforcements were a fantasy that only existed inside mussolini's head rommel ordered his men to withdraw anyway with barely a drop of fuel left tens of thousands of soldiers faced the impossible prospect of retreating on foot across the desert with grim determination rommel chose his africa corps to withdraw on the 4th of november ordering his italian divisions to hold the rear belying their historical reputation the italians put up a dogged resistance against the onrushing enemy with units like the falguray division fighting until every last man was out of ammunition however as they realized they were being abandoned by the germans italian troops finally began surrendering in large numbers burdened by the sick wounded and dehydrated the africa corps were soon being harried by the advancing allied columns but now it was the commonwealth who were overextending their supply lines and fuel shortages became common on the 6th of november a last major engagement was fought when the fleeing 21st panzer division was encircled by the british 7th armored division despite being outnumbered exhausted and low on everything from ammunition to axle grease the panzers broke through the enemy line and rejoined their comrades on their retreat to the coastal town of fuka heavy rains began falling that same day finally providing the africa corps with a momentary respite from constant bombing raids from the raf with conditions turning against him montgomery realized there was no realistic chance of pinning down the africa core contenting himself with a sustained harassment of the enemy force as they retreated towards the coastline by november 11th fighting around el alamein had ended leaving the 19-day long battle as a final decisive british victory the second battle of el alamein was one of the bloodiest engagements of the north african campaign of the two hundred thousand or so commonwealth troops over thirteen thousand were killed or wounded the defending axis forces lost about ten thousand men out of one hundred and twenty thousand with an additional fifty to sixty thousand wounded or captured during the retreat despite being completely outnumbered and outgunned irwin rommel still managed to inflict heavy casualties upon the british until the very end of the battle arguably only losing as many as he did due to lacking the fuel needed to transport them away from danger when the tides turned against him ultimately he would receive considerable reinforcements and command the africa corps to one last major victory against the newly arrived americans at the battle of kasserine pass [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 1,006,238

Keywords: north african campaign, campaign of north africa, battle of tobruk, battle of gazala, erwin rommel, history of rommel, the ghost division, afrika korps, africa corps, western desert campaign, battle of el alamein, el alamein, north african theater, second world war history

Id: 62ZBhP03reM

Length: 22min 4sec (1324 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 29 2022