AS EPPLER AND SANDSTETTE LANGUISHED in prison, on 23 October 1942 Operation Lightfoot began, the Second Battle of El Alamein. The British Eighth Army was under the strategic direction of General Sir Harold Alexander and the tactical command of Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery, who had held back Rommel and the Afrika Korps at Alam el Halfa.
Montgomery now drew the Afrika Korps into a battle of attrition dictated by the positions at El Alamein. There was no way around, no open flank, no room for manoeuvre. The defences on both sides were deep, situated behind large minefields, and the men in both armies were veterans. Montgomery did not want the enemy to retreat; he hoped to destroy them where they stood.
Rommel was well aware of the weakness of his position at the end of a precarious supply line 1500 miles long. To make matters worse, on 23 September he had flown back to Italy and onto Germany on sick leave suffering from a gastric illness, and General Georg Stumme took command.
The Second Battle of El Alamein was marked by Montgomery’s philosophy of his army remaining ‘in balance’. Thus the battle developed in stages dictated by him, although he was not inflexible; the timetable and direction of attacks could be altered but the stages could not. It started with the ‘Break-in’ on 23–25 October to clear the minefields; here the timetable was extended by 24 hours.
The ‘Dogfight’ of 25–31 October required Eighth Army to wear down the Afrika Korps in a mainly infantry fight. By this time Rommel had returned to Africa; Stumme had been killed and command had devolved to General Wilhelm Von Thoma in Rommel’s absence.
During the ‘Break-out’ on 1–4 November Rommel managed to save many of his troops despite Hitler’s order not to retreat. The Italians by now were beyond caring, and even the staunch German troops were exhausted. About midday on 4 November the overstretched Axis defence snapped. Von Thoma was captured while fighting with his escort group. That afternoon Rommel ordered a general withdrawal to save the mobile units of his army. Most of the Italian infantry was abandoned.
The Second Battle of El Alamein was decisive. Rommel had lost half his army and virtually all his tanks; 30,000 of his men were taken prisoner and 20,000 fell in battle. The battle secured the British position in the Middle East, and confirmed that they had found their winning team of Alexander and Montgomery.
The British pursuit was not a great success, partly due to confusion and Montgomery’s ‘in balance’ tactic, and perhaps the magic of Rommel’s name played its part. During the long retreat to Tunisia Rommel twice took a stand but on neither occasion would Montgomery take the bait. He stayed ‘in balance’ at all times, allowing Rommel no opportunity to turn the tables.