After all, the Axis were just 70 miles from Alexandria.
Professor Simon Ball, of the University of Leeds, notes that the Allies were now in a state of “rear echelon panic”. The survivors scrambled in disarray to prepare for battle at El Alamein, a small Egyptian railway halt on the Mediterranean coast – by car, foot, or any way they could. These troops then launched a counteroffensive – known as Operation Crusader – to relieve the besieged ‘rats of Tobruk’, who had held out against Rommel’s bombardment for almost eight months.īefore long though, the Eighth Army again suffered a series of crushing defeats. These brave soldiers denied Rommel access to the Mediterranean, thanks to some tenacious guerrilla combat.īack in Egypt, the Allied Forces regrouped as the Eighth Army under the command of Sir Claude Auchinleck. The Allies left a force of mainly Australian troops in the port of Tobruk. He outflanked and outfought them at every turn using cunning manoeuvres, anti-tank weaponry, and audacious offensives.
The fight for North Africa – and the western desert campaignĪfter arriving in Libya, Rommel quickly repelled the Allies back into Egypt.
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