Glyn Harper - The Battle for North Africa: El Alamein and the Turning Point for World War II

THE

BATTLE

for

NORTH

AFRICA

TWENTIETH-CENTURY BATTLES

Spencer C. Tucker, editor

Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918 Richard C. Hall

The Battle of An Loc James H. Willbanks

Battle of Dogger Bank: The First Dreadnought Engagement, January 1915 Tobias R. Philbin

The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action H. P. Willmott

The Battle of Heligoland Bight Eric W. Osborne

The Battle for Manchuria and the Fate of China: Siping, 1946 Harold M. Tanner

The Battle for Western Europe, Fall 1944: An Operational Assessment John A. Adams

The Battle of the Otranto Straits: Controlling the Gateway to the Adriatic in World War I Paul G. Halpern

Battle of Surigao Strait Anthony P. Tully

The Brusilov Offensive Timothy C. Dowling

Chinas Battle for Korea: The 1951 Spring Offensive Xiaobing Li

D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan Harold J. Goldberg

The Dieppe Raid: The Story of the Disastrous 1942 Expedition Robin Neillands

The Imjin and Kapyong Battles, Korea, 1951 S. P. MacKenzie

In Passage Perilous: Malta and the Convoy Battles of June 1942 Vincent P. OHara

Invasion of Norway, 1940

Midway Inquest: Why the Japanese Lost the Battle of Midway Dallas Woodbury Isom

New Georgia: The Second Battle for the Solomons Ronnie Day

Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands Michael B. Barrett

Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania Michael B. Barrett

The Second Battle of the Marne Michael S. Neiberg

The Siege of Kut-al-Amara: At War in Mesopotamia, 19151916 Nikolas Gardner

Where Chiang Kai-shek Lost China: The Liao-Shen Campaign, 1948 Harold M. Tanner

Written in Blood: The Battles for Fortress Przemyl in WWI Graydon A. Tunstall Jr.

THE

BATTLE

for

NORTH

AFRICA

El Alamein and the Turning Point for World War II

GLYN HARPER

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

This book is a publication of

Indiana University Press

Office of Scholarly Publishing

Herman B Wells Library 350

1320 East 10th Street

Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA

iupress.indiana.edu

2017 by Glyn Harper

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Harper, Glyn, author.

Title: The battle for North Africa : El Alamein and the turning point for World War II / Glyn Harper.

Description: Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2017. | Series: Twentieth-century battles | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017020636 (print) | LCCN 2017019231 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253031433 (e-book) | ISBN 9780253031426 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: El Alamein, Battle of, Egypt, 1942.

Classification: LCC D766.9 (print) | LCC D766.9 .H335 2017 (ebook) | DDC 940.542321dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020636

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CONTENTS

LIST OF MAPS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

All publications are a team effort. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of the publishing process is being able to acknowledge the assistance I have received in writing a book and to thank people for their contributions.

I must begin by offering my thanks to Spencer C. Tucker, the initial editor of this series of books. In 2010, Spencer took a great deal of interest in a visiting Fulbright Scholar to the Virginia Military Institute. A friendship developed and it was at Spencers invitation that I commenced work on this book. I remain immensely grateful for the faith he placed in me and for his ongoing support. Indiana University Press has been delightful to work with and has easily overcome the tyranny of distance in dealing with an author who lives a long way from the USA. Also overcome, but perhaps not so easily in my case, has been the different spellings used in both countries. I also wish to acknowledge the work of Janice Frisch, Peggy Solic, and Ashley Runyon and thank them for their support, efficiency, and sound advice.

The primary source material for this book has been obtained from research institutions in four separate countries. Without fail, the staffs at all these institutions have been friendly, courteous, and helpful. I am deeply indebted to them for their professionalism, assistance, and dedication. I must especially acknowledge Neil Frances and the staff of the Wairarapa Archive in Masterton, New Zealand. Neil and his colleagues searched their photograph collections of the Second World War and provided all the images used in this book. They did not charge for this service and I am grateful for their generosity.

Paul Lumsden produced the excellent maps from his farm near Ward in New Zealands South Island. As I live in New Zealands other large island, this process also meant there were problems of distance involved. Thanks to the internet, the rural phone service, and Skype, any problems were easily overcome.

Massey University, New Zealands defining university, was fully supportive of this project. The University gave me the time to undertake the research and to write this book. Massey Universitys School of Humanities also provided some financial assistance toward its publication.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge and thank my wife, Susan Lemish, for her support and all the work she has put into this book. Susan read all the first drafts twice, assisted with the research, checked all the footnotes and bibliography, and undertook a myriad of other tasks necessary to bring this book to publication. It is not surprising, then, that Susan does not want to hear about the battles of El Alamein for some time now.

Glyn Harper

Palmerston North, New Zealand

January 2017

THE

BATTLE

for

NORTH

AFRICA

INTRODUCTION: THE EYES OF THE WHOLE WORLD, WATCHING ANXIOUSLY

On the evening of October 23, 1942, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery settled in for a good nights sleep. Montgomery later claimed that he retired to his caravan early as was his habit, read a few pages from a novel and some time after nine oclock he went to sleep. If this was true, it was a remarkable display of calm, steely resolve and composure given what was at stake. Earlier Montgomery had written a Personal Message to be read to the men of his Eighth Army that morning. Part of his Message read:

When I assumed command of the Eighth Army I said that the mandate was to destroy ROMMEL and his Army, and that it would be done as soon as we were ready.

We are ready NOW.

The battle which is now about to begin will be one of the decisive battles of history. It will be the turning point of the war. The eyes of the whole world will be on us, watching anxiously which way the battle will swing.