Alamein. Eighty years on, the name has not lost its evocative power. Victory over the Axis armies in Egypt, between 23 October and 4 November 1942, was a turning point after three grim years of military reverses. In Churchill’s cautiously optimistic words to a war-weary British public, it was not ‘the beginning of the end’ but ‘perhaps, the end of the beginning’.
Far from an inevitable triumph, Alamein was a hard-fought battle, joined only when General Bernard Montgomery was satisfied that he had the edge in terms of men, armour and artillery. Familiar images from those 12 days of bitter fighting testify to the harsh conditions endured by soldiers on both sides: the intensive bombardment that lit up the night sky before the Allied advance began; Eighth Army infantrymen in steel helmets and shorts, pushing forward through thick smoke and dust with fixed bayonets; burnt-out Panzers studding the barren sands; lines of demoralised Axis soldiers herded into captivity.
What was it like to take part in this climactic confrontation, and what was its significance for the course of the Second World War?
Surveying Verulamium