El Alamein Full Day Tour

After the British had inflicted severe defeats on the Italian forces in North Africa, the German general Erwin Rommel was chosen commander of Axis forces in Libya (February 1941). In January 1942 his forces started a new drive eastward along the North African coast to seize the Suez Canal. After losing Benghazi in January, the British held the Germans in check until May. Then the German and Italian forces were able to destroy most of the British tank force, take Tobruk, and move eastward into Egypt, reaching the British defenses at El-Alamein on June 30, 1942. Rommel attacked this line on July 1, but the next day the British commander, Gen. Claude Auchinleck, counterattacked, and a battle of attrition developed. By mid-July Rommel was still at El-Alamein, blocked, and had even been thrown on the defensive, thus ending the first battle. The British had stopped his drive to overrun Egypt and seize the canal. Allied losses for this first battle amounted to some 13, 250 killed or wounded of 150, 000 troops