Plans for the battle in October 1942

This is Montgomery's original plan for the Second El Alamein. In the north, XXX Corps would make two penetrations of the enemy defenses. X Corp would move forward through the penetrations to take a position astride the enemy supply lines. The hope was that would cause Rommel to use his armored forces to attack X Corps. XIII Corps would attack in the south with the 7th Armoured Division and hoped to draw enemy armor to attack them, making the situation in the north easier for X Corps.

The British had gathered a great deal of information about the German and Italian defensive positions, They had photographs from aerial reconnaissance and photographs taken by ground patrols. One feature of the methods used for photographing was that minefields tended to be concealed. Winds blowing sand helped to hide the minefields. The enemy defenses that had been found were described in intelligence summaries released in week two of October 1942. In the area from the sea coast to Deir el Shein varied from three thousand to seven thousand yards wide. There were actually two bands of defenses that were spread some three thousand yards apart. There were partitions between the bands that were located four or five thousand yards apart. Defenses in the north were very strong with another strong area near West Point 23. The second band of defenses was laid in parallel to the first band. The second was often located on reverse slopes of ridges. This was from Miteiriya to Deir el Shein. South from Deir el Shein, there were gaps in the defenses. South from Himeimat, the defensive positions had not been built up as they were in the north.

Montgomery personally presented the plan to all levels from corps commanders down to battalion commander. The attack in the north would be made by four infantry divisions. An attack in the south would be made by most of two infantry divisions. Two armored divisions would move forward at dawn in the north. A third armored division would move forward in the south. They had some one thousand tanks in the divisions with more available as replacements. They would use close to one thousand guns in the opening artillery barrage. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.