Tuesday, February 25, 2020

German perspective from 29 October 1942 at El Alamein

Rommel attempted to counter the progress made by the 9th Australian Division on 29 October 1942. One thing he did was to put the "northern sector" under the command of the 90th Light Division. They were given the "125th Regimental Group". Rommel ordered them to form a new line and dig positions as quickly as they could. Of course, he wanted the line to be "firmly held". The line would extend from Sidi Abd el Rahman to the coast. In terms of the 9th Australian Division, the line would start near the far southwest corner of the division. The line would be in the "north-northeasterly direction".

The 200th Battle Group (Kampfgruppe) was responsible for the attacks on the 2/15th and 2/17th Battalions on 29 October. The attacks failed to recapture "Bir Sultan Omar" and be able to recapture the line the line that the 2/15th Battalion had broken into. The attack failed, but they were able rescue the remnants of the II/125th Battalion.

The losses suffered by the 164th Division and the Italian Trento Division were so great, that Rommel had to eventually commit most of the Africa Corps to the northern area. Rommel had been forced to leave other areas unprotected in order to fight the Australians in the north.

By now, the authorities in Britain were getting pretty anxious about the course of the Battle of El Alamein. They had thought that with the great superiority in strength, the battle would have been already won. We can image Churchill "bouncing off the walls and ceiling" and wanting to intervene, because he considered himself to be this great military genius, which he was not. The CIGS, Alan Brooke, was also concerned, but he did not want to further inflame Churchill, so he kept quiet. Churchill could not help himself, so he wrote an unpleasant telegram to General Alexander. This is based on the account in Vol.III of the Australian Official History.

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