Getting Rommel off balance
From Life Magazine
13th October 1958

During the morning of Thursday, 29th October it became increasingly evident that the bulk of Rommel's German forces were grouped in the northern part of the front. We had now achieved what Bill Williams had recommended. The Germans were in the north, the Italians together in the south, and the dividing line between them appeared to be just to the north of our original northern corridor. I at once decided to direct the final blow at this point of junction, but overlapping well on to the Italian front.

I decided that on the night 30/31 October the 9th Australian Division would attack strongly northward to reach the sea; this would keep the enemy looking northward. Then on the next night I would blow a deep hole in the enemy front. Through the gap I would pass the 10th Corps with its armored divisions. What, in fact, I proposed to do was to deliver a hard blow with the right, and follow it the next night with a knockout blow with the left.

During the morning of the 29th October I was visited by Alexander, and by Mr. Richard Casey, who was minister of state in the Middle East. It was fairly clear to me that there had been consternation in Whitehall when I began to draw divisions into reserve on the 27th and 28th October, as I was getting ready for the final blow. Casey had been set up to find out what was going on: Whitehall thought I was giving up, and de Guingand spoke to him very bluntly and told him to tell Whitehall not to bellyache.

By Saturday, 21st October it was clear to me that the stage management problems in connection with the attack were such that if launched on this night it might fail. I therefore decided to postpone it for 24 hours.

At 1am Monday the attack went in on a front of 4,000 yards to a depth of 6,000 yards. It was a success and we were all but out into the open desert. By dusk we had taken 1,500 prisoners. On Tuesday there were indications the enemy was about to withdraw; he was almost finished. Wednesday at 2am I directed two hard punches at the hinges of the final breakout area where the enemy was trying to stop us widening the gap which we had blown. That finished the battle.

The armored car regiments went through as dawn was breaking and soon the armored divisions got clean away into the open desert. The Italian divisions in the south had nothing to do except surrender. They could not escape as the Germans had taken all their transport. Rommel's doom was sounded at Alam Halfa. Now he had been decisively defeated at Alamein.

The pursuit began on the 5th November. In the next 12 days I drove the Eighth Army hard. Twice Rommel's forces were saved from complete disaster by heavy rain. As we approached the Agheila position I sensed a feeling of anxiety in the ranks of the Eight Army. Many had been there twice already, and twice Rommel, had driven them back. We must get possession of the Agheila position quickly. Morale might decline if we hung about looking at it for too long.

Bluffing the enemy

It was a difficult position to attack. I therefore decided to attempt bluff and maneuver and to bustle Rommel to such an extent that he might think he would lose his whole force if he stood to fight. He would be anxious too about the morale of his own troops. They had been retreating continuously since they were defeated at Alamein, more than 1,000 miles away; they were continuously being shot up from the air. All this would tend to make Rommel's forces dispirited and defensively minded, looking over their shoulders for the next position to which to withdraw - as had been the case in the Eighth Army once upon a time.

Before trying to maneuver Rommel out of the Agheila position I flew to Cairo to discuss further plans with Alexander. I did not realise until I got to Cairo that I had suddenly become a somewhat notorious character. My appearance at St. George's Cathedral for the Sunday evening service, where I read the lessons, created quite a stir. It is a strange experience to find oneself famous and it would be ridiculous to deny that it was rather fun.

When I got back to my headquarters I found preparations well advanced. It seemed clear that the enemy was becoming nervous about our preparations, and had begun to ferry his immobile Italian troops back to the Bucrat position - the next good defensive position to the rear. I therefore decided to advance the proposed timing by two days.

Everything went well, The enemy began to withdraw the moment our frontal attack developed, but the New Zealanders had got in behind them by the 15th December, and at one time we had almost the whole of Rommel's Panzer Army in between the New Zealand Division and one armored division. The Germans broke into small groups and burst through gaps in the strung out New Zealand positions. Fighting was confused all day on the 16th December, and prisoners were captured and recaptured on both sides. The Panzer Army finally got through to the west, but it was severely mauled.

I decided that the Eight Army needed a halt during which it could pull itself together and get ready for the final jump to Tripoli. Indeed, officers and men deserved a treat. I ordered that we would all spend Christmas Day in the happiest way that conditions in the desert allowed. It was very cold. Turkeys, plum puddings, beer were all ordered up from Egypt and the staff concentrated on insuring that it all arrived in time.

Duncan Sandys, son-in-law to the prime minister, had been visiting me and when he returned to Cairo he sent us a bottle of port for Christmas. My aide-de-camp told the mess corporal to take the chill off it before putting the bottle on the table. The corporal wanted to make certain there would be no mistake, so he boiled the port. Steam came from the bottle when it was placed before me at dinner on Christmas night!

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