Battle of Alam El Halfa - The Attack

The Attack

Further information: Battle of Alam el Halfa order of battle

The attack started on the night of 30 August taking advantage of a full moon. From the start, things went wrong for Rommel; the RAF spotted the Axis vehicle concentrations and unleashed several air attacks on them. Fairey Albacores of the Royal Navy dropped flares to illuminate targets for Vickers Wellington medium bombers and for the artillery; also, the minefields that were thought to be thin turned out to be deep. The British units covering the minefields were the two brigades of the 7th Armoured Division (7th Motor and 4th Armoured), whose orders were to inflict maximum casualties before retiring. This they did, and the Axis losses began to rise. They included General Nehring—the Afrika Korps commander—wounded in an air raid, and General Von Bismarck—commander of 21st Panzer Division—killed by a mortar bomb.

Despite these difficulties, Rommel′s forces were through the minefields by midday the next day and had wheeled left and were drawn up ready to make the main attack originally scheduled for 06:00. The late running of the planned schedule and the continued harassing flank attacks from the 7th Armoured Division had forced them to turn north into Montgomery′s flank further west than originally planned and directly toward the prepared defenses on Alam el Halfa. At 13:00, the 15th Panzer Division set off, followed an hour later by 21st Panzer. The Allied units holding the ridge were the British 22nd Armoured Brigade with 92 Grants and 74 light tanks, supported by anti-tank units with 6-pounder guns and the artillery of the 44th and 2nd New Zealand Divisions.

One account indicates that the Germans had approximately 200 gun-armed tanks in the two Panzer divisions, and 240 in the two Italian armoured divisions. The Italian tanks were obsolete models, while the Germans possessed a total of 74 Panzer IIIs with the long 50 mm (1.97 in) gun (Pz.Kpfw III Ausf.J) and a total of 27 Panzer IVs mounting the new long 75 mm gun (Pz.Kpfw IV Ausf.F2). This same account further indicates that the British strength was at 700 tanks at the front, of which 160 were Grants (M3A5 Grant). Only 500 of the British tanks were engaged in the armoured battle, which was brief.

As the Panzer Divisions approached the ridge, the Panzer IV F2 tanks opened fire at long range and destroyed several British tanks. The British Grants were handicapped by their hull-mounted guns that prevented them from firing from "hull-down' positions, although the armour-penetrating capabilities of the turret-mounted 37 mm (1.46 in) gun exceeded that of the hull mounted 75 mm gun. When the Germans came into range, they were exposed to the fire of the brigade and their tanks were hard hit. An attempt to outflank the British was thwarted by anti-tank guns and with night beginning to fall and fuel running short because of the delays and heavy consumption over the bad 'going', General Gustav von Vaerst—now commanding the Afrika Korps—ordered the Panzers to pull back. During this engagement, the Germans lost 22 tanks and the British 21.

The night brought no respite for the Axis forces, as the Albacore and Wellington bombers returned to the attack, concentrating on the Axis supply lines. This added to Rommel′s logistic difficulties as Allied action had sunk over 50% of the 5,000 long tons (5,100 t) of petrol promised to him by Mussolini. Accordingly, on the following day (1 September), the 21st Panzer Division was inactive (probably because of lack of fuel) and operations were limited to an attack by the 15th Panzer Division toward the eastern flank of the 22nd Armoured Brigade. Their attack started at dawn but was quickly stopped by a flank attack from the 8th Armoured Brigade. The Germans suffered little, as the British were under orders to spare their tanks for the coming offensive but they could make no headway either and were heavily shelled.

Meanwhile the Italian Littorio and Ariete Armoured Divisions had moved up on the left of the Afrika Korps and the 90th Light Division and elements of Italian X Corps had drawn up to face the southern flank of the New Zealand box.

Air raids continued throughout the day and night and on the morning of 2 September, realising his offensive had failed and that staying in the salient would only add to his losses, Rommel decided to withdraw.