Operation Lightfoot

Second Battle of El Alamein

24 October 1942: Soldiers of the 9th Australian Infantry Division in a posed attack. (Photographer: Len Chetwyn)

Belligerents

United States (air support)

Commanders and leaders

Strength

116,000 men
547 tanks
192 armoured cars
770 – 900 aircraft (480 serviceable)
552 artillery pieces
496 anti-tank guns – 1,063

195,000 men
1,029 tanks
435 armoured cars
730 – 750 aircraft (530 serviceable)
892 – 908 artillery pieces
1,451 anti-tank guns

Casualties and losses

36,939 to 59,000 men (9,000 killed or missing, 15,000 wounded, 35,000 prisoners)
c. 500 tanks
254 guns
64 German and 20 Italian aircraft

13,560 men (4,810 killed or missing, 8,950 wounded)
332–c. 500 tanks
111 guns
77 British and 20 US aircraft

External image
The Second Battle of El Alamein
Battle of El Alamein: map of initial dispositions

The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October–11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. With the Allies victorious, it was the watershed of the Western Desert Campaign. The First Battle of El Alamein had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt. In August 1942, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery took command of the Eighth Army following the sacking of General Claude Auchinleck and the death of his replacement Lieutenant-General William Gott in a plane crash.

The British victory turned the tide in the North African Campaign and ended the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields via North Africa. The Second Battle of El Alamein revived the morale of the Allies, being the first major success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch, which started on 8 November, as well as the Battle of Stalingrad and the Guadalcanal Campaign.