El Alamein Mine Explosion

The MTO

bigpigeon.us webpage  WWII - Germany > MTO > North Africa & Sicily, updated by RAC 16 May 2022.      The North Africa & Sicily webarea is incomplete.

​Links to the North Africa & Sicily subordinate webpages:

• Operation Torch (Nov '42)
• ​The Race to Tunis (Nov '42)
• Tunisia (Nov '42 - May '43)
• The Italian Island of Sicily (Jul - Aug '43)

Background,1940 - 42

For over two years before the Alllied invasion of northwest Africa in late 1942, British Empire and Axis forces fought a see-saw series of battles in northern Egypt and northeast Libya.

Axis vs British Empire Forces in Northeast Africa, 1940-42

This series of battles ended at the climatic Second Battle of El Alamein 150 miles west of Cairo, Egypt in October and November 1942. At El Alamein, General Bernard Montgomery's British 8th Army won a decisive victory over General Erwin Rommel's combined German and Italian forces.

Second Battle of El Alamein

After their defeat at El Alamein, Rommel's army began a long 1,400 mile retreat to Tripoli at the western end of Libya.

Rommel's Retreat from El Alamein to Tripoli

Rommel's retreat had just begun when British and American forces invaded Moroccco and Algeria in northwest Africa on 8 November 1942.

Sources for the North Africa & Sicily webpage:

• The webpage header photo El Alamein Mine Explosion is courtesy of World War II Wiki.
• The Axis vs British Empire Forces in North Africa, 1940-42 map is courtesy of asisbiz.com.
• The Second Battle of El Alamein slide was found at https://slideplayer.com/slide/4321227/ and is courtesy of Angelica Higgins.
• The Rommel's Retreat from El Alamein to Tripoli map is courtesy of legendsofmen.com.