80th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein
On 23 October we recognised the 80th anniversary of the second Battle of El Alamein, where Australians played a crucial role in the Allied victory in North Africa.
There were several significant battles in the El Alamein area between July and November 1942. The 9th Australian Division was pivotal in the British Eighth Army’s action to halt a German and Italian advance towards the Suez.
On the night of 23 October 1942, a massive artillery barrage marked the beginning of an Allied offensive known as the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. Fearing the attack would become bogged down, Eighth Army commander General Bernard Montgomery ordered the Australian Division to switch the axis of their attack from west to north, towards the Mediterranean Sea. The Australians drew in the Axis forces, leaving the enemy’s southern defences weakened and buying the Allies the precious time they needed to attack, achieving a breakthrough and the withdrawal of the German and Italian forces.
The losses of the 9th Australian Division (one of 11 divisions in Eighth Army) totalled some 620 dead, some 2,000 wounded and 130 taken prisoner, about one-fifth of the Eighth Army’s total casualties.
After making a major contribution to the British victory at El Alamein, the 9th Australian Division went on to fight in the Asia/Pacific theatre, making them one of the few Allied army units to serve in both the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres.
Eighty years on, we honour the sacrifice of all those who served our nation in the Second World War.
For more information, visit the Anzac Portal.
(Image: 2/32nd Australian Infantry Battalion holding German counter-attack at El Alamein, Western Desert, Egypt, on 31 October 1942. By William Dargie).