|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Veterans remember El Alamein
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- Veterans of one of the decisive battles of World War II are gathering in northern Egypt for a ceremony to mark its 60th anniversary. The Battle of El Alamein, in 1942, is widely regarded as an event that changed the course of history. Winston Churchill famously described the battle, which began on October 23 and ended on November 4, as the end of the beginning of the war. Those who died there will be remembered on Saturday at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said about 2,000 veterans from 25 countries were expected to attend the ceremony. El Alamein marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Allies, who were fighting to keep open vital supply lines from the Mediterranean to the East. But German general Erwin Rommel -- known as "the Desert Fox" -- had inflicted heavy defeats on Allied forces in Africa forcing them back to the village of El Alamein, about 60 miles west of Alexandria. Recalling the importance of the Allied victory Churchill said: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat." In his biography of Field Marshal Montgomery, who famously commanded the 8th Army, Nigel Hamilton said the Allied success was due to Montgomery remembering the disasters of the Battle of the Somme during World War I. Refusing to succumb to the tactic of a 'big push,' Montgomery dug in at Alam Halfa and would not advance. Hamilton wrote: "Rommel was dumbfounded."
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
