1 00:00:14,889 --> 00:00:18,100 (narrator) This land was made for war. 2 00:00:18,184 --> 00:00:20,978 As glass resists the bite of vitriol, 3 00:00:21,062 --> 00:00:27,776 so this hard and calcined earth rejects the battle's hot, corrosive impact. 4 00:00:35,035 --> 00:00:38,454 Here is no nubile, girlish land, 5 00:00:38,538 --> 00:00:42,875 no green and virginal countryside for war to violate. 6 00:00:44,169 --> 00:00:48,047 This land is hard, inviolable. 7 00:01:48,066 --> 00:01:49,691 (narrator) Benito Mussolini 8 00:01:49,776 --> 00:01:52,111 declares war on France and Britain. 9 00:01:52,195 --> 00:01:59,368 Combattenti di terra, di mare, dell'aria. 10 00:02:04,457 --> 00:02:07,793 (crowd cheering) 11 00:02:26,729 --> 00:02:28,939 (narrator) Like some Roman consul, 12 00:02:29,023 --> 00:02:31,567 Mussolini longed for an African empire. 13 00:02:31,651 --> 00:02:35,404 Already he had massacred the Abyssinians and subjugated the Libyans. 14 00:02:35,488 --> 00:02:38,031 Now he wanted more. 15 00:02:42,662 --> 00:02:48,208 (man) We were certainly not ready to go to war in 1940. 16 00:02:48,334 --> 00:02:51,670 lt was purely a political move from Mussolini 17 00:02:51,754 --> 00:02:54,965 who felt that Hitler was winning too much too quickly 18 00:02:55,049 --> 00:03:00,387 and that if he didn't make some sort of gesture, take some sort of initiative, 19 00:03:00,513 --> 00:03:05,309 he would not be able to sit at the conference table. 20 00:03:16,905 --> 00:03:20,407 (narrator) Mussolini's eyes were on Egypt - 21 00:03:20,491 --> 00:03:24,036 the Egypt of the Nile and the Suez Canal. 22 00:03:26,122 --> 00:03:32,336 ln autumn 1940, he poured 250,000 troops into Egypt's neighbour, Libya, 23 00:03:32,420 --> 00:03:35,839 and another 300,000 into Ethiopia. 24 00:03:35,924 --> 00:03:39,134 Facing them in Egypt were just 30,000 British soldiers 25 00:03:39,260 --> 00:03:41,386 of the Western Desert Force. 26 00:04:07,455 --> 00:04:12,125 September 13, 1940, when the battle for Britain was at its height, 27 00:04:12,210 --> 00:04:15,462 Mussolini's men set out to conquer Egypt. 28 00:04:24,305 --> 00:04:28,308 Completely outnumbered, the British troops simply fell back. 29 00:04:34,607 --> 00:04:38,026 Affer four days, Mussolini's men were to reach Sidi Barrani, 30 00:04:38,111 --> 00:04:40,028 60 miles inside Egypt. 31 00:04:40,113 --> 00:04:44,616 There they would stop, still 300 miles short of Cairo. 32 00:04:47,578 --> 00:04:50,289 (Colacicchl) Looking back, it seems extraordinary 33 00:04:50,373 --> 00:04:55,961 how we moved into Egypt by sending out these enormous columns - 34 00:04:56,045 --> 00:04:59,840 not very well protected because we didn't have many tanks. 35 00:04:59,924 --> 00:05:05,804 And then each one of them settling down in a sort of fortified camp. 36 00:05:12,020 --> 00:05:15,647 This helped, of course, General O'Connor, l think, a lot. 37 00:05:15,732 --> 00:05:18,233 (narrator) O'Connor, the British commander, 38 00:05:18,318 --> 00:05:21,486 had used the pause to plan a counterattack. 39 00:05:21,571 --> 00:05:26,616 The ltalians had a series of these fortified perimeter camps, 40 00:05:26,701 --> 00:05:30,287 and we decided that, as they were so far apart, 41 00:05:30,371 --> 00:05:32,706 they would be unable to support each other, 42 00:05:32,790 --> 00:05:37,002 and we moved our troops round to attack them from the rear, 43 00:05:37,086 --> 00:05:40,005 the way that their rations would come. 44 00:05:49,682 --> 00:05:53,810 (man) O'Connor undertook an operation which was due to last about four days, 45 00:05:53,895 --> 00:05:57,689 which was the limit for the available tanks, which were nearly worn out, 46 00:05:57,774 --> 00:06:04,279 and for our administration, in terms of supplying water and fuel and ammunition. 47 00:06:04,364 --> 00:06:06,490 He achieved complete surprise, 48 00:06:06,574 --> 00:06:10,410 got behind the ltalian positions at Sidi Barrani, and, in the morning, 49 00:06:10,495 --> 00:06:13,038 the ltalian resistance collapsed. 50 00:06:13,122 --> 00:06:15,207 (cheering) 51 00:06:34,852 --> 00:06:37,604 (Belchem) O'Connor's great achievement was 52 00:06:37,688 --> 00:06:44,111 that, by using captured vehicles and captured dumps of water and fuel, 53 00:06:44,195 --> 00:06:48,573 he was able to maintain this four-day battle 54 00:06:48,658 --> 00:06:52,661 into what became an offensive lasting over a period of weeks 55 00:06:52,745 --> 00:06:55,288 and resulted in taking him as far as Benghazi 56 00:06:55,373 --> 00:06:58,291 and indeed, beyond, to El Agheila. 57 00:07:00,211 --> 00:07:03,880 (narrator) An area the size of England and France had been captured. 58 00:07:03,965 --> 00:07:07,968 For the British, it was an unbelievable victory and marVellously opportune 59 00:07:08,052 --> 00:07:11,096 for, back home, the Blitz was mounting in ferocity. 60 00:07:11,180 --> 00:07:15,142 For Mussolini, a mere six months affer entering the war, 61 00:07:15,226 --> 00:07:19,354 the defeat meant the pricking of his imperial pretensions. 62 00:07:19,439 --> 00:07:22,691 (Colacicchl) Mussolini had said, "l want 1 ,000 ltalian dead 63 00:07:22,775 --> 00:07:26,069 to be able to sit at the conference table." 64 00:07:26,154 --> 00:07:29,197 And, of course, it cost many more than that. 65 00:07:38,791 --> 00:07:42,669 (narrator) 200,000 ltalians were taken prisoner. 66 00:07:52,096 --> 00:07:54,431 (man) They'd had enough. 67 00:07:54,515 --> 00:07:59,060 ln many cases they were very, very happy to surrender. 68 00:07:59,145 --> 00:08:02,314 To think that we were vastly outnumbered, 69 00:08:02,398 --> 00:08:08,820 and to see one Tommy taking literally thousands back to the POW cage 70 00:08:08,905 --> 00:08:11,907 was a great joy for us to see. 71 00:08:11,991 --> 00:08:16,036 We used to call them "gentlemen". "There go the gentlemen." 72 00:08:17,914 --> 00:08:21,666 (narrator) Tripoli, Libya's capital, was in O'Connor's grasp. 73 00:08:21,751 --> 00:08:24,628 But Churchill withdrew the cream of O'Connor's forces 74 00:08:24,712 --> 00:08:27,130 to meet the Nazi threat in Greece. 75 00:08:27,215 --> 00:08:30,509 (G'Connor) We couldn't do Greece and Tripoli at the same time. 76 00:08:30,593 --> 00:08:32,010 That was clear. 77 00:08:32,845 --> 00:08:36,306 l say we could have done Tripoli immediately 78 00:08:36,390 --> 00:08:39,809 and still leff the options open for Greece. 79 00:08:40,269 --> 00:08:42,270 We lost an enormous opportunity 80 00:08:42,355 --> 00:08:44,356 to finish up North Africa, 81 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:45,941 and it was a fatal error 82 00:08:46,025 --> 00:08:47,526 to go to Greece. 83 00:08:47,610 --> 00:08:53,782 lf we had advanced immediately, we could have pushed him out. 84 00:08:53,866 --> 00:08:56,368 l entirely blame myself for not having done it. 85 00:08:56,452 --> 00:09:00,330 l think it was quite inexcusable. l ought to have. 86 00:09:02,291 --> 00:09:07,128 (narrator) February 12, 1941 . Hitler comes to Mussolini's rescue. 87 00:09:10,675 --> 00:09:14,219 A small mobile force that had been hurriedly put together 88 00:09:14,303 --> 00:09:15,720 set sail to Tripoli. 89 00:09:20,184 --> 00:09:23,562 A force that was soon to be renowned as the Afrika Korps. 90 00:09:32,446 --> 00:09:38,159 The task of the German Africa army was only 91 00:09:38,244 --> 00:09:43,123 to tie down as many British troops as possible 92 00:09:43,207 --> 00:09:47,168 and to cover the southern flank of Europe. 93 00:09:48,004 --> 00:09:54,843 We had never the intention to conquer Egypt or to cross the Suez Canal. 94 00:09:59,932 --> 00:10:03,310 (narrator) The man Hitler chose to save Mussolini from disaster 95 00:10:03,394 --> 00:10:06,104 had made his name in France the summer before - 96 00:10:07,231 --> 00:10:09,441 Erwin Rommel. 97 00:10:15,281 --> 00:10:20,744 ln the port of Tripoli in February / March '41 , 98 00:10:21,579 --> 00:10:28,627 Rommel told my friend Lieutenant Hunt, an engineer: 99 00:10:29,795 --> 00:10:33,840 "Hunt, here you can build me 150 tanks." 100 00:10:33,924 --> 00:10:37,510 The man looked stupefied, and Rommel told him: 101 00:10:37,595 --> 00:10:42,599 "Don't you have timber here in the harbour and canvas of sails 102 00:10:42,725 --> 00:10:46,519 to make 150 covers for Volkswagen?" 103 00:10:46,604 --> 00:10:48,647 "So you can give me 150 tanks." 104 00:10:48,731 --> 00:10:51,691 And those tanks misled the British. 105 00:10:53,569 --> 00:10:58,698 (narrator) Rommel knew nothing about desert warfare, but was bold and daring. 106 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:04,329 (man) Rommel was perhaps the ideal commander for this war theatre. 107 00:11:04,413 --> 00:11:07,540 lt was very wide in area, 108 00:11:07,625 --> 00:11:11,795 but very limited in numbers of soldiers, 109 00:11:11,879 --> 00:11:15,799 and so he could apply practically naval tactics. 110 00:11:16,759 --> 00:11:19,928 (Westphal) Towns and cities were very few 111 00:11:20,012 --> 00:11:25,642 and, therefore, we had no difficulties with the Arabian population. 112 00:11:25,726 --> 00:11:28,019 They didn't disturb us. 113 00:11:31,524 --> 00:11:36,569 (narrator) The evening the Afrika Korps arrived, they were ordered to the front. 114 00:11:38,614 --> 00:11:41,658 Rommel believed in attack, and quickly. 115 00:11:50,876 --> 00:11:54,754 On the last day of March, when not all the troops promised had even landed, 116 00:11:54,839 --> 00:11:56,756 he took on the British at El Agheila, 117 00:11:56,841 --> 00:12:02,554 and in just 12 days pushed them back the 500 miles to Egypt. 118 00:12:03,514 --> 00:12:06,683 (man) lt was as if the bogeyman was just round the corner. 119 00:12:06,767 --> 00:12:09,269 lt was "Here comes Rommel," 120 00:12:09,353 --> 00:12:13,565 or "Rommel's coming down the desert fast. Get the hell out of it." 121 00:12:14,984 --> 00:12:20,572 (narrator) Now it was the British turn to be taken prisoner in their thousands. 122 00:12:31,208 --> 00:12:35,754 (man) Rommel told me to go ahead and we reached Derna, 123 00:12:35,838 --> 00:12:41,926 picking up on our way English soldiers and generals who came in one by one. 124 00:12:42,011 --> 00:12:45,305 Amongst them, the famous General O'Connor. 125 00:12:46,265 --> 00:12:48,933 (G'Connor) lt was miles behind our own front. 126 00:12:49,018 --> 00:12:50,810 We drove into the one bit of desert 127 00:12:50,895 --> 00:12:54,105 in which the Germans had sent a reconnaissance group. 128 00:12:54,190 --> 00:12:59,194 lt was a great shock, and l never thought it would happen to me. 129 00:12:59,278 --> 00:13:00,862 Very conceited, perhaps. 130 00:13:01,822 --> 00:13:04,449 (narrator) And so the Rommel legend took shape. 131 00:13:04,533 --> 00:13:08,703 By mid-April, he had driven the British back where they had started. 132 00:13:08,788 --> 00:13:12,165 But one pinprick remained - Tobruk. 133 00:13:17,463 --> 00:13:21,758 100 miles behind the front, its Australian garrison held out, 134 00:13:21,842 --> 00:13:26,638 denying Rommel a precious forward port for his supplies. 135 00:13:29,308 --> 00:13:33,394 While Tobruk remained in British hands, it threatened Rommel's supply lines 136 00:13:33,479 --> 00:13:37,315 and deterred him from advancing any further into Egypt. 137 00:13:40,444 --> 00:13:45,323 Unable to take Tobruk by direct assault, Rommel prepared to besiege it. 138 00:13:47,034 --> 00:13:49,244 The Luffwaffe, too, were called in. 139 00:14:09,098 --> 00:14:13,142 Over 1 ,000 raids were mounted against Tobruk. 140 00:14:23,362 --> 00:14:24,654 Under Rommel's nose, 141 00:14:24,738 --> 00:14:27,866 the Royal Navy replaced their garrison with fresh troops - 142 00:14:27,950 --> 00:14:31,619 Poles, South Africans, lndians, British. 143 00:14:32,538 --> 00:14:35,498 (man) lt was bare rations in Tobruk. 144 00:14:35,583 --> 00:14:41,045 Although one must thank the navy. They did a wonderful job. 145 00:14:46,802 --> 00:14:50,305 (narrator) ln 1941 the Royal Navy ruled the Mediterranean. 146 00:14:50,389 --> 00:14:53,349 They had done so since giving the powerful ltalian fleet 147 00:14:53,434 --> 00:14:56,060 a bloody nose at Taranto the previous autumn. 148 00:14:56,145 --> 00:14:59,522 And so British convoys made their way through the Mediterranean 149 00:14:59,607 --> 00:15:01,983 relatively unmolested. 150 00:15:02,067 --> 00:15:04,777 More importantly, operating from Malta, 151 00:15:04,862 --> 00:15:07,405 the Royal Navy could harass Rommel's own convoys 152 00:15:07,531 --> 00:15:10,199 passing from ltaly to Tripoli. 153 00:15:43,108 --> 00:15:46,402 The British supplies got through, while Rommel's didn't. 154 00:15:47,863 --> 00:15:50,490 Denied the petrol necessary for his panzers, 155 00:15:50,574 --> 00:15:55,370 Rommel couldn't advance any further into Egypt that summer. 156 00:15:55,454 --> 00:15:58,247 And, worse, no matter how hard he tried, 157 00:15:58,332 --> 00:16:00,458 Rommel couldn't take Tobruk. 158 00:16:01,001 --> 00:16:04,837 lt remained a thorn in his side, and became a symbol of British doggedness 159 00:16:04,922 --> 00:16:07,548 every bit as much as Churchill's bulldog face. 160 00:16:07,633 --> 00:16:12,595 (man) We were pestered with blaring loudspeakers on the perimeter. 161 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:15,682 We were called the self-imposed prisoners of Tobruk 162 00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:22,438 and Rommel's propaganda machine bellowed at us to give up. 163 00:16:22,523 --> 00:16:26,067 Well, we just took no notice. We said, "We'll stick it out." 164 00:16:26,151 --> 00:16:28,903 We knew that they couldn't get in. 165 00:16:37,621 --> 00:16:40,790 (man #2) There had been no light at the end of the tunnel at all 166 00:16:40,874 --> 00:16:43,376 since the withdrawal from Dunkirk. 167 00:16:43,460 --> 00:16:47,463 l think for political and, above all, for morale reasons - 168 00:16:47,548 --> 00:16:50,049 the morale of the people of this country - 169 00:16:50,134 --> 00:16:54,721 it was terribly important to show that we could hold the Germans. 170 00:16:54,805 --> 00:16:57,515 (narrator) The Desert War was in stalemate, 171 00:16:57,599 --> 00:17:00,601 a time for taking stock of tactics as well as supplies. 172 00:17:00,686 --> 00:17:03,813 Rommel's tactics had more effect than those of the British, 173 00:17:03,897 --> 00:17:06,107 especially in his use of tank. 174 00:17:07,401 --> 00:17:10,987 (Beichein) We had been trained to fire on the move, 175 00:17:11,071 --> 00:17:14,866 to execute the sort of cavalry charge on tracks, 176 00:17:14,950 --> 00:17:17,702 and handle armour in that way. 177 00:17:17,786 --> 00:17:22,415 The Germans had studied this problem much more than we between the wars 178 00:17:22,499 --> 00:17:26,335 and also, of course, Rommel had experience from northern France 179 00:17:26,420 --> 00:17:29,047 and so had many of his tank crews. 180 00:17:29,131 --> 00:17:33,468 And they appreciated that the tank's best action against his enemy 181 00:17:33,552 --> 00:17:37,555 is to wait for him to come on, sitting in a hull-hidden position. 182 00:17:37,639 --> 00:17:39,265 lf they're caught in the open, 183 00:17:39,349 --> 00:17:44,062 to decoy the enemy onto their own antitank gun lines. 184 00:17:52,780 --> 00:17:58,159 (narrator) Rommel's main antitank weapon was the Krupp-made 88mm. 185 00:17:58,243 --> 00:18:01,204 lt had decimated the French tanks in May 1940 186 00:18:01,288 --> 00:18:03,873 and was doing the same now to the British tanks. 187 00:18:05,084 --> 00:18:08,669 (man) lt was effective at 1 ,000 yards and over. 188 00:18:09,838 --> 00:18:14,300 lt could pinpoint you, zero into you and it would brew a tank up easily. 189 00:18:18,847 --> 00:18:22,850 (man #2) They could shoot at us before we were even within striking distance. 190 00:18:22,935 --> 00:18:28,314 We couldn't hope to hit them with the two-pounders or the six-pounders. 191 00:18:30,192 --> 00:18:33,903 (narrator) Rommel not only had the edge in tactics and equipment, 192 00:18:34,029 --> 00:18:38,074 he also enjoyed the confidence of his political chief, Hitler. 193 00:18:38,158 --> 00:18:39,700 Wavell, his opposite number, 194 00:18:39,785 --> 00:18:42,703 was pressured by Churchill to provide a victory. 195 00:18:42,788 --> 00:18:47,416 When he didn't, he was replaced by General Sir Claude Auchinleck. 196 00:18:47,501 --> 00:18:50,795 "The Auk", in turn, appointed as his commander in the field 197 00:18:50,879 --> 00:18:53,464 Lieutenant General Cunningham. 198 00:18:53,549 --> 00:18:56,300 Cunningham had defeated the ltalians in East Africa 199 00:18:56,426 --> 00:19:00,346 and put back Haile Selassie on the throne of Abyssinia. 200 00:19:00,430 --> 00:19:03,558 But he was an infantryman and knew nothing about tanks. 201 00:19:04,017 --> 00:19:07,019 The tank held the key to success in the desert, 202 00:19:07,104 --> 00:19:09,939 but British tanks leff much to be desired. 203 00:19:10,023 --> 00:19:13,234 (man) They were very poor, mechanically. 204 00:19:13,318 --> 00:19:18,406 There were parts missing, parts not connected properly. 205 00:19:18,907 --> 00:19:22,618 (narrator) Unlike the Germans, the British had few tank transporters, 206 00:19:22,703 --> 00:19:25,746 so their tanks had to move long distances as well as fight 207 00:19:25,831 --> 00:19:28,040 on their tracks. 208 00:19:29,084 --> 00:19:32,336 (man) Every track is connected to the next track by a pin - 209 00:19:32,421 --> 00:19:33,629 a lot of moving parts - 210 00:19:33,714 --> 00:19:40,052 which, in the desert, was sometimes powdery but hard, gritty sand. 211 00:19:40,679 --> 00:19:44,015 Well, water is a lubricant 212 00:19:44,099 --> 00:19:48,144 and a tank track is best suited to muddy conditions. 213 00:19:50,272 --> 00:19:54,066 (narrator) To Churchill, the Desert War had been too long in stalemate. 214 00:19:54,151 --> 00:19:55,193 He needed victory, 215 00:19:55,277 --> 00:19:58,988 especially affer the humiliating failures in Greece and Crete. 216 00:19:59,072 --> 00:20:01,824 No sooner were Cunningham and Auchinleck appointed 217 00:20:01,909 --> 00:20:05,453 then they, too, were pressured into an offensive. 218 00:20:20,385 --> 00:20:25,598 The British now had more equipment, but their tactics hadn't changed. 219 00:20:25,682 --> 00:20:28,517 Rommel might have been tempted to echo Wellington: 220 00:20:28,602 --> 00:20:33,147 "They came on in the same old way and we stopped them in the same old way." 221 00:20:37,402 --> 00:20:39,278 ln just five days that November, 222 00:20:39,363 --> 00:20:42,657 Cunningham lost 300 tanks - two-thirds of his force - 223 00:20:42,741 --> 00:20:45,159 many through mechanical failure. 224 00:20:45,244 --> 00:20:48,496 (man) Say the track came off and jammed, 225 00:20:48,580 --> 00:20:50,456 well, if you were in action, 226 00:20:50,540 --> 00:20:53,668 you couldn't do anything about it but bail out. 227 00:20:53,752 --> 00:20:56,337 And then you couldn't recover the tank. 228 00:20:56,421 --> 00:21:00,841 At that time in the desert we had no means of recovery of tanks. 229 00:21:00,926 --> 00:21:04,887 (man #2) You'd always leave the battleground. 230 00:21:04,972 --> 00:21:09,058 Jerrys, they used to seem to stay there. 231 00:21:09,142 --> 00:21:11,143 We might have had a successful day 232 00:21:11,228 --> 00:21:14,647 but the Jerrys always seemed to deny us the battlefield. 233 00:21:15,107 --> 00:21:18,651 (man) Their equipment had to come equally as far as ours, 234 00:21:18,735 --> 00:21:21,070 but they seemed to value it more 235 00:21:21,154 --> 00:21:26,325 and did every effort to recover their tanks as soon as it got dusk. 236 00:21:26,910 --> 00:21:28,536 (narrator) By bluff and guile, 237 00:21:28,620 --> 00:21:31,539 Rommel convinced Cunningham he had lost the battle, 238 00:21:31,623 --> 00:21:34,292 but Auchinleck was determined to stay put. 239 00:21:34,376 --> 00:21:38,504 He sacked Cunningham, who wanted to withdraw, and appointed Ritchie. 240 00:21:38,588 --> 00:21:41,799 The gamble to stay and fight came off. 241 00:21:50,392 --> 00:21:52,727 When defeat stared the British in the face, 242 00:21:52,811 --> 00:21:55,563 the battle's balance swung dramatically their way, 243 00:21:55,689 --> 00:21:58,733 as Rommel's panzers ran out of fuel. 244 00:21:59,443 --> 00:22:00,943 Tobruk was relieved. 245 00:22:01,028 --> 00:22:04,822 Rommel was forced to withdraw 500 miles back to his starting point, 246 00:22:04,906 --> 00:22:10,453 and, on Christmas Eve 1941 , Benghazi changed hands for the third time. 247 00:22:11,580 --> 00:22:15,458 But with Commonwealth forces again poised to push the Axis out of Africa, 248 00:22:15,542 --> 00:22:19,628 they were again denuded of troops and equipment, this time for the Far East, 249 00:22:19,713 --> 00:22:21,422 where Japan's entry into the war 250 00:22:21,506 --> 00:22:24,508 threatened British bases in Burma and Malaya. 251 00:22:24,593 --> 00:22:31,640 An opportunity of gaining something which was real and important 252 00:22:31,725 --> 00:22:34,143 in the Middle Eastern theatre 253 00:22:34,227 --> 00:22:41,067 was lost for the sake of something which was very doubtful 254 00:22:41,151 --> 00:22:46,238 and unlikely to pay off in the Far East. 255 00:22:47,282 --> 00:22:52,078 (narrator) Within a couple of weeks, Rommel counterattacked. 256 00:22:58,001 --> 00:23:01,921 Against the weakened British forces, he recaptured Benghazi 257 00:23:02,005 --> 00:23:04,173 and once more threatened Tobruk. 258 00:23:04,257 --> 00:23:06,509 He was stopped at Gazala. 259 00:23:06,593 --> 00:23:09,637 Once again, it was stalemate. 260 00:23:29,866 --> 00:23:33,911 The peculiar conditions of the desert bred a comradeship that was unique. 261 00:23:33,995 --> 00:23:37,039 To many, the Desert War was a private war, 262 00:23:37,124 --> 00:23:40,876 the last to retain any pretence of chivalry. 263 00:23:46,758 --> 00:23:50,386 (man) As soon as we stopped anywhere and there was a lull and a rest, 264 00:23:50,470 --> 00:23:52,805 you'd clear off a patch of the desert and say: 265 00:23:52,889 --> 00:23:55,891 "Right. Now we'll have a game of football." 266 00:23:55,976 --> 00:23:59,895 (man #2) The sportsmanship showed in both sides. 267 00:23:59,980 --> 00:24:06,318 Football games were not interrupted by artillery fire during certain periods. 268 00:24:08,405 --> 00:24:12,283 (Beichein) The staple diet was biscuits and bully beef. 269 00:24:12,367 --> 00:24:16,662 (man #3) We had bully beef fried, bully beef boiled, 270 00:24:16,746 --> 00:24:19,206 bully beef with dog biscuits. 271 00:24:19,291 --> 00:24:23,627 (man #4) Oh, and dog biscuits. Dogs would refuse to eat them. 272 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,548 (narrator) With food a problem and water scarce, 273 00:24:27,632 --> 00:24:30,509 dysentery was a constant danger. 274 00:24:33,763 --> 00:24:37,099 The Germans invented a water can which the envious English, 275 00:24:37,184 --> 00:24:41,020 affer seeing theirs burst countless times on the bumpy desert surfaces, 276 00:24:41,104 --> 00:24:44,315 copied and christened the "jerry can". 277 00:24:45,150 --> 00:24:48,736 (man) We were rationed at one stage there on a cup of water a day 278 00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:51,197 to bath and shave. 279 00:24:51,281 --> 00:24:54,909 What offen happened was the sections collected their ration, 280 00:24:54,993 --> 00:24:59,163 put it into a helmet and each would shave out of that. 281 00:24:59,247 --> 00:25:01,832 (narrator) Above all, it was hot. 282 00:25:01,958 --> 00:25:05,586 Very, very, very hot. 283 00:25:05,670 --> 00:25:09,965 (man) lt was so hot you could fry an egg on the mudguard. 284 00:25:10,050 --> 00:25:13,594 lt's literally true. You could break an egg on the outside. 285 00:25:13,678 --> 00:25:16,472 lt was so hot it would sizzle. 286 00:25:20,018 --> 00:25:23,771 (narrator) The fly was perhaps the desert soldier's greatest scourge - 287 00:25:23,855 --> 00:25:27,316 not just as a nuisance but as a carrier of disease. 288 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,694 The flies were indifferent as to which side they plagued. 289 00:25:30,779 --> 00:25:35,574 (man) There were competitions as to who killed the most flies. 290 00:25:35,659 --> 00:25:41,080 The flies were that fattened with living on the dead 291 00:25:41,164 --> 00:25:43,415 that any time you killed them, 292 00:25:43,500 --> 00:25:46,252 the smell got into you and caused stomach upsets. 293 00:25:46,336 --> 00:25:49,004 And we had orders from division headquarters 294 00:25:49,089 --> 00:25:51,590 to cut out this business of killing the flies. 295 00:25:51,716 --> 00:25:53,926 We just had to let them go. 296 00:25:55,887 --> 00:26:03,352 (Westphal) l think one fly has, within one year, nine million children. 297 00:26:05,397 --> 00:26:08,774 (narrator) There was, too, the occasional scorpion and viper. 298 00:26:08,858 --> 00:26:13,654 And when the wind blew, the sand and dust got in everywhere. 299 00:26:18,368 --> 00:26:21,662 (man) The fine dust used to clog up everything. 300 00:26:21,746 --> 00:26:24,957 The jets would clog up in the carburettors. 301 00:26:25,041 --> 00:26:26,959 Your watches would stop. 302 00:26:27,043 --> 00:26:31,463 (man #2) We had great problems with our intestines that gave a form of diarrhoea 303 00:26:31,590 --> 00:26:35,801 which was very severe because of the sand passing through. 304 00:26:35,885 --> 00:26:40,139 (man #3) You had, for instance, to go from your quarters to the latrine, 305 00:26:40,223 --> 00:26:44,226 and you had literally to do it with a march compass. 306 00:26:44,311 --> 00:26:47,646 There are cases where soldiers did not return 307 00:26:47,772 --> 00:26:50,316 when they had forgotten their march compass. 308 00:26:52,235 --> 00:26:55,571 ln the sandstorm, of course, the fighting stopped, 309 00:26:55,655 --> 00:26:57,865 which was enjoyed at the beginning. 310 00:26:57,991 --> 00:27:00,784 Then affer three days you think: 311 00:27:00,869 --> 00:27:04,121 "Better the sandstorm stops and the fighting starts again." 312 00:27:06,791 --> 00:27:11,587 (narrator) Ritchie planned an offensive for May with Grant tanks from America. 313 00:27:11,671 --> 00:27:15,382 But Rommel, as usual, got in first. 314 00:27:15,467 --> 00:27:18,260 Ritchie had learnt little from previous mistakes. 315 00:27:18,386 --> 00:27:20,054 Like the ltalians, he had set up 316 00:27:20,138 --> 00:27:21,680 a series of fortified camps 317 00:27:21,765 --> 00:27:23,682 and laid mines galore. 318 00:27:23,767 --> 00:27:25,142 But as O'Connor had done 319 00:27:25,226 --> 00:27:26,393 with the ltalians 320 00:27:26,519 --> 00:27:29,563 Rommel simply went round the open flank. 321 00:27:30,607 --> 00:27:34,193 (man) We were down south, just in front of Bir Hakeim 322 00:27:34,277 --> 00:27:40,699 and, during the morning, we saw this dust going up from where Jerry was. 323 00:27:40,784 --> 00:27:44,328 He was coming up through where the Seventh Armoured Div were. 324 00:27:44,412 --> 00:27:46,789 And it was like a fox in a hen coop - 325 00:27:46,873 --> 00:27:50,167 everybody dashing about all over the place. 326 00:28:11,481 --> 00:28:15,401 (narrator) Ritchie's new tanks were proving a disappointment. 327 00:28:15,485 --> 00:28:18,737 Once again, the British armour was out-manoeuvred. 328 00:28:18,822 --> 00:28:21,740 The Battle of Gazala was Rommel's. 329 00:28:34,504 --> 00:28:38,382 The way was open to the prize that had eluded Rommel the previous summer, 330 00:28:38,466 --> 00:28:44,096 the prize that Churchill, for one, had determined ever to deny him - Tobruk. 331 00:28:51,646 --> 00:28:54,523 Tobruk's fortifications had been neglected. 332 00:28:54,607 --> 00:28:59,069 They were no longer as formidable as they had been the previous summer. 333 00:29:19,340 --> 00:29:24,386 (newsreel) 27 Juni. Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt. 334 00:29:24,512 --> 00:29:28,348 Berlin Radio broadcast news of Tobruk's surrender. 335 00:29:28,433 --> 00:29:31,059 For Churchill it was a particularly dark moment. 336 00:29:31,144 --> 00:29:32,978 For Rommel, the peak of his career, 337 00:29:33,062 --> 00:29:36,398 and a grateful Führer made him field marshal. 338 00:29:43,656 --> 00:29:49,161 The British now fell back into Egypt, further than ever before. 339 00:29:49,245 --> 00:29:54,208 (De Guingand) l've never seen such chaos. You couldn't save the situation. 340 00:29:54,292 --> 00:29:58,837 l've never seen a desert road crammed with every sort of vehicle, 341 00:29:58,922 --> 00:30:02,758 every unit muddled up higgledy-piggledy. 342 00:30:02,842 --> 00:30:05,844 No one knew what was going on and... 343 00:30:05,929 --> 00:30:09,139 Luckily our air force was stronger than the enemy's, 344 00:30:09,224 --> 00:30:12,601 otherwise l think we would have been routed. 345 00:30:14,562 --> 00:30:18,607 (man) The state of despair had to be masked, 346 00:30:18,691 --> 00:30:23,320 and it was masked in a typically British way - by nonchalance. 347 00:30:23,404 --> 00:30:27,074 When Rommel was expected in Cairo that evening, 348 00:30:27,158 --> 00:30:28,951 Lord Killearn, my ambassador, 349 00:30:29,035 --> 00:30:33,705 instantly gave a dinner for 80 people at the Mohammed Ali Club 350 00:30:33,832 --> 00:30:37,125 and said, "When he comes down, he'll know where to find us." 351 00:30:39,128 --> 00:30:44,299 (narrator) Past Mersa Matruh, past Maaten Bagush, past Fuka, past Daba, 352 00:30:44,384 --> 00:30:49,805 the British fell back, until, on June 30, 1942, 353 00:30:49,889 --> 00:30:54,017 they reached a railway halt just 60 miges from Agexandria - 354 00:30:54,143 --> 00:30:56,228 El Alamein. 355 00:31:09,534 --> 00:31:11,618 lt was no chance choice of Auchinleck's 356 00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:16,707 that the decisive battle for Egypt should be fought here at El Alamein. 357 00:31:24,007 --> 00:31:26,091 This bit of desert was not like any other 358 00:31:26,175 --> 00:31:28,468 over which the war had been fought. 359 00:31:28,553 --> 00:31:30,971 As always, the sea was to the north, 360 00:31:31,055 --> 00:31:35,434 but, here, just 40 miles inland, was another sea - 361 00:31:36,477 --> 00:31:40,314 a sunken sea of quicksand and salt marsh, 362 00:31:40,398 --> 00:31:42,482 impassable to tanks. 363 00:31:43,401 --> 00:31:45,569 The Qattara Depression. 364 00:31:47,989 --> 00:31:50,532 Until now the fluid strategy of desert warfare 365 00:31:50,617 --> 00:31:53,952 had sprung from there being always an open flank. 366 00:31:54,037 --> 00:31:58,498 But at Alamein, Rommel would have to think of something different. 367 00:32:02,045 --> 00:32:05,213 Auchinleck prepared for the final battle for Egypt, 368 00:32:05,340 --> 00:32:07,841 for, affer Tobruk, he had sacked Ritchie 369 00:32:07,926 --> 00:32:11,345 and taken command of the Eighth Army himself. 370 00:32:14,766 --> 00:32:18,685 But Churchill was already planning to sack him too. 371 00:32:18,770 --> 00:32:21,229 Rommel didn't wait for Churchill's decision. 372 00:32:21,314 --> 00:32:27,069 He threw his tired troops into a last, desperate attempt to take Egypt. 373 00:32:32,659 --> 00:32:36,328 ln July, in perhaps the most decisive battle of the Desert War, 374 00:32:36,412 --> 00:32:38,830 Auchinleck halted him. 375 00:32:39,791 --> 00:32:43,251 (De Guingand) It was a frightfully important battle, 376 00:32:43,336 --> 00:32:47,839 and it was touch and go that we might have lost our whole Middle East base. 377 00:32:59,060 --> 00:33:03,772 (narrator) Churchill went to see for himself in August the troops' morale. 378 00:33:03,856 --> 00:33:05,732 Tobruk's fall had exasperated him, 379 00:33:05,817 --> 00:33:09,736 but he was heartened by the reception he got from the Eighth Army. 380 00:33:09,821 --> 00:33:14,408 He'd already decided to appoint Alexander in place of Auchinleck. 381 00:33:14,492 --> 00:33:17,202 The new Eighth Army commander was to be Montgomery, 382 00:33:17,286 --> 00:33:20,998 although Montgomery had not set foot in the desert during the war. 383 00:33:21,082 --> 00:33:24,459 (man) When Montgomery came we were a bit apprehensive about him 384 00:33:24,544 --> 00:33:29,756 because we'd never seen this man who had white knees and what have you. 385 00:33:29,841 --> 00:33:34,261 (Durrell) The presence of your PM suddenly was a very tonic thing. 386 00:33:34,345 --> 00:33:37,222 He was wearing a siren suit, smoking an immense cigar, 387 00:33:37,306 --> 00:33:39,057 but he had "WC" on his slippers - 388 00:33:39,142 --> 00:33:41,435 he was wearing old-fashioned dancing pumps 389 00:33:41,519 --> 00:33:44,187 that you used to wear with dinner jackets, 390 00:33:44,272 --> 00:33:46,940 with W on one foot and C on the other. 391 00:33:48,067 --> 00:33:51,153 And he gave us a very good pep talk. 392 00:34:06,044 --> 00:34:08,795 (narrator) For Rommel, the laws of desert warfare 393 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,756 now began to work against him. 394 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,967 The further the advance, the longer the supply line. 395 00:34:15,094 --> 00:34:20,891 (Westphal) l think we had crossed the Rubicon, like Caesar, 396 00:34:20,975 --> 00:34:24,728 when we went to Egypt. 397 00:34:24,854 --> 00:34:31,151 The eyes of Hitler were directed every day to the Russian front - 398 00:34:31,235 --> 00:34:33,445 the deciding front - 399 00:34:33,529 --> 00:34:37,449 and our role was not so important. 400 00:34:37,533 --> 00:34:41,953 He was content if we had no difficulties, 401 00:34:42,038 --> 00:34:46,249 but he was not able to guarantee 402 00:34:46,334 --> 00:34:51,838 the supplies came to the North African force. 403 00:34:59,347 --> 00:35:03,058 (narrator) Only one in four of Rommel's supply ships ever got through. 404 00:35:03,142 --> 00:35:07,395 His solution - late in the day - crush Malta. 405 00:35:19,367 --> 00:35:24,454 Göring's Luffwaffe believed it could annihilate the island single-handed. 406 00:35:28,334 --> 00:35:30,252 (siren) 407 00:35:46,394 --> 00:35:50,605 Stukas, Heinkels, Junkers, Dorniers, Messerschmitts 408 00:35:50,690 --> 00:35:55,318 day in, day out, hundreds at a time, were ordered against the island. 409 00:35:55,403 --> 00:35:57,863 Malta became the most bombed place on earth. 410 00:36:27,351 --> 00:36:29,519 Malta held out. 411 00:36:40,615 --> 00:36:41,865 Equally bad for Rommel, 412 00:36:41,949 --> 00:36:45,744 the Desert Air Force could now operate from its home bases along the Nile, 413 00:36:45,828 --> 00:36:48,330 just 100 miges behind the gine. 414 00:36:49,290 --> 00:36:53,668 (man) ln the desert, fighting is characterised 415 00:36:53,753 --> 00:36:59,216 by the opposition of tanks in large quantities, 416 00:36:59,300 --> 00:37:03,345 of artillery, of air support. 417 00:37:05,014 --> 00:37:09,893 Air support, for instance, didn't play a considerable role in Russia, 418 00:37:09,977 --> 00:37:14,064 where troops had enough cover. 419 00:37:14,148 --> 00:37:20,362 ln Africa, air superiority was all decisive. 420 00:37:23,741 --> 00:37:26,159 (narrator) Montgomery had air superiority. 421 00:37:26,244 --> 00:37:29,913 Desperately short of fuel, Rommel's convoys had to run the gauntlet, 422 00:37:29,997 --> 00:37:32,457 the 1 ,400 miles from his main base at Tripoli, 423 00:37:32,541 --> 00:37:37,504 whereas Montgomery was only 60 miles from his at Alexandria. 424 00:37:37,588 --> 00:37:40,799 (Westphal) The distance from the ports - 425 00:37:40,883 --> 00:37:44,177 Benghazi, Tripoli and, perhaps, Tobruk - 426 00:37:44,262 --> 00:37:47,055 had become too big. 427 00:37:48,224 --> 00:37:51,393 (man) During the jigsaws up and down the desert, 428 00:37:51,519 --> 00:37:53,853 when we pushed Rommel back 429 00:37:53,938 --> 00:37:56,940 we used to accuse him of putting oil in the wells, 430 00:37:57,024 --> 00:37:59,401 which we thought was really a dirty trick. 431 00:37:59,485 --> 00:38:01,278 Then when we came back down, 432 00:38:01,362 --> 00:38:04,155 he would blame us for putting oil in the water. 433 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:08,159 And now it seems that, all the time, it was the oil wells below the ground 434 00:38:08,244 --> 00:38:10,245 seeping through into the water well. 435 00:38:12,707 --> 00:38:16,209 (narrator) ln September the Afrika Korps' morale was dealt a blow 436 00:38:16,294 --> 00:38:19,546 when Rommel fell ill. Hitler ordered him home. 437 00:38:20,589 --> 00:38:26,344 But his men were leff behind under the desert sun for a second year. 438 00:38:29,015 --> 00:38:32,851 (man) When you are in the desert, you feel like a man on the moon would feel. 439 00:38:32,935 --> 00:38:35,979 You are alone with the universe. 440 00:38:37,773 --> 00:38:41,693 (narrator) For the men of the Afrika Korps, there was no question of leave, 441 00:38:41,777 --> 00:38:46,573 only the certainty that, sooner or later, the British would attack them. 442 00:38:46,657 --> 00:38:48,742 (man) The homesickness of the soldier 443 00:38:48,826 --> 00:38:52,287 who would have preferred to be at home and not at war. 444 00:38:52,371 --> 00:38:56,916 (woman) ♪ Vor der Kaserne Vor dem großen Tor 445 00:38:57,001 --> 00:39:01,546 ♪ Stand eine Laterne Und steht sie noch davor 446 00:39:01,630 --> 00:39:04,507 (narrator) lt was no accident that the desert campaign 447 00:39:04,592 --> 00:39:07,594 produced the most memorable song of the Second World War. 448 00:39:07,678 --> 00:39:10,180 (woman sings "Lili Marlene" in German) 449 00:39:10,264 --> 00:39:14,601 (man) Lili Marlene was a piece of our home. 450 00:39:20,775 --> 00:39:24,152 (narrator) Lili Marlene was equally popular with the British. 451 00:39:24,862 --> 00:39:27,864 (men sing "Lili Marlene" in English) 452 00:39:27,948 --> 00:39:31,159 (man) We were always in touch with home. 453 00:39:31,285 --> 00:39:36,247 We heard the news and, of course, we heard the opposition's news - 454 00:39:36,332 --> 00:39:40,919 witness "Underneath the lamppost by the barrack gate". 455 00:39:41,962 --> 00:39:45,423 ♪ For you, Lili Marlene 456 00:39:45,549 --> 00:39:50,428 ♪ My own Lili Marlene 457 00:39:51,263 --> 00:39:55,016 (narrator) For the British, home comforts were close at hand in Cairo, 458 00:39:55,101 --> 00:39:58,269 just the pgace for a spot of geave with its bars, bazaars 459 00:39:58,354 --> 00:40:01,564 and, um... other distractions. 460 00:40:16,580 --> 00:40:19,541 (man) They used to take your money, yes. 461 00:40:22,086 --> 00:40:23,920 (lively music) 462 00:40:27,007 --> 00:40:31,553 l should say 75% of them 463 00:40:31,637 --> 00:40:35,056 if they could find another woman, they'd have her. 464 00:40:38,394 --> 00:40:40,061 (Durrell) lt really was weird 465 00:40:40,146 --> 00:40:43,940 when you think of the whole of Europe blacked out and in darkness. 466 00:40:44,024 --> 00:40:45,984 ln despair, you know? 467 00:40:46,068 --> 00:40:49,362 ln Cairo, seething with light, you rang up people, 468 00:40:49,447 --> 00:40:52,532 you went out to dinner, you had a hot bath and a whisky, 469 00:40:52,616 --> 00:40:54,826 and on Monday you'd be back on the line. 470 00:40:57,621 --> 00:41:01,374 (narrator) Montgomery saw his main task as raising the troops' morale. 471 00:41:01,459 --> 00:41:05,962 He was the first commander to project himself like an American politician. 472 00:41:06,046 --> 00:41:11,092 Press men and photographers kept at arm's length by Wavell and Auchinleck 473 00:41:11,177 --> 00:41:13,720 now found themselves welcome. 474 00:41:13,804 --> 00:41:19,392 (Beichein) He immediately went round all the formations of the Eighth Army, 475 00:41:19,477 --> 00:41:21,936 gathering people round to talk to them. 476 00:41:22,021 --> 00:41:28,943 He used also the press, the radio and gimmicks, such as his hats. 477 00:41:30,196 --> 00:41:34,741 (man) They wanted something to be able to identify themselves with and look at, 478 00:41:34,825 --> 00:41:39,037 something other than the strict uniform. 479 00:41:44,877 --> 00:41:49,797 (De Guingand) lt was remarkable. ln days, there was a different atmosphere, 480 00:41:49,882 --> 00:41:51,382 a feeling of confidence. 481 00:41:51,467 --> 00:41:55,553 He told us that the bad old days were over 482 00:41:55,638 --> 00:41:58,932 and he was now determined there was going to be success. 483 00:41:59,016 --> 00:42:01,309 He said, "Now the only order 484 00:42:01,393 --> 00:42:05,772 is everyone stays where they are, fights where they are and dies where they are." 485 00:42:16,033 --> 00:42:19,452 (narrator) Montgomery saw to it his army had the latest weapons. 486 00:42:19,537 --> 00:42:22,080 Pressed by Churchill to take the offensive, 487 00:42:22,164 --> 00:42:26,251 "Monty", as he was soon known, was not going to be rushed. 488 00:42:26,335 --> 00:42:28,336 He was determined, as he put it, 489 00:42:28,462 --> 00:42:31,798 to have everyone tough and hard for the coming battle. 490 00:42:34,218 --> 00:42:37,804 Because its first few hours were going to be dominated by the mine - 491 00:42:37,888 --> 00:42:40,348 the Germans had laid over half a million of them - 492 00:42:40,432 --> 00:42:43,434 the offensive had the codename Operation Lightfoot, 493 00:42:43,519 --> 00:42:46,229 a sick joke if ever there was one. 494 00:42:47,398 --> 00:42:50,400 A mine detector had been devised for use at Alamein, 495 00:42:50,484 --> 00:42:52,402 but many were found to be faulty, 496 00:42:52,486 --> 00:42:55,613 so most of the detecting had to be done in the old way - 497 00:42:55,698 --> 00:43:02,161 by men prodding the ground with bayonets and liffing the mines by hand. 498 00:43:12,298 --> 00:43:16,342 The German minefields at Alamein were five miles deep. 499 00:43:16,427 --> 00:43:17,635 To assault them, 500 00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,888 Montgomery had assembled a quarter of a million troops - 501 00:43:20,973 --> 00:43:23,850 British, Australians, New Zealanders, 502 00:43:23,934 --> 00:43:25,977 lndians, South Africans, 503 00:43:26,061 --> 00:43:30,315 Greeks, Poles, Czechs and Free French. 504 00:43:30,399 --> 00:43:32,483 Twice as many men as Rommel had. 505 00:43:32,943 --> 00:43:35,945 Nothing was being leff to chance. 506 00:43:36,030 --> 00:43:40,533 (man) We were fully trained. We were really confident. 507 00:43:41,035 --> 00:43:47,332 (man #2) Every single solitary man knew exactly what he had to do. 508 00:43:47,416 --> 00:43:49,709 (man) Everything was in your favour. 509 00:43:49,835 --> 00:43:52,712 We had no fear as such. 510 00:43:52,796 --> 00:43:54,297 lt's an old adage, you know, 511 00:43:54,381 --> 00:43:58,509 that it'll never happen to you personally, you think. 512 00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:03,056 (narrator) October 23, 1942. 513 00:44:03,182 --> 00:44:08,436 ln the darkening desert, 1 ,100 tanks and 1 ,000 guns moved into position. 514 00:44:09,396 --> 00:44:12,523 (man) l was with my battalion, 515 00:44:12,608 --> 00:44:16,611 laying mines in front of our own positions, 516 00:44:16,695 --> 00:44:20,073 and the Battle of Alamein started 517 00:44:20,157 --> 00:44:25,286 by seeing the whole horizon on fire. 518 00:44:38,342 --> 00:44:44,180 (man #2) A lot of people think that Alamein was a big barrage 519 00:44:44,264 --> 00:44:46,349 and everybody waiting behind, 520 00:44:46,433 --> 00:44:49,102 queuing up ready to go once the barrage finished. 521 00:44:49,186 --> 00:44:54,565 But it wasn't like that. There was some bloody fighting there, believe me. 522 00:44:54,650 --> 00:44:57,568 (man #3) We moved off before the barrage 523 00:44:57,653 --> 00:45:00,238 and we were allowed a walking pace - 524 00:45:00,322 --> 00:45:04,325 that was so the artillery fell in front of us. 525 00:45:07,496 --> 00:45:11,916 (man #4) ln the morning we were disappointed, to say the least. 526 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:18,881 When the tanks should've passed us, they hadn't arrived. Nobody had arrived. 527 00:45:22,344 --> 00:45:27,390 By the time the sappers got the mines up and there was a road made, 528 00:45:27,474 --> 00:45:32,186 the Germans realised the reason, and they pinpointed that opening. 529 00:45:37,151 --> 00:45:41,738 (man #3) There was uncertainty that the ground would erupt underneath you, 530 00:45:41,864 --> 00:45:46,534 but you forget about running through a minefield when a shell suddenly drops 531 00:45:46,618 --> 00:45:49,662 and machine-gun fire opens up and mortar fire. 532 00:45:49,747 --> 00:45:51,497 There were squeals, shouts. 533 00:45:51,582 --> 00:45:54,333 (Harding) lt was a battle of attrition. 534 00:45:54,418 --> 00:45:58,713 lt was fought in a way, and rightly in a way, 535 00:45:58,797 --> 00:46:03,342 in which you had to continue the offensive 536 00:46:03,427 --> 00:46:06,429 until you had broken the enemy's power of resistance. 537 00:46:06,513 --> 00:46:08,139 And this does take time. 538 00:46:09,099 --> 00:46:12,518 (man #3) lf infantry destroys the antitank gun 539 00:46:12,603 --> 00:46:14,353 and the minefields are clear, 540 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:17,440 then the tank can come forward and exploit the situation. 541 00:46:17,566 --> 00:46:21,611 But until that happens, no success, no tanks. 542 00:46:22,404 --> 00:46:25,823 (narrator) Montgomery lost 200 tanks in the first two days, 543 00:46:25,908 --> 00:46:29,118 as many as the Germans had started with. 544 00:46:29,203 --> 00:46:32,580 Rommel, now back in Africa, though clearly far from well, 545 00:46:32,706 --> 00:46:36,501 immediately counterattacked, angry his panzers had not done so 546 00:46:36,585 --> 00:46:39,629 when the British had been bogged down in the minefields. 547 00:46:39,713 --> 00:46:42,298 lt was too late. 548 00:46:45,427 --> 00:46:48,471 Rommel was thrown back, with losses he could ill afford. 549 00:46:48,555 --> 00:46:51,933 Casualties were heavy on both sides. 550 00:47:02,069 --> 00:47:06,989 (man) They really hung on, see. lt was really stubborn. 551 00:47:07,074 --> 00:47:12,745 When we'd finished, then we realised the casualties we'd leff behind. 552 00:47:13,705 --> 00:47:17,959 You kept saying to yourself, "lt won't happen to me. He'll catch it, l won't." 553 00:47:18,043 --> 00:47:19,710 All of a sudden it dawns on you, 554 00:47:19,795 --> 00:47:23,673 "One day you won't always get away with it, lad." 555 00:47:31,056 --> 00:47:34,225 (narrator) lt was a killing match, as Monty had predicted. 556 00:47:34,309 --> 00:47:37,311 A messy, horrid killing match. 557 00:47:37,938 --> 00:47:43,150 A First World War battle fought with Second World War weapons. 558 00:47:49,533 --> 00:47:52,285 The battle of attrition was going Montgomery's way. 559 00:47:52,369 --> 00:47:55,705 The moment had come for him to let loose his armour. 560 00:48:13,348 --> 00:48:18,019 800 tanks, mostly Shermans, the latest and best tank from America, 561 00:48:18,103 --> 00:48:20,563 were thrown against the Germans and ltalians. 562 00:48:20,647 --> 00:48:23,065 And Rommel had less than 100 tanks. 563 00:48:32,367 --> 00:48:34,410 Again, the fighting was bitter. 564 00:48:34,494 --> 00:48:36,746 Rommel began to yield a little. 565 00:48:51,845 --> 00:48:54,347 For two days more the battle raged. 566 00:48:54,431 --> 00:48:57,934 lt was the biggest tank battle of the Desert War. 567 00:48:59,853 --> 00:49:05,358 Rommel was now down to only 35 tanks, compared with Montgomery's 600. 568 00:49:06,985 --> 00:49:10,696 Just when he was thinking of slipping away to hold a line 60 miles back, 569 00:49:10,781 --> 00:49:13,324 Hitler ordered him to stay. 570 00:49:17,245 --> 00:49:22,124 (man) lt's a particularly nasty form of ending one's days 571 00:49:22,209 --> 00:49:24,752 if one is trapped in a tank 572 00:49:24,836 --> 00:49:28,589 and the tank brews up and is on fire. 573 00:49:28,674 --> 00:49:33,803 You will never lose the awfulness 574 00:49:33,929 --> 00:49:36,514 of screams of men trying to get out. 575 00:49:52,447 --> 00:49:54,699 (narrator) The British armour was through 576 00:49:54,783 --> 00:49:58,244 and by the affernoon of November 4, the 12th day of the battle, 577 00:49:58,328 --> 00:50:01,372 Rommel was in full retreat. 578 00:50:06,753 --> 00:50:11,799 Thousands of ltalians were leff behind. The Germans had pinched their transport. 579 00:50:11,883 --> 00:50:15,052 Rommel's deputy, Von Thoma, was captured too. 580 00:50:22,394 --> 00:50:25,980 Alexander signalled Churchill to ring out the victory bell, 581 00:50:26,064 --> 00:50:27,356 which Winston did - 582 00:50:27,441 --> 00:50:32,653 the first time church bells had been rung in Britain since Dunkirk. 583 00:50:34,364 --> 00:50:36,490 (thunder) 584 00:50:36,575 --> 00:50:41,412 Heavy rain fell on November 6 to impede both pursued and pursuer. 585 00:50:41,496 --> 00:50:44,582 Montgomery's corps commanders were all for rushing ahead 586 00:50:44,666 --> 00:50:47,251 to trap Rommel before he could reorganise. 587 00:50:47,335 --> 00:50:51,047 Monty was not going to risk being trapped himself. 588 00:50:52,007 --> 00:50:55,551 (Harding) Montgomery was very conscious 589 00:50:55,635 --> 00:50:59,472 that we had already been twice up and twice back, 590 00:50:59,556 --> 00:51:04,310 and he was determined not to push back for a third time. 591 00:51:07,355 --> 00:51:09,023 (narrator) The air force saw to it 592 00:51:09,107 --> 00:51:12,401 that Rommel's retreat was not without incident. 593 00:51:15,030 --> 00:51:18,741 (man) He had nowhere to run. All he could was run into the sand. 594 00:51:18,825 --> 00:51:22,244 (man #2) This is where desert warfare was something on its own. 595 00:51:22,329 --> 00:51:24,997 You just sat out there or moved out there 596 00:51:25,082 --> 00:51:27,083 and you were exposed to everything. 597 00:51:27,167 --> 00:51:28,793 (gunfire) 598 00:51:47,479 --> 00:51:51,148 (narrator) Past Mersa Matruh, Sidi Barrani, through Halfaya Pass, 599 00:51:51,233 --> 00:51:56,028 Rommel was pushed back, turning to fight a little every day. 600 00:51:58,490 --> 00:52:01,909 On November 13, to Churchill's great joy, 601 00:52:01,993 --> 00:52:04,328 Tobruk was retaken. 602 00:52:04,412 --> 00:52:07,123 A week later it was Benghazi's turn to change hands 603 00:52:07,207 --> 00:52:10,876 for the fiffh and positively final time. 604 00:52:18,969 --> 00:52:23,264 ln mid-January 1943, Tripoli fell - 605 00:52:23,348 --> 00:52:27,977 the prize that had eluded O'Connor two years before. 606 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:37,611 At last the British people had something really to cheer about. 607 00:52:37,696 --> 00:52:41,365 And Churchill? The big victory he had been hoping for 608 00:52:41,449 --> 00:52:44,994 before America would dominate the war. 609 00:52:47,497 --> 00:52:52,418 (Churchill) You have altered the face of the war in the most remarkable way. 610 00:52:52,502 --> 00:52:57,548 l must tell you that your fame, 611 00:52:57,632 --> 00:53:02,219 the fame of the Desert Army, has spread throughout the world. 612 00:53:02,304 --> 00:53:04,305 (bagpipes playing) 613 00:53:07,893 --> 00:53:10,644 Now, this is not the end. 614 00:53:10,729 --> 00:53:15,316 lt is not even the beginning of the end. 615 00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:19,528 But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.