General Auchinleck is determined to retain the initiative and orders another two brigade-sized attacks on the night of 26/27 July, with Major Lew McCarter's 2nd/28th Battalion tasked with pushing through the supposedly demoralized Italian defenders on Sanyet el Miteiriya/Ruin Ridge,[18] also known as Ruin Ridge. The defending battalion withdraws, but the 2nd/23rd Battalion and the British 8th Royal Tank Regiment (8 RTR) counterattack on 16 July, overrunning a good part of the Sabratha and German 382nd Regiment[9] before being forced to withdraw again.

Messages reporting the situation were sent immediately once this set was capable of functioning, i.e., about 0930 hrs onwards. The enemy’s efforts up to now have cost him heavily in men killed, wounded, and captured. The Battle of El Alamein The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War confirms that "enemy forces seeping south threatened to outflank the Division" but makes light of the incident.[5]. On 2nd and again on 3rd July, the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions managed to only muster 26 serviceable tanks. The Axis Invade Egypt by Conrad H. Lanza The 18th Indian Brigade fought tenaciously, destroying eighteen German tanks and stopped the 21st Panzer Division.

They took the hint and went — and didn’t come back.

But they received a prompt counterattack and lost a number of their men and equipment. In 1947, following the U.N. decision to split British Palestine into separate Jewish and Palestinian states, a former U.S. Army officer is recruited by the Jews to reorganize the Haganah. The New Zealand Official History talks about “enemy forces seeping south threatened to outflank the division” but strangely nothing more. The First Battle fo El Alamein was fought in August 1942. They withdrew again.“ Dance of War: The Story of the Battle of Egypt, p.165, Peter Bates, Pen and Sword, 1992, "The enemy was close at hand, their patrols and armored cars were all over the road. The all-star-cast formed by known European actors give decent interpretations . In the battle, Captain Charles Upham from the New Zealand 20th Battalion, wins the Victoria Cross for the second time (winning his first VC during the Battle of Crete) after attacking a German truck with reinforcements, using a hand-grenade. On 22 July, the Australian 9th Infantry Division finally wins complete control of Tel el Eisa after much fierce fighting, almost lasting a fortnight. All rights reserved. One battalion from 9th Australian and two battalions from the 50th British Divisions were to seize the ridge. Without hesitation the battery commander, Captain Comi, opened fire at minimum elevation ... handling his massive 149s as if they were machine guns. The scenario was soon set for a major Allied counteroffensive, that aimed to completely break through the Italian divisions and the panzer divisions sent forward to assist them. Ruweisat Ridge: The First Battle of El Alamein, was first published in Strategy & Tactics magazine #105. Under constant fire, the attackers lost thirteen vehicles during the night. of the Trieste Motorised Division, sent a company of M13 and M14 tanks into the assault under Capt. We opened fire with our machine-guns and 47/32s. During World War II, several oddly assorted military experts are teamed in a mission to raid and destroy a bridge vital to enemy strategy. However, the Australian attack against Miteiriya Ridge meets unexpected tough resistance from machinegunners and antitank gunners from the Trento[19] and the attack is halted soon after dawn, with Australian intelligence officer (Lieutenant Walker) reporting Major McCarter's battalion surrounded by armoured cars,[20] that arrived from the Trieste. World war two drama about the 1942 North Africa battle at El Alamein between the Allies and the Axis forces. The authors of Rommel’s North Africa Campaign describe the advance as follows: The Ariete, which had six or eight tanks and 1,000 men, advanced south during the night while the Trieste was ordered to cover her flank, but, instead remained in the same place due to the disorganization caused by enemy air attacks. Rommel in his report of 5th July to Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring, greatly exaggerated his losses in order to accelerate German reinforcements: The fighting value of the Italian troops is so low that on 3.7., during an attack by inconsiderable enemy armored forces, 360 men of Ariete Division were captured without having offered resistance worthy of the name. Navarini, commander of XXI Corps, immediately sent a battalion of the 7th Bersaglieri and a battalion of the 46th Artillery to block the road….

Later, recounting the 2/23rd Battalion attack, Mark Johnston wrote that on 16 July, they received orders to retake it and the rest of Tel el Eisa Ridge. From Major Paolo Caccia Dominioni’s account of this action: While the Germans of the 164th, together with a battalion of the Trieste and a few groups of Bersaglieri managed to form up in new positions between the sea and the left flank of the Trento, the decision was taken to recapture Hill 33 and the ridge parallel with the sea, which had already been occupied in force by the enemy and well stocked with artillery. According to the 2nd/48th Battalion War Diary: "That afternoon Italian tanks counter-attacked both Australian battalions in an attempt to retake Hill 33 near the coast. Bn. [6] The night, the South Africans also attacked and captured Tel el Makh Khad. The German armored attack and the skills and experience of his Italian troops saved the day, and Rommel knew this. Italian and German advance units raced toward Alejandria .

Australian troops advancing toward the line of fire. References: The Italians are the good guys and the British are the bad guys , including a point blank execution of prisoners . More than 2,300 New Zealanders were killed, wounded, or captured in the two battles. After initial success, they suffered nearly 50 percent casualties and had to withdraw.”. On 29 June 1942, Rommel started a drive from Mersa Matruh that brought him to El Alamein. But as Alan F. Wilt notes: Yet, overall, between May 26 and July 21, Axis forces had once again proved far superior. Two years of constant strain and combat wore down many of his soldiers. They took 924 German and Italian prisoners and 27 guns. After the withdrawal, followed by our counterattack, the ambulances returned to start ferrying back the dead and wounded, but we got suspicious after an hour or so because they seemed to be hanging about too much. By the time they realised their mistake they were under such heavy fire that they could not withdraw. It was primarily the Panzer Army’s staff, led at the time by Lieut.-Col. von Mellenthin, whom we had to thank for bringing the British attack to a halt.” However, the Italian diaries, however, show that their formations were doing their very best to plug the holes punched in the Italian line by the Australians.

The Australians counterattacked to cries of “Come on, you Australianoes”. Slick Private Investigator Mike Murphy (Burt Reynolds) and tough Police Lieutenant Speer (Clint Eastwood), once partners, now bitter enemies, reluctantly team up to investigate a murder. Green and white signal flares curled up from the German tanks as they drove forward. The fall Egypt and the all important Suez Canal seems inevitable. Despite some initial success, various Italian units held out stubbornly until the morning of 22nd July and prevented the capture of Ruweisat Ridge. He has also written “The Battle of Mersa Matruh” and “First Battle of Alamein” for Comando Supremo: Italy at War.

They became overwhelmed and scattered.

The Italians captured no less than 200 prisoners. ", "The names of certain units were on everyone’s lips up and down the line following particularly brilliant actions, among them the reconnaissance Group of the Trieste. Folgore preparing to fire artillery during the first battle of El Alamein. One historian wrote that “Rommel rushed up with the Kampfstaffel and rallied the division, but not even he could get it moving again.”.

The German artillery struck with sledgehammer blows, trying to clear a path for the infantry, the progress of which was able to follow through the night by the streams of machine-gun tracer bullets that left a glittering trail just above the ground. Alamein 1933-1962: An Italian Story, Paolo Caccia Dominioni de Sillavengo, p. 87, Allen & Unwin, 1966, "The Bn was completely surrounded by ARMORED CARS which worked forward under cover of fire from enemy tanks further back, while 20mm, MMG and mortar fire kept the heads of our own troops well down. The attack on Russia – Operation Barbarossa – had pushed the Russians back; U-boats were having a major effect on Britain in the Battle of the Atlantic and western Europe seemed to be fully in the control of the Germans.. My tommy-gun broke down after about 3,000 rounds — ejector broken! The British artillery had packed it in. The authors of Rommel’s North Africa Campaign, Jack Greene and Alessandro Massignani, describe the events of the 10th and the morning of the 11th as follows: The Aussie attack succeeded in capturing two battalions of the 3rd Celere Artillery Regiment and the headquarters and commander of the 7th Bersaglieri.

Its own vehicles worn out, this force became hastily reformed from Morris, Dingo, and Ford armored cars.
Thus far, however, Marshal Rommel’s attempt to overrun Tel el Eisa and the sand dunes that dominate the area has not succeeded. The protagonists are two brothers , a tough lieutenant (Frederick Stafford) and a sergeant (Enrico Maria Salerno) fighting the British military . Caccia Dominioni of the 31st Combat Sappers Battalion recalls the reaction of the Italian soldiers: The names of certain units were on everyone’s lips up and down the line following particularly brilliant actions, among them the Reconnaissance Group of the Trieste. On the night of 14th July, Auchinleck counterattacked to relieve the pressure on the Australians, sending his 4th and 5th New Zealand Brigades and 5th Indian Brigade against some 4,000 Italians on Ruweisat Ridge.
By 08.00 hours Italian tanks and infantry began to encircle their positions and eventually forced the entire company to surrender." The battalion commander frantically tried getting artillery support.