In October 1942, General Bernard Montgomery’s Eighth Army counter-attacked at El Alamein, just 60 miles west of Alexandria. A few months earlier, in June 1942, the British had been smashed near Tobruk and sent packing.
It was the lowest point of British generalship in the entire war: a needless defeat caused by bad command decisions and faulty tactics.
That the Eighth Army avoided annihilation was largely due to the Desert Air Force, who had developed exciting new tactics for close air support – tactics that would be further honed by the end of the war.
General Harold Alexander, Britain’s most experienced commander, and Montgomery were brought in, steadied the ship, then struck back, and this time decisively, sending Rommel’s forces