At the end of "Supercharge" the 8th Army still had 600 battle worthy tanks, while Rommel only had 130, mostly Italian M13's, under his command" (Paterson, Ian).Ĭlick here to see my interview with Ian Paterson. "Then it was part of the force that pursued the Axis back along the desert roads towards Tunisia, harassing them so they found it hard to make a stand & fight the British on a new defensive line.On the 4th, the Germam line was breached, and the X Corps almost wiped out the 'Ariete' Division and captured General von Thoma, the commander of the Afrika Korps" (Matanle, Ivor). "Despite enormous Allied losses, the attack gradually wore down the Afrika Korps, which by November 3rd had only some 35 tanks left."Desperate Axis counter-attacks went on for the rest of the day, and the confusion and carnage of this tank battle was enormous.The British armour stood its ground and inflicted heavy losses on the Germans" (Badsey, Stephen)." Rommel put tank against tank - but his men were hopelessly outnumbered" (Trueman, Chris). "Montgomery had informed Brigadier John Currie, commander of the 9th armoured brigade, that he was prepared to accept 100% losses in his formation in order to achieve success.His brigade was to assault the German artillery and anti-tank gun screen.and thus create a breach, which the regiments of 1st Armoured Division could then exploit.Literally in minutes Currie's brigade was eliminated, and by the end of the day he had lost 75 out of 94 tanks" (Badsey, Stephen).Many of the tanks got lost and they were easy for the German 88 gunners to pick off" (Trueman, Chris). 123 tanks of the 9th Armoured Brigade attacked the German lines. "This was a British and New Zealander infantry attack made south of where the Australians were fighting.With this huge weight of artillery support, the attack of the two infantry brigades went like a drill, and they achieved their objectives deep within the Axis positions without too much difficulty" (Badsey, Stephen). "'Operation Supercharge' opened on 2 November 1942.shells from over 800 guns crashed out on a frontage of only 4,000 yards.This is the story of the climax in the struggle for North Africa, which would change the course of the Second World War. ".initial infantry attack would be supported by an enormous concentration of guns, which would then make a breach around Tell el Aqqaquir, about 15 miles west of Alamein station." (Badsey, Stephen). 46 min TV-14 Documentary Drama War In 1942, Rommel's Desert Afrika Corps faces off against Montgomery's Eighth Army."It (Operation Supercharge) was part of the Armoured breakout to rout the Axis forces, by engaging and destroying the remaining enemy armour" (Paterson, Ian). In December 1944, an infamous SS tank force leads Hitlers final offensive in the west.This was to be the final breakout, using a modified version of 'Operation Lightfoot'" (Badsey, Stephen). ".Montgomery again change the direction of his main thrust by planning 'Operation Supercharge'.
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