One entry a day · 1939 – 1945
A three-minute story from this date in the Second World War, narrated, with the sources to check it. Then the battle it belongs to, drawn on the map phase by phase.
Today's entry
WED 04 NOV 1942War day 1,161Mediterranean & North Africa
On 4 November 1942, Erwin Rommel ordered a retreat west from El Alamein. Hitler had told him to stand firm; the battlefield had other instructions.
The position at El Alamein had narrowed to a question of whether Erwin Rommel could keep his line intact. The British Eighth Army had pressed the German and Italian forces through the Second Battle of El Alamein, and Operation Supercharge had opened a breach. On 4 November, Allied armour threatened to encircle forward Axis units, while reports confirmed that the defences had collapsed. Rommel ordered a general withdrawal west along the coast, leaving the prepared positions behind despite Adolf Hitler’s instruction to stand firm.
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