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Illustration: El Alamein
Allies & the worldTurning point

· Day 489 of 1418

El Alamein

El Alamein, Egypt

In the North African desert, British and Allied forces attacked at El Alamein on 23 October 1942 and drove back Rommel’s army. The Allies fought on many fronts, bringing the shared victory closer.

Rommel's army was driving towards the Suez Canal and the oil of the Middle East. Had it broken through, the enemy would have come close to Iran and the southern borders of the USSR. At El Alamein General Montgomery's 8th Army stopped it and drove it back.

Two weeks later the Allies landed in Morocco and Algeria. North Africa became another front where the common fate was being decided.

See it on the map

Chapter 17 · October 1942

Holding on to the last

The enemy stormed the factories in northern Stalingrad; in places only a few hundred metres were left to the Volga. At El Alamein in Egypt the British went on the offensive. And in the headquarters a plan was being prepared that would change the course of the war.