Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II take command of it himself. After Matruh there was only one more defensive position before Cairo itself; El Alamein. Auchinlek managed to stop Rommel with the First Battle of El Alamein. A new command team arrived in the Middle East, with Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Montgomery assuming command of the Eighth Army. Rommel tried to break through again during the Battle of Alam Halfa, but his thrust was stopped. Montgomery then began preparations for a great breakthrough offensive that would result in the pursuit of Axis forces all the way to Tunisia. 8 November 1942 saw the first great amphibious
Second Battle of El Alamein that his army could not properly be supplied so far from the ports of Tripoli and Benghazi. Rommel pressed ahead with his advance to Alamein and as predicted, supply difficulties limited the attacking potential of the axis forces. According to Remy, Hitler and Mussolini put pressure on Rommel to advance. Rommel had been very pessimistic, especially after the First El Alamein and knew that as US supplies were en route to Africa and Axis ships were being sunk in the Mediterranean, the Axis was losing a race against time. On 27 August, Kesselring promised Rommel that supplies would arrive in