Indian Army during World War II Cunningham. Over time, the Eighth Army would be commanded by Generals Neil Ritchie, Claude Auchinleck and Bernard Montgomery. In the early years of the war, the Eighth Army suffered from poor leadership and repeated reversals of fortune until the Second Battle of El Alamein when it advanced across Libya into Tunisia. The Ninth Army was formed on 1 November 1941 with the re designation of the Headquarters of the British Troops in Mandate Palestine and Transjordan. It controlled British and Commonwealth land forces stationed in the eastern Mediterranean. Its commanders were General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson and Lieutenant-General Sir William
Second Battle of El Alamein of Stalingrad and the Guadalcanal Campaign. The Panzer Army Africa ("Panzerarmee Afrika"), composed of German and Italian infantry and mechanised units under "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel, had struck deep into Egypt by 12 July 1942 after its success at the Battle of Gazala. This threatened the British Empire's control of the Suez Canal and Mandatory Palestine. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within of El Alamein on the coast. This gave the defenders a short front to defend and provided secure flanks because tanks could not traverse