25th Battalion (New Zealand) Halfa, Rommel's failed attempt to cut off the 8th Army. The battalion at this time numbered 362 personnel, which included one company which had been left back at Maadi and brought forward to rejoin the survivors of the El Mrier battle. Burton, promoted to lieutenant colonel, commanded the battalion until 12 September at which time he went on leave and was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Ian Bonifant. The 8th Army was now under the command of General Bernard Montgomery, who was planning for offensive operations against the "Panzer" Army Africa, which had formed a defensive position at Alamein. Minus its
Battle of El Bodón Battle of El Bodón The Battle of El Bodón was fought on 25 September 1811 by elements of the Anglo-Portuguese army and elements of the French army during the Peninsular War. Soon after the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, the French army withdrew from the northern frontier of Portugal, and the Duke of Wellington, with three divisions of the British Army and a corps of cavalry, blockaded Ciudad Rodrigo. In September 1811, Marshal Marmont assembled the army of the north, consisting of 60,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, in the neighbourhood of Salamanca, and moved on Ciudad Rodrigo, for the purpose