British Army during the Second World War Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was given command of the Eighth Army. The Axis forces made a new attempt to break through to Cairo in August, in the Battle of Alam el Halfa but were stopped after the British fought a purely defensive battle. The much-reinforced Eighth Army launched a new offensive in October the Second Battle of El Alamein, decisively defeating the Axis forces. Eighth Army then advanced westward, capturing 10,000 German and 20,000 Italian prisoners, 450 tanks and 1,000 guns. In France the Dieppe Raid was carried out in August, the main assault was by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division,
Second Battle of El Alamein the Depression. The Axis advance was halted here in early July in the First Battle of El Alamein. The Eighth Army counter-offensives during July failed, as Rommel had dug in to allow his exhausted troops to regroup. Auchinleck called off all offensive action at the end of July to allow rebuilding the Eighth Army's strength. In early August, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and General Sir Alan Brooke—the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS)—visited Cairo and replaced Auchinleck as Commander-in-chief (C-in-C) Middle East Command with General Sir Harold Alexander. Lieutenant-General William Gott was appointed to command of the