Land mine invention by the Polish officer Józef Kosacki. His invention, known as the Polish mine detector, was used by the Allies alongside mechanical methods, to clear the German mine fields during the Second Battle of El Alamein when 500 units were shipped to Field Marshal Montgomery's Eighth Army. The Nazis used captured civilians who were chased across minefields to detonate the explosives. According to Laurence Rees "Curt von Gottberg, the SS-Obergruppenführer who, during 1943, conducted another huge anti-partisan action called Operation Kottbus on the eastern border of Belarus, reported that 'approximately two to three thousand local people were blown up in
Second Battle of El Alamein 1st Armoured Division and the first major tank battle of El Alamein began. Over 100 tanks were involved and half were destroyed by dark. Neither position was altered. At around 10:00, Axis aircraft had destroyed a convoy of 25 Allied vehicles carrying petrol and ammunition, setting off a night-long blaze; Lumsden wanted to call off the attack, but Montgomery made it clear that his plans were to be carried out. The thrust that night by 10th Armoured Division from Miteirya Ridge failed. The lifting of mines on the Miteirya Ridge and beyond took far longer than planned and the leading