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,
First Battle of El Alamein to organise the defence of the western end of Ruweisat Ridge. The 1st Armoured Division had been sent to intervene at Deir el Shein. They ran into 15th "Panzer" Division just south of Deir el Shein and drove it west. By the end of the day's fighting, the "Afrika Korps" had 37 tanks left out of its initial complement of 55. During the early afternoon, 90th Light had extricated itself from the El Alamein box defences and resumed its move eastward. It came under artillery fire from the three South African brigade groups and was forced to dig in. On