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
British Army during the Second World War the end of the peninsula, when they were halted by a smaller Japanese force and the offensive was a total failure. In North Africa the Axis forces attacked in May, defeating the Allies in the Battle of Gazala in June and capturing Tobruk and 35,000 prisoners. The Eighth Army retreated over the Egyptian border, where the German advance was stopped in the First Battle of El Alamein. Claude Auchinleck, who had assumed command of the Eighth Army following the defeat at Gazala, was sacked and replaced by General Sir Harold Alexander, who became C-in-C Middle East, at the same time