Second Battle of El Alamein order of battle Second Battle of El Alamein order of battle The Second Battle of El Alamein order of battle is a listing of the significant formations that were involved in the Second Battle of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, 23 October – 4 November 1942. Under the command of Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery Under command of Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden under Major-General Raymond Briggs under Brigadier Arthur Fisher 92 Sherman, 68 Crusader, one Grant = 161 tanks under Brigadier Thomas J. Bosville "(Attached to Hammerforce for mine clearance)"<br> Under Commanding Officer, 2nd Bn Rifle Brigade under
Second Battle of El Alamein of Stalingrad and the Guadalcanal Campaign. The Panzer Army Africa ("Panzerarmee Afrika"), composed of German and Italian infantry and mechanised units under "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel, had struck deep into Egypt by 12 July 1942 after its success at the Battle of Gazala. This threatened the British Empire's control of the Suez Canal and Mandatory Palestine. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within of El Alamein on the coast. This gave the defenders a short front to defend and provided secure flanks because tanks could not traverse