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,
Field marshal living field marshals; ex military chief Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Previous field marshals are Abdel Hakim Amer, Mohamed Abdel Ghani el-Gamasy, Ahmad Ismail Ali, Ahmed Badawi, Mohammed Aly Fahmy and Abd al-Halim Abu Ghazala. Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was promoted to Field Marshal in 1933. In 1942 he was promoted to Marshal of Finland, which really is not a distinctive military rank but an honour. In the French army of the "Ancien Régime", the normal brigade command rank was field marshal ("maréchal de camp"). In 1793, during the French Revolution, the rank of field marshal was