Battle of El Agheila Battle of El Agheila The Battle of El Agheila was a brief engagement of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. It took place in December 1942 between Allied forces of the Eighth Army (General Bernard Montgomery) and the Axis forces of the German-Italian "Panzer" Army ("Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel), during the long Axis withdrawal from El Alamein to Tunis. It ended with the German-Italian "Panzer" Army resuming its retreat towards Tunisia, where the Tunisia Campaign had begun with Operation Torch On 4 November 1942, Rommel decided to end the Second Battle of El Alamein and withdraw west towards
Second Battle of El Alamein and Point 102 on 30 August 1942. The attack failed in this second battle at the Alamein line, better known as the Battle of Alam el Halfa (commonly, but incorrectly, Alam Halfa); expecting a counter-attack by Montgomery's Eighth Army, Panzer Army Africa dug in. The factors that had favoured the Eighth Army's defensive plan in the First Battle of El Alamein, the short front line and the secure flanks, now favoured the Axis defence. Rommel, furthermore, had plenty of time to prepare his defensive positions and lay extensive minefields (laying approximately 500,000 mines) and barbed wire. Alexander and Montgomery were