The Epic Battle of

El AlameinHow Tzaddikim in Eretz Yisrael

Helped Turned the Tide of Battle During Arguably the Most

Important Clash of WWII

Summer of 1942… the darkest of times. In Europe, the “Final Solution” is about to be unleashed in its most deadly form:

the fully operational death camps at Auschwitz, Sobibor, Belzec and Treblinka.

In battlefields across the European continent, Nazi Germany celebrates one victory after another, citing them as further proof that the Aryan race is invincible. In the African continent, General Erwin Rommel – known as the “Desert Fox” for his uncanny ability to outmaneuver his enemies – swiftly swallows up one strategic area after another. He seems well on his way toward evicting the British Empire from the Middle East,

turning the Mediterranean Sea into a Nazi lake, capturing the oil fields of Iran and Iraq and linking up with German forces battering the Russians in south-eastern Europe.

In Eretz Yisrael, still part of the British Mandate, the Jewish Yishuv (“settlement,” as the Jewish presence in Eretz Yisrael was known) is in a state of extreme anxiety. Tzaddikim mobilize all the forces in their power to storm the gates of heaven in a desperate plea for mercy. In the end, a miracle involving a water pipeline paves the way for what many historians mark as the turning point of the entire war… the Allied victory at El Alamein.

by Yaakov Astor

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As the second half of 1942 began, the world shuddered at the thought of what the next day’s news would bring.

The Allies were suffering embarrassing and bitter defeats on every front. One country after another had fallen under the German heel in continental Europe. The German offensive against the Soviet Union was progressing in full force with Russia beating a hasty, badly disorganized retreat. German U-boats were causing unremitting destruction to the British fleet in the North Atlantic and blockading the Mediterranean.

Simultaneous with these ominous developments, the Germans opened a new front against the Allies in North Africa. Called the Afrika Korps, this armored tank corps was under the command of General Erwin Rommel, arguably one of the most brilliant generals of all time, whose very name sent shudders down the spines of the Allied high command. His famous nickname, “Desert Fox,” aptly describes his reputation as a wily master at tactical maneuvering.

Rommel’s mission was to defeat the British in Africa, capture Egypt, the Suez Canal and then march on to Iraq and Iran to capture its oil fields and eventually meet up with Hitler’s forces fighting in the Soviet lands, thus uniting Europe and North Africa under German control and in effect making the Mediterranean a Nazi lake.

Rommel’s progress was followed with horror by the Allied commanders. If Rommel reached the Suez Canal, the Allies would suffer a crushing blow. The canal was crucial to the supply lines that kept the over-extended British forces alive. The only alternative supply line would be from South Africa, a difficult, time-consuming and costly procedure that would leave the Allies badly handicapped and guarantee Germany the upper hand. To make matters worse, the canal would open the door for Germany to Middle-Eastern oil, a vitally precious commodity in wartime.

The entire free world looked to the

British forces in the Middle East as their best hope to stop the German war machine’s seemingly inexorable advance. If the battle in the Middle East was lost, it would have been virtually impossible to recover ― from both the strategic loss and the blow to Allied morale.

Egypt had been a British colony from 1882 until it was granted its independence in 1922. Nevertheless, the British coerced Egypt into an agreement whereby England continued to maintain troops and military bases in the country to protect the Suez Canal in case it would be threatened by unfriendly forces. This resulted in an odd setup under which most Arab lands were openly pro-Nazi, while Egypt alone was forced to host an Allied army in its territory. When the highly unpopular Egyptian King Farouk made secret overtures to the Nazis, inviting them to invade his land, British tanks surrounded his palace and threatened to overthrow his government if he did not immediately back off.

The British, for their part, prepared to defend their colonies and interests in the Middle East with everything they had. They built extensive fortifications across North Africa and the Middle East. They erected high walls, dug anti-tank trenches and laid land mines. Tanks and heavy cannons were positioned and long pipes were laid to supply their troops in the remote desert stations with water. Warehouses were stocked with food, water, fuel, ammunition and other supplies. They would be ready for a long, drawn-out campaign.

What they were not ready for was blitzkrieg, the “lightning war” tactics that the Germans, and particularly Rommel, had perfected to a deadly degree.

The “Desert Fox” Knocks on the Door

From February, 1941, Rommel’s Panzer divisions, aided by Italian forces, began

hammering the British positions. One defensive line after another fell. Before long, Rommel had pushed the British army back hundreds of miles from Tripoli to Egypt, capturing thousands of soldiers, including their celebrated commander, General Richard O’Connor, who just months before had defeated an overwhelmingly larger Italian army and had been hailed as savior of the British in Africa and the Middle East. His capture in April 1941 only added to the “Desert Fox” legend already rapidly taking shape.

Despite continual victories by the Afrika Korps, the city of Tobruk remained a major strategic point that eluded capture even as Rommel conquered areas 100 miles to the east beyond it. Tobruk was an absolutely crucial Mediterranean port city in Libya west of the Egyptian border. As long as the Allies controlled it, Rommel dared not push too far forward into Egypt because of the threat that it could be used as a launching point for an attack behind his lines that would cut off his supplies and leave his forward troops stranded.

Map of Nazi controlled lands at the height of the war in 1942.

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