Second Battle of El Alamein

An eye witness account of the second battle of El Alamein by World War II veteran rifleman Victor Gregg.



The Second Battle of El Alamein, Egypt (23 October–11 November 1942) was a decisive battle in the Second World War. With the Allies victorious, it marked the watershed of the Western Desert Campaign, prompting Winston Churchill to proclaim 'Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.'



The British victory turned the tide in the North African Campaign and ended the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields via North Africa. Victor Gregg, after an absence of eight months of service, is offered a promotion which he promptly turns down, saying, 'I just wish to fight out this war in the company of the lads who I call my mates, and they are all in the carriers.'



In this first-hand account, Gregg bravely unpicks not only the action of war, but the reaction of the normal men in extraordinary circumstances, trying to cling to sanity amongst the debris of corpses - many of which were friends and comrades.