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This land was made for war.
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As glass resists the bite of vitriol,
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so this hard and calcined earth rejects
the battle's hot, corrosive impact.
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00:00:35,036 --> 00:00:38,456
Here is no nubile, girlish land,
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no green and virginal countryside
for war to violate.
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This land is hard, inviolable.
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Benito Mussolini
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declares war on France and Britain.
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Combattenti di terra, di mare,
dell 'aria.
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00:02:26,730 --> 00:02:28,941
Like some Roman consul,
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Mussolini longed for an African empire.
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00:02:31,652 --> 00:02:35,406
Already he had massacred the
Abyssinians and subjugated the Libyans.
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Now he wanted more.
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00:02:42,663 --> 00:02:48,210
We were certainly not ready
to go to war in 1940.
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00:02:48,335 --> 00:02:51,672
It was purely a political move
from Mussolini
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00:02:51,755 --> 00:02:54,967
who felt that Hitler
was winning too much too quickly
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and that if he didn't make some sort of
gesture, take some sort of initiative,
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he would not be able to sit
at the conference table.
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00:03:16,906 --> 00:03:20,409
Mussolini's eyes
were on Egypt -
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the Egypt of the Nile
and the Suez Canal.
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In autumn 1940, he poured 250,000 troops
into Egypt's neighbour, Libya,
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and another 300,000 into Ethiopia.
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Facing them in Egypt
were just 30,000 British soldiers
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00:03:39,261 --> 00:03:41,388
of the Western Desert Force.
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00:04:07,456 --> 00:04:12,127
September 13, 1940, when the battle
for Britain was at its height,
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Mussolini's men
set out to conquer Egypt.
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Completely outnumbered,
the British troops simply fell back.
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After four days, Mussolini's men
were to reach Sidi Barrani,
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60 miles inside Egypt.
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There they would stop,
still 300 miles short of Cairo.
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00:04:47,579 --> 00:04:50,291
Looking back,
it seems extraordinary
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00:04:50,374 --> 00:04:55,963
how we moved into Egypt by sending out
these enormous columns -
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not very well protected
because we didn't have many tanks.
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00:04:59,925 --> 00:05:05,806
And then each one of them settling down
in a sort of fortified camp.
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This helped, of course,
General O'Connor, I think, a lot.
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O'Connor, the British commander,
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had used the pause
to plan a counterattack.
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The Italians had a series
of these fortified perimeter camps,
39
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and we decided
that, as they were so far apart,
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they would be unable
to support each other,
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and we moved our troops round
to attack them from the rear,
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the way that their rations would come.
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O'Connor undertook an operation
which was due to last about four days,
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which was the limit for the available
tanks, which were nearly worn out,
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and for our administration, in terms of
supplying water and fuel and ammunition.
46
00:06:04,365 --> 00:06:06,492
He achieved complete surprise,
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got behind the Italian positions
at Sidi Barrani, and, in the morning,
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the Italian resistance collapsed.
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00:06:34,853 --> 00:06:37,606
O'Connor's great achievement was
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that, by using captured vehicles
and captured dumps of water and fuel,
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he was able to maintain
this four-day battle
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into what became an offensive
lasting over a period of weeks
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and resulted in taking him
as far as Benghazi
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and indeed, beyond, to El Agheila.
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An area the size of England
and France had been captured.
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00:07:03,966 --> 00:07:07,970
For the British, it was an unbelievable
victory and marvellously opportune
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for, back home,
the Blitz was mounting in ferocity.
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00:07:11,181 --> 00:07:15,144
For Mussolini, a mere six months
after entering the war,
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the defeat meant the pricking
of his imperial pretensions.
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00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,693
Mussolini had said,
"I want 1,000 Italian dead
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to be able to sit
at the conference table."
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And, of course,
it cost many more than that.
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200,000 Italians
were taken prisoner.
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00:07:52,097 --> 00:07:54,433
They'd had enough.
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00:07:54,516 --> 00:07:59,062
In many cases they were
very, very happy to surrender.
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00:07:59,146 --> 00:08:02,316
To think that we were
vastly outnumbered,
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00:08:02,399 --> 00:08:08,822
and to see one Tommy taking literally
thousands back to the POW cage
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was a great joy for us to see.
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00:08:11,992 --> 00:08:16,038
We used to call them "gentlemen".
"There go the gentlemen."
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00:08:17,915 --> 00:08:21,668
Tripoli, Libya's capital,
was in O'Connor's grasp.
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00:08:21,752 --> 00:08:24,630
But Churchill withdrew
the cream of O'Connor's forces
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to meet the Nazi threat in Greece.
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We couldn't do
Greece and Tripoli at the same time.
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That was clear.
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I say we could have done Tripoli
immediately
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00:08:36,391 --> 00:08:39,811
and still left the options open
for Greece.
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00:08:40,270 --> 00:08:42,272
We lost an enormous opportunity
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to finish up North Africa,
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00:08:44,441 --> 00:08:45,943
and it was a fatal error
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to go to Greece.
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If we had advanced immediately,
we could have pushed him out.
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I entirely blame myself
for not having done it.
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I think it was quite inexcusable.
I ought to have.
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00:09:02,292 --> 00:09:07,130
February 12, 1941.
Hitler comes to Mussolini's rescue.
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A small mobile force
that had been hurriedly put together
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set sail to Tripoli.
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A force that was soon to be renowned
as the Afrika Korps.
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The task of the German Africa army
was only
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to tie down
as many British troops as possible
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and to cover the southern flank
of Europe.
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00:09:48,005 --> 00:09:54,845
We had never the intention to conquer
Egypt or to cross the Suez Canal.
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00:09:59,933 --> 00:10:03,312
The man Hitler chose
to save Mussolini from disaster
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had made his name in France
the summer before -
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Erwin Rommel.
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00:10:15,282 --> 00:10:20,746
In the port of Tripoli
in February / March '41,
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00:10:21,580 --> 00:10:28,629
Rommel told my friend Lieutenant Hunt,
an engineer:
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"Hunt, here you can build me 150 tanks."
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00:10:33,925 --> 00:10:37,512
The man looked stupefied,
and Rommel told him:
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00:10:37,596 --> 00:10:42,601
"Don't you have timber
here in the harbour and canvas of sails
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00:10:42,726 --> 00:10:46,521
to make 150 covers for Volkswagen?"
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"So you can give me 150 tanks."
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00:10:48,732 --> 00:10:51,693
And those tanks misled the British.
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00:10:53,570 --> 00:10:58,700
Rommel knew nothing about
desert warfare, but was bold and daring.
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00:10:59,201 --> 00:11:04,331
Rommel was perhaps the ideal
commander for this war theatre.
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It was very wide in area,
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but very limited in numbers of soldiers,
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and so he could apply
practically naval tactics.
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Towns and cities were very few
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and, therefore, we had no difficulties
with the Arabian population.
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They didn't disturb us.
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00:11:31,525 --> 00:11:36,571
The evening the Afrika Korps
arrived, they were ordered to the front.
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00:11:38,615 --> 00:11:41,660
Rommel believed in attack, and quickly.
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00:11:50,877 --> 00:11:54,756
On the last day of March, when not all
the troops promised had even landed,
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00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:56,758
he took on the British at El Agheila,
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00:11:56,842 --> 00:12:02,556
and in just 12 days pushed them back
the 500 miles to Egypt.
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00:12:03,515 --> 00:12:06,685
It was as if the bogeyman
was just round the corner.
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00:12:06,768 --> 00:12:09,271
It was "Here comes Rommel,"
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or "Rommel's coming down the desert
fast. Get the hell out of it."
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00:12:14,985 --> 00:12:20,574
Now it was the British turn
to be taken prisoner in their thousands.
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00:12:31,209 --> 00:12:35,756
Rommel told me to go ahead
and we reached Derna,
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00:12:35,839 --> 00:12:41,928
picking up on our way English soldiers
and generals who came in one by one.
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00:12:42,012 --> 00:12:45,307
Amongst them,
the famous General O'Connor.
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00:12:46,266 --> 00:12:48,935
It was miles behind
our own front.
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00:12:49,019 --> 00:12:50,812
We drove into the one bit of desert
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in which the Germans had sent
a reconnaissance group.
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00:12:54,191 --> 00:12:59,196
It was a great shock, and I never
thought it would happen to me.
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Very conceited, perhaps.
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00:13:01,823 --> 00:13:04,451
And so the Rommel legend
took shape.
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00:13:04,534 --> 00:13:08,705
By mid-April, he had driven
the British back where they had started.
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00:13:08,789 --> 00:13:12,167
But one pinprick remained - Tobruk.
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00:13:17,464 --> 00:13:21,760
100 miles behind the front,
its Australian garrison held out,
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00:13:21,843 --> 00:13:26,640
denying Rommel a precious forward port
for his supplies.
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00:13:29,309 --> 00:13:33,396
While Tobruk remained in British hands,
it threatened Rommel's supply lines
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00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,317
and deterred him
from advancing any further into Egypt.
135
00:13:40,445 --> 00:13:45,325
Unable to take Tobruk by direct assault,
Rommel prepared to besiege it.
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00:13:47,035 --> 00:13:49,246
The Luftwaffe, too, were called in.
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00:14:09,099 --> 00:14:13,144
Over 1,000 raids
were mounted against Tobruk.
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00:14:23,363 --> 00:14:24,656
Under Rommel's nose,
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00:14:24,739 --> 00:14:27,868
the Royal Navy replaced their garrison
with fresh troops -
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00:14:27,951 --> 00:14:31,621
Poles, South Africans, Indians, British.
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00:14:32,539 --> 00:14:35,500
It was bare rations in Tobruk.
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00:14:35,584 --> 00:14:41,047
Although one must thank the navy.
They did a wonderful job.
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00:14:46,803 --> 00:14:50,307
In 1941
the Royal Navy ruled the Mediterranean.
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00:14:50,390 --> 00:14:53,351
They had done so since
giving the powerful Italian fleet
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00:14:53,435 --> 00:14:56,062
a bloody nose at Taranto
the previous autumn.
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00:14:56,146 --> 00:14:59,524
And so British convoys made their way
through the Mediterranean
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00:14:59,608 --> 00:15:01,985
relatively unmolested.
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00:15:02,068 --> 00:15:04,779
More importantly, operating from Malta,
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00:15:04,863 --> 00:15:07,407
the Royal Navy could harass
Rommel's own convoys
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passing from Italy to Tripoli.
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00:15:43,109 --> 00:15:46,404
The British supplies got through,
while Rommel's didn't.
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00:15:47,864 --> 00:15:50,492
Denied the petrol
necessary for his panzers,
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Rommel couldn't advance
any further into Egypt that summer.
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00:15:55,455 --> 00:15:58,249
And, worse, no matter how hard he tried,
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00:15:58,333 --> 00:16:00,460
Rommel couldn't take Tobruk.
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00:16:01,002 --> 00:16:04,839
It remained a thorn in his side, and
became a symbol of British doggedness
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every bit as much
as Churchill's bulldog face.
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00:16:07,634 --> 00:16:12,597
We were pestered with
blaring loudspeakers on the perimeter.
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00:16:12,681 --> 00:16:15,684
We were called
the self-imposed prisoners of Tobruk
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00:16:15,767 --> 00:16:22,440
and Rommel's propaganda machine
bellowed at us to give up.
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00:16:22,524 --> 00:16:26,069
Well, we just took no notice.
We said, "We'll stick it out."
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00:16:26,152 --> 00:16:28,905
We knew that they couldn't get in.
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00:16:37,622 --> 00:16:40,792
There had been no light
at the end of the tunnel at all
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00:16:40,875 --> 00:16:43,378
since the withdrawal from Dunkirk.
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00:16:43,461 --> 00:16:47,465
I think for political
and, above all, for morale reasons -
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00:16:47,549 --> 00:16:50,051
the morale
of the people of this country -
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00:16:50,135 --> 00:16:54,723
it was terribly important
to show that we could hold the Germans.
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00:16:54,806 --> 00:16:57,517
The Desert War was in stalemate,
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a time for taking stock of tactics
as well as supplies.
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00:17:00,687 --> 00:17:03,815
Rommel's tactics had more effect
than those of the British,
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especially in his use of tank.
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We had been trained
to fire on the move,
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to execute the sort of cavalry charge
on tracks,
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00:17:14,951 --> 00:17:17,704
and handle armour in that way.
175
00:17:17,787 --> 00:17:22,417
The Germans had studied this problem
much more than we between the wars
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00:17:22,500 --> 00:17:26,337
and also, of course, Rommel had
experience from northern France
177
00:17:26,421 --> 00:17:29,049
and so had many of his tank crews.
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00:17:29,132 --> 00:17:33,470
And they appreciated that
the tank's best action against his enemy
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00:17:33,553 --> 00:17:37,557
is to wait for him to come on,
sitting in a hull-hidden position.
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00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:39,267
If they're caught in the open,
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00:17:39,350 --> 00:17:44,064
to decoy the enemy
onto their own antitank gun lines.
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00:17:52,781 --> 00:17:58,161
Rommel's main antitank
weapon was the Krupp-made 88mm.
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00:17:58,244 --> 00:18:01,206
It had decimated the French tanks
in May 1940
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00:18:01,289 --> 00:18:03,875
and was doing the same now
to the British tanks.
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00:18:05,085 --> 00:18:08,671
It was effective
at 1,000 yards and over.
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00:18:09,839 --> 00:18:14,302
It could pinpoint you, zero into you
and it would brew a tank up easily.
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00:18:18,848 --> 00:18:22,852
They could shoot at us before
we were even within striking distance.
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00:18:22,936 --> 00:18:28,316
We couldn't hope to hit them with
the two-pounders or the six-pounders.
189
00:18:30,193 --> 00:18:33,905
Rommel not only had the edge
in tactics and equipment,
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00:18:34,030 --> 00:18:38,076
he also enjoyed the confidence
of his political chief, Hitler.
191
00:18:38,159 --> 00:18:39,702
Wavell, his opposite number,
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00:18:39,786 --> 00:18:42,705
was pressured by Churchill
to provide a victory.
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00:18:42,789 --> 00:18:47,418
When he didn't, he was replaced
by General Sir Claude Auchinleck.
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00:18:47,502 --> 00:18:50,797
"The Auk", in turn, appointed
as his commander in the field
195
00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,466
Lieutenant General Cunningham.
196
00:18:53,550 --> 00:18:56,302
Cunningham had defeated
the Italians in East Africa
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00:18:56,427 --> 00:19:00,348
and put back Haile Selassie
on the throne of Abyssinia.
198
00:19:00,431 --> 00:19:03,560
But he was an infantryman
and knew nothing about tanks.
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00:19:04,018 --> 00:19:07,021
The tank held the key to success
in the desert,
200
00:19:07,105 --> 00:19:09,941
but British tanks
left much to be desired.
201
00:19:10,024 --> 00:19:13,236
They were very poor,
mechanically.
202
00:19:13,319 --> 00:19:18,408
There were parts missing,
parts not connected properly.
203
00:19:18,908 --> 00:19:22,620
Unlike the Germans,
the British had few tank transporters,
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00:19:22,704 --> 00:19:25,748
so their tanks had to move
long distances as well as fight
205
00:19:25,832 --> 00:19:28,042
on their tracks.
206
00:19:29,085 --> 00:19:32,338
Every track is connected
to the next track by a pin -
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00:19:32,422 --> 00:19:33,631
a lot of moving parts -
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00:19:33,715 --> 00:19:40,054
which, in the desert, was sometimes
powdery but hard, gritty sand.
209
00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:44,017
Well, water is a lubricant
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00:19:44,100 --> 00:19:48,146
and a tank track
is best suited to muddy conditions.
211
00:19:50,273 --> 00:19:54,068
To Churchill, the Desert War
had been too long in stalemate.
212
00:19:54,152 --> 00:19:55,195
He needed victory,
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00:19:55,278 --> 00:19:58,990
especially after the humiliating
failures in Greece and Crete.
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00:19:59,073 --> 00:20:01,826
No sooner were Cunningham
and Auchinleck appointed
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00:20:01,910 --> 00:20:05,455
then they, too,
were pressured into an offensive.
216
00:20:20,386 --> 00:20:25,600
The British now had more equipment,
but their tactics hadn't changed.
217
00:20:25,683 --> 00:20:28,519
Rommel might have been tempted
to echo Wellington:
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00:20:28,603 --> 00:20:33,149
"They came on in the same old way and
we stopped them in the same old way."
219
00:20:37,403 --> 00:20:39,280
In just five days that November,
220
00:20:39,364 --> 00:20:42,659
Cunningham lost 300 tanks -
two-thirds of his force -
221
00:20:42,742 --> 00:20:45,161
many through mechanical failure.
222
00:20:45,245 --> 00:20:48,498
Say the track came off
and jammed,
223
00:20:48,581 --> 00:20:50,458
well, if you were in action,
224
00:20:50,541 --> 00:20:53,670
you couldn't do anything about it
but bail out.
225
00:20:53,753 --> 00:20:56,339
And then you couldn't recover the tank.
226
00:20:56,422 --> 00:21:00,843
At that time in the desert
we had no means of recovery of tanks.
227
00:21:00,927 --> 00:21:04,889
You'd always
leave the battleground.
228
00:21:04,973 --> 00:21:09,060
Jerrys, they used to seem to stay there.
229
00:21:09,143 --> 00:21:11,145
We might have had a successful day
230
00:21:11,229 --> 00:21:14,649
but the Jerrys always seemed
to deny us the battlefield.
231
00:21:15,108 --> 00:21:18,653
Their equipment had to come
equally as far as ours,
232
00:21:18,736 --> 00:21:21,072
but they seemed to value it more
233
00:21:21,155 --> 00:21:26,327
and did every effort to recover
their tanks as soon as it got dusk.
234
00:21:26,911 --> 00:21:28,538
By bluff and guile,
235
00:21:28,621 --> 00:21:31,541
Rommel convinced Cunningham
he had lost the battle,
236
00:21:31,624 --> 00:21:34,294
but Auchinleck
was determined to stay put.
237
00:21:34,377 --> 00:21:38,506
He sacked Cunningham, who wanted
to withdraw, and appointed Ritchie.
238
00:21:38,589 --> 00:21:41,801
The gamble to stay and fight came off.
239
00:21:50,393 --> 00:21:52,729
When defeat
stared the British in the face,
240
00:21:52,812 --> 00:21:55,565
the battle's balance
swung dramatically their way,
241
00:21:55,690 --> 00:21:58,735
as Rommel's panzers ran out of fuel.
242
00:21:59,444 --> 00:22:00,945
Tobruk was relieved.
243
00:22:01,029 --> 00:22:04,824
Rommel was forced to withdraw
500 miles back to his starting point,
244
00:22:04,907 --> 00:22:10,455
and, on Christmas Eve 1941, Benghazi
changed hands for the third time.
245
00:22:11,581 --> 00:22:15,460
But with Commonwealth forces again
poised to push the Axis out of Africa,
246
00:22:15,543 --> 00:22:19,630
they were again denuded of troops and
equipment, this time for the Far East,
247
00:22:19,714 --> 00:22:21,424
where Japan's entry into the war
248
00:22:21,507 --> 00:22:24,510
threatened British bases
in Burma and Malaya.
249
00:22:24,594 --> 00:22:31,642
An opportunity of gaining something
which was real and important
250
00:22:31,726 --> 00:22:34,145
in the Middle Eastern theatre
251
00:22:34,228 --> 00:22:41,069
was lost for the sake of something
which was very doubtful
252
00:22:41,152 --> 00:22:46,240
and unlikely to pay off
in the Far East.
253
00:22:47,283 --> 00:22:52,080
Within a couple of weeks,
Rommel counter-attacked.
254
00:22:58,002 --> 00:23:01,923
Against the weakened British forces,
he recaptured Benghazi
255
00:23:02,006 --> 00:23:04,175
and once more threatened Tobruk.
256
00:23:04,258 --> 00:23:06,511
He was stopped at Gazala.
257
00:23:06,594 --> 00:23:09,639
Once again, it was stalemate.
258
00:23:29,867 --> 00:23:33,913
The peculiar conditions of the desert
bred a comradeship that was unique.
259
00:23:33,996 --> 00:23:37,041
To many, the Desert War
was a private war,
260
00:23:37,125 --> 00:23:40,878
the last to retain
any pretence of chivalry.
261
00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:50,388
As soon as we stopped anywhere
and there was a lull and a rest,
262
00:23:50,471 --> 00:23:52,807
you'd clear off a patch of the desert
and say:
263
00:23:52,890 --> 00:23:55,893
"Right. Now we'll have
a game of football."
264
00:23:55,977 --> 00:23:59,897
The sportsmanship showed
in both sides.
265
00:23:59,981 --> 00:24:06,320
Football games were not interrupted by
artillery fire during certain periods.
266
00:24:08,406 --> 00:24:12,285
The staple diet
was biscuits and bully beef.
267
00:24:12,368 --> 00:24:16,664
We had bully beef fried,
bully beef boiled,
268
00:24:16,747 --> 00:24:19,208
bully beef with dog biscuits.
269
00:24:19,292 --> 00:24:23,629
Oh, and dog biscuits.
Dogs would refuse to eat them.
270
00:24:24,881 --> 00:24:27,550
With food a problem
and water scarce,
271
00:24:27,633 --> 00:24:30,511
dysentery was a constant danger.
272
00:24:33,764 --> 00:24:37,101
The Germans invented a water can
which the envious English,
273
00:24:37,185 --> 00:24:41,022
after seeing theirs burst countless
times on the bumpy desert surfaces,
274
00:24:41,105 --> 00:24:44,317
copied and christened the "jerry can".
275
00:24:45,151 --> 00:24:48,738
We were rationed at one stage
there on a cup of water a day
276
00:24:48,821 --> 00:24:51,199
to bath and shave.
277
00:24:51,282 --> 00:24:54,911
What often happened was
the sections collected their ration,
278
00:24:54,994 --> 00:24:59,165
put it into a helmet
and each would shave out of that.
279
00:24:59,248 --> 00:25:01,834
Above all, it was hot.
280
00:25:01,959 --> 00:25:05,588
Very, very, very hot.
281
00:25:05,671 --> 00:25:09,967
It was so hot
you could fry an egg on the mudguard.
282
00:25:10,051 --> 00:25:13,596
It's literally true.
You could break an egg on the outside.
283
00:25:13,679 --> 00:25:16,474
It was so hot it would sizzle.
284
00:25:20,019 --> 00:25:23,773
The fly was perhaps
the desert soldier's greatest scourge -
285
00:25:23,856 --> 00:25:27,318
not just as a nuisance
but as a carrier of disease.
286
00:25:27,401 --> 00:25:30,696
The flies were indifferent
as to which side they plagued.
287
00:25:30,780 --> 00:25:35,576
There were competitions
as to who killed the most flies.
288
00:25:35,660 --> 00:25:41,082
The flies were that fattened
with living on the dead
289
00:25:41,165 --> 00:25:43,417
that any time you killed them,
290
00:25:43,501 --> 00:25:46,254
the smell got into you
and caused stomach upsets.
291
00:25:46,337 --> 00:25:49,006
And we had orders
from division headquarters
292
00:25:49,090 --> 00:25:51,592
to cut out this business
of killing the flies.
293
00:25:51,717 --> 00:25:53,928
We just had to let them go.
294
00:25:55,888 --> 00:26:03,354
I think one fly has,
within one year, nine million children.
295
00:26:05,398 --> 00:26:08,776
There was, too,
the occasional scorpion and viper.
296
00:26:08,859 --> 00:26:13,656
And when the wind blew,
the sand and dust got in everywhere.
297
00:26:18,369 --> 00:26:21,664
The fine dust
used to clog up everything.
298
00:26:21,747 --> 00:26:24,959
The jets would clog up
in the carburettors.
299
00:26:25,042 --> 00:26:26,961
Your watches would stop.
300
00:26:27,044 --> 00:26:31,465
We had great problems with our
intestines that gave a form of diarrhoea
301
00:26:31,591 --> 00:26:35,803
which was very severe
because of the sand passing through.
302
00:26:35,886 --> 00:26:40,141
You had, for instance,
to go from your quarters to the latrine,
303
00:26:40,224 --> 00:26:44,228
and you had literally to do it
with a march compass.
304
00:26:44,312 --> 00:26:47,648
There are cases
where soldiers did not return
305
00:26:47,773 --> 00:26:50,318
when they had forgotten
their march compass.
306
00:26:52,236 --> 00:26:55,573
In the sandstorm, of course,
the fighting stopped,
307
00:26:55,656 --> 00:26:57,867
which was enjoyed at the beginning.
308
00:26:57,992 --> 00:27:00,786
Then after three days you think:
309
00:27:00,870 --> 00:27:04,123
"Better the sandstorm stops
and the fighting starts again."
310
00:27:06,792 --> 00:27:11,589
Ritchie planned an offensive
for May with Grant tanks from America.
311
00:27:11,672 --> 00:27:15,384
But Rommel, as usual, got in first.
312
00:27:15,468 --> 00:27:18,262
Ritchie had learnt little
from previous mistakes.
313
00:27:18,387 --> 00:27:20,056
Like the Italians, he had set up
314
00:27:20,139 --> 00:27:21,682
a series of fortified camps
315
00:27:21,766 --> 00:27:23,684
and laid mines galore.
316
00:27:23,768 --> 00:27:25,144
But as O'Connor had done
317
00:27:25,227 --> 00:27:26,395
with the Italians
318
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,565
Rommel simply went round
the open flank.
319
00:27:30,608 --> 00:27:34,195
We were down south,
just in front of Bir Hakeim
320
00:27:34,278 --> 00:27:40,701
and, during the morning, we saw
this dust going up from where Jerry was.
321
00:27:40,785 --> 00:27:44,330
He was coming up through
where the Seventh Armoured Div were.
322
00:27:44,413 --> 00:27:46,791
And it was like a fox in a hen coop -
323
00:27:46,874 --> 00:27:50,169
everybody dashing about
all over the place.
324
00:28:11,482 --> 00:28:15,403
Ritchie's new tanks
were proving a disappointment.
325
00:28:15,486 --> 00:28:18,739
Once again, the British armour
was out-manoeuvred.
326
00:28:18,823 --> 00:28:21,742
The Battle of Gazala was Rommel's.
327
00:28:34,505 --> 00:28:38,384
The way was open to the prize that had
eluded Rommel the previous summer,
328
00:28:38,467 --> 00:28:44,098
the prize that Churchill, for one, had
determined ever to deny him - Tobruk.
329
00:28:51,647 --> 00:28:54,525
Tobruk's fortifications
had been neglected.
330
00:28:54,608 --> 00:28:59,071
They were no longer as formidable
as they had been the previous summer.
331
00:29:19,341 --> 00:29:24,388
27 Juni. Das Oberkommando
der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt.
332
00:29:24,513 --> 00:29:28,350
Berlin Radio broadcast
news of Tobruk's surrender.
333
00:29:28,434 --> 00:29:31,061
For Churchill
it was a particularly dark moment.
334
00:29:31,145 --> 00:29:32,980
For Rommel, the peak of his career,
335
00:29:33,063 --> 00:29:36,400
and a grateful Führer
made him field marshal.
336
00:29:43,657 --> 00:29:49,163
The British now fell back into Egypt,
further than ever before.
337
00:29:49,246 --> 00:29:54,210
I've never seen such
chaos. You couldn't save the situation.
338
00:29:54,293 --> 00:29:58,839
I've never seen a desert road
crammed with every sort of vehicle,
339
00:29:58,923 --> 00:30:02,760
every unit muddled up higgledy-piggledy.
340
00:30:02,843 --> 00:30:05,846
No one knew what was going on and...
341
00:30:05,930 --> 00:30:09,141
Luckily our air force
was stronger than the enemy's,
342
00:30:09,225 --> 00:30:12,603
otherwise I think
we would have been routed.
343
00:30:14,563 --> 00:30:18,609
The state of despair
had to be masked,
344
00:30:18,692 --> 00:30:23,322
and it was masked in a typically
British way - by nonchalance.
345
00:30:23,405 --> 00:30:27,076
When Rommel was expected in Cairo
that evening,
346
00:30:27,159 --> 00:30:28,953
Lord Killearn, my ambassador,
347
00:30:29,036 --> 00:30:33,707
instantly gave a dinner for 80 people
at the Mohammed Ali Club
348
00:30:33,833 --> 00:30:37,127
and said, "When he comes down,
he'll know where to find us."
349
00:30:39,129 --> 00:30:44,301
Past Mersa Matruh, past
Maaten Bagush, past Fuka, past Daba,
350
00:30:44,385 --> 00:30:49,807
the British fell back,
until, on June 30, 1942,
351
00:30:49,890 --> 00:30:54,019
they reached a railway halt
just 60 miles from Alexandria -
352
00:30:54,144 --> 00:30:56,230
El Alamein.
353
00:31:09,535 --> 00:31:11,620
It was no chance choice of Auchinleck's
354
00:31:11,704 --> 00:31:16,709
that the decisive battle for Egypt
should be fought here at El Alamein.
355
00:31:24,008 --> 00:31:26,093
This bit of desert
was not like any other
356
00:31:26,176 --> 00:31:28,470
over which the war had been fought.
357
00:31:28,554 --> 00:31:30,973
As always, the sea was to the north,
358
00:31:31,056 --> 00:31:35,436
but, here, just 40 miles inland,
was another sea -
359
00:31:36,478 --> 00:31:40,316
a sunken sea of quicksand
and salt marsh,
360
00:31:40,399 --> 00:31:42,484
impassable to tanks.
361
00:31:43,402 --> 00:31:45,571
The Qattara Depression.
362
00:31:47,990 --> 00:31:50,534
Until now the fluid strategy
of desert warfare
363
00:31:50,618 --> 00:31:53,954
had sprung from there being
always an open flank.
364
00:31:54,038 --> 00:31:58,500
But at Alamein, Rommel would have
to think of something different.
365
00:32:02,046 --> 00:32:05,215
Auchinleck prepared
for the final battle for Egypt,
366
00:32:05,341 --> 00:32:07,843
for, after Tobruk,
he had sacked Ritchie
367
00:32:07,927 --> 00:32:11,347
and taken command
of the Eighth Army himself.
368
00:32:14,767 --> 00:32:18,687
But Churchill was already planning
to sack him too.
369
00:32:18,771 --> 00:32:21,231
Rommel didn't wait
for Churchill's decision.
370
00:32:21,315 --> 00:32:27,071
He threw his tired troops into
a last, desperate attempt to take Egypt.
371
00:32:32,660 --> 00:32:36,330
In July, in perhaps the most decisive
battle of the Desert War,
372
00:32:36,413 --> 00:32:38,832
Auchinleck halted him.
373
00:32:39,792 --> 00:32:43,253
It was
a frightfully important battle,
374
00:32:43,337 --> 00:32:47,841
and it was touch and go that we might
have lost our whole Middle East base.
375
00:32:59,061 --> 00:33:03,774
Churchill went to see for
himself in August the troops' morale.
376
00:33:03,857 --> 00:33:05,734
Tobruk's fall had exasperated him,
377
00:33:05,818 --> 00:33:09,738
but he was heartened by the reception
he got from the Eighth Army.
378
00:33:09,822 --> 00:33:14,410
He'd already decided to appoint
Alexander in place of Auchinleck.
379
00:33:14,493 --> 00:33:17,204
The new Eighth Army commander
was to be Montgomery,
380
00:33:17,287 --> 00:33:21,000
although Montgomery had not set foot
in the desert during the war.
381
00:33:21,083 --> 00:33:24,461
When Montgomery came
we were a bit apprehensive about him
382
00:33:24,545 --> 00:33:29,758
because we'd never seen this man
who had white knees and what have you.
383
00:33:29,842 --> 00:33:34,263
The presence of your PM
suddenly was a very tonic thing.
384
00:33:34,346 --> 00:33:37,224
He was wearing a siren suit,
smoking an immense cigar,
385
00:33:37,307 --> 00:33:39,059
but he had "WC" on his slippers -
386
00:33:39,143 --> 00:33:41,437
he was wearing
old-fashioned dancing pumps
387
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:44,189
that you used to wear
with dinner jackets,
388
00:33:44,273 --> 00:33:46,942
with W on one foot and C on the other.
389
00:33:48,068 --> 00:33:51,155
And he gave us a very good pep talk.
390
00:34:06,045 --> 00:34:08,797
For Rommel,
the laws of desert warfare
391
00:34:08,881 --> 00:34:10,758
now began to work against him.
392
00:34:10,841 --> 00:34:13,969
The further the advance,
the longer the supply line.
393
00:34:15,095 --> 00:34:20,893
I think we had
crossed the Rubicon, like Caesar,
394
00:34:20,976 --> 00:34:24,730
when we went to Egypt.
395
00:34:24,855 --> 00:34:31,153
The eyes of Hitler were directed
every day to the Russian front -
396
00:34:31,236 --> 00:34:33,447
the deciding front-
397
00:34:33,530 --> 00:34:37,451
and our role was not so important.
398
00:34:37,534 --> 00:34:41,955
He was content
if we had no difficulties,
399
00:34:42,039 --> 00:34:46,251
but he was not able to guarantee
400
00:34:46,335 --> 00:34:51,840
the supplies came
to the North African force.
401
00:34:59,348 --> 00:35:03,060
Only one in four of Rommel's
supply ships ever got through.
402
00:35:03,143 --> 00:35:07,397
His solution - late in the day -
crush Malta.
403
00:35:19,368 --> 00:35:24,456
Göring's Luftwaffe believed it could
annihilate the island single-handed.
404
00:35:46,395 --> 00:35:50,607
Stukas, Heinkels, Junkers,
Dorniers, Messerschmitts
405
00:35:50,691 --> 00:35:55,320
day in, day out, hundreds at a time,
were ordered against the island.
406
00:35:55,404 --> 00:35:57,865
Malta became
the most bombed place on earth.
407
00:36:27,352 --> 00:36:29,521
Malta held out.
408
00:36:40,616 --> 00:36:41,867
Equally bad for Rommel,
409
00:36:41,950 --> 00:36:45,746
the Desert Air Force could now operate
from its home bases along the Nile,
410
00:36:45,829 --> 00:36:48,332
just 100 miles behind the line.
411
00:36:49,291 --> 00:36:53,670
In the desert,
fighting is characterised
412
00:36:53,754 --> 00:36:59,218
by the opposition of tanks
in large quantities,
413
00:36:59,301 --> 00:37:03,347
of artillery, of air support.
414
00:37:05,015 --> 00:37:09,895
Air support, for instance, didn't play
a considerable role in Russia,
415
00:37:09,978 --> 00:37:14,066
where troops had enough cover.
416
00:37:14,149 --> 00:37:20,364
In Africa, air superiority
was all decisive.
417
00:37:23,742 --> 00:37:26,161
Montgomery had air superiority.
418
00:37:26,245 --> 00:37:29,915
Desperately short of fuel, Rommel's
convoys had to run the gauntlet,
419
00:37:29,998 --> 00:37:32,459
the 1,400 miles
from his main base at Tripoli,
420
00:37:32,542 --> 00:37:37,506
whereas Montgomery was only
60 miles from his at Alexandria.
421
00:37:37,589 --> 00:37:40,801
The distance from the ports -
422
00:37:40,884 --> 00:37:44,179
Benghazi, Tripoli
and, perhaps, Tobruk -
423
00:37:44,263 --> 00:37:47,057
had become too big.
424
00:37:48,225 --> 00:37:51,395
During the jigsaws
up and down the desert,
425
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,855
when we pushed Rommel back
426
00:37:53,939 --> 00:37:56,942
we used to accuse him
of putting oil in the wells,
427
00:37:57,025 --> 00:37:59,403
which we thought
was really a dirty trick.
428
00:37:59,486 --> 00:38:01,280
Then when we came back down,
429
00:38:01,363 --> 00:38:04,157
he would blame us
for putting oil in the water.
430
00:38:04,241 --> 00:38:08,161
And now it seems that, all the time,
it was the oil wells below the ground
431
00:38:08,245 --> 00:38:10,247
seeping through into the water well.
432
00:38:12,708 --> 00:38:16,211
In September the Afrika
Korps' morale was dealt a blow
433
00:38:16,295 --> 00:38:19,548
when Rommel fell ill.
Hitler ordered him home.
434
00:38:20,590 --> 00:38:26,346
But his men were left behind
under the desert sun for a second year.
435
00:38:29,016 --> 00:38:32,853
When you are in the desert, you
feel like a man on the moon would feel.
436
00:38:32,936 --> 00:38:35,981
You are alone with the universe.
437
00:38:37,774 --> 00:38:41,695
For the men of the Afrika
Korps, there was no question of leave,
438
00:38:41,778 --> 00:38:46,575
only the certainty that, sooner or
later, the British would attack them.
439
00:38:46,658 --> 00:38:48,744
The homesickness of the soldier
440
00:38:48,827 --> 00:38:52,289
who would have preferred
to be at home and not at war.
441
00:38:52,372 --> 00:38:56,918
♪ Vor der Kaserne
Vor dem großen Tor
442
00:38:57,002 --> 00:39:01,548
♪ Stand eine Laterne
Und steht sie noch davor
443
00:39:01,631 --> 00:39:04,509
It was no accident
that the desert campaign
444
00:39:04,593 --> 00:39:07,596
produced the most memorable song
of the Second World War.
445
00:39:10,265 --> 00:39:14,603
Lili Marlene
was a piece of our home.
446
00:39:20,776 --> 00:39:24,154
Lili Marlene
was equally popular with the British.
447
00:39:27,949 --> 00:39:31,161
We were always
in touch with home.
448
00:39:31,286 --> 00:39:36,249
We heard the news and, of course,
we heard the opposition's news -
449
00:39:36,333 --> 00:39:40,921
witness "Underneath the lamppost
by the barrack gate".
450
00:39:41,963 --> 00:39:45,425
♪ For you, Lili Marlene
451
00:39:45,550 --> 00:39:50,430
♪ My own Lili Marlene
452
00:39:51,264 --> 00:39:55,018
For the British, home
comforts were close at hand in Cairo,
453
00:39:55,102 --> 00:39:58,271
just the place for a spot of leave
with its bars, bazaars
454
00:39:58,355 --> 00:40:01,566
and, um... other distractions.
455
00:40:16,581 --> 00:40:19,543
They used to take your money,
yes.
456
00:40:27,008 --> 00:40:31,555
I should say 75% of them
457
00:40:31,638 --> 00:40:35,058
if they could find another woman,
they'd have her.
458
00:40:38,395 --> 00:40:40,063
It really was weird
459
00:40:40,147 --> 00:40:43,942
when you think of the whole of Europe
blacked out and in darkness.
460
00:40:44,025 --> 00:40:45,986
In despair, you know?
461
00:40:46,069 --> 00:40:49,364
In Cairo, seething with light,
you rang up people,
462
00:40:49,448 --> 00:40:52,534
you went out to dinner,
you had a hot bath and a whisky,
463
00:40:52,617 --> 00:40:54,828
and on Monday
you'd be back on the line.
464
00:40:57,622 --> 00:41:01,376
Montgomery saw his main task
as raising the troops' morale.
465
00:41:01,460 --> 00:41:05,964
He was the first commander to project
himself like an American politician.
466
00:41:06,047 --> 00:41:11,094
Press men and photographers kept at
arm's length by Wavell and Auchinleck
467
00:41:11,178 --> 00:41:13,722
now found themselves welcome.
468
00:41:13,805 --> 00:41:19,394
He immediately went round
all the formations of the Eighth Army,
469
00:41:19,478 --> 00:41:21,938
gathering people round to talk to them.
470
00:41:22,022 --> 00:41:28,945
He used also the press, the radio
and gimmicks, such as his hats.
471
00:41:30,197 --> 00:41:34,743
They wanted something to be able
to identify themselves with and look at,
472
00:41:34,826 --> 00:41:39,039
something other
than the strict uniform.
473
00:41:44,878 --> 00:41:49,799
It was remarkable. In
days, there was a different atmosphere,
474
00:41:49,883 --> 00:41:51,384
a feeling of confidence.
475
00:41:51,468 --> 00:41:55,555
He told us that
the bad old days were over
476
00:41:55,639 --> 00:41:58,934
and he was now determined
there was going to be success.
477
00:41:59,017 --> 00:42:01,311
He said, "Now the only order
478
00:42:01,394 --> 00:42:05,774
is everyone stays where they are, fights
where they are and dies where they are."
479
00:42:16,034 --> 00:42:19,454
Montgomery saw to it
his army had the latest weapons.
480
00:42:19,538 --> 00:42:22,082
Pressed by Churchill
to take the offensive,
481
00:42:22,165 --> 00:42:26,253
"Monty", as he was soon known,
was not going to be rushed.
482
00:42:26,336 --> 00:42:28,338
He was determined, as he put it,
483
00:42:28,463 --> 00:42:31,800
to have everyone tough and hard
for the coming battle.
484
00:42:34,219 --> 00:42:37,806
Because its first few hours
were going to be dominated by the mine -
485
00:42:37,889 --> 00:42:40,350
the Germans had laid
over half a million of them -
486
00:42:40,433 --> 00:42:43,436
the offensive had the codename
Operation Lightfoot,
487
00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,231
a sick joke if ever there was one.
488
00:42:47,399 --> 00:42:50,402
A mine detector
had been devised for use at Alamein,
489
00:42:50,485 --> 00:42:52,404
but many were found to be faulty,
490
00:42:52,487 --> 00:42:55,615
so most of the detecting
had to be done in the old way -
491
00:42:55,699 --> 00:43:02,163
by men prodding the ground with
bayonets and lifting the mines by hand.
492
00:43:12,299 --> 00:43:16,344
The German minefields at Alamein
were five miles deep.
493
00:43:16,428 --> 00:43:17,637
To assault them,
494
00:43:17,721 --> 00:43:20,890
Montgomery had assembled
a quarter of a million troops -
495
00:43:20,974 --> 00:43:23,852
British, Australians, New Zealanders,
496
00:43:23,935 --> 00:43:25,979
Indians, South Africans,
497
00:43:26,062 --> 00:43:30,317
Greeks, Poles, Czechs and Free French.
498
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,485
Twice as many men as Rommel had.
499
00:43:32,944 --> 00:43:35,947
Nothing was being left to chance.
500
00:43:36,031 --> 00:43:40,535
We were fully trained.
We were really confident.
501
00:43:41,036 --> 00:43:47,334
Every single solitary man
knew exactly what he had to do.
502
00:43:47,417 --> 00:43:49,711
Everything was in your favour.
503
00:43:49,836 --> 00:43:52,714
We had no fear as such.
504
00:43:52,797 --> 00:43:54,299
It's an old adage, you know,
505
00:43:54,382 --> 00:43:58,511
that it'll never happen to you
personally, you think.
506
00:43:59,721 --> 00:44:03,058
October 23, 1942.
507
00:44:03,183 --> 00:44:08,438
In the darkening desert, 1,100 tanks
and 1,000 guns moved into position.
508
00:44:09,397 --> 00:44:12,525
I was with my battalion,
509
00:44:12,609 --> 00:44:16,613
laying mines
in front of our own positions,
510
00:44:16,696 --> 00:44:20,075
and the Battle of Alamein started
511
00:44:20,158 --> 00:44:25,288
by seeing the whole horizon on fire.
512
00:44:38,343 --> 00:44:44,182
A lot of people think
that Alamein was a big barrage
513
00:44:44,265 --> 00:44:46,351
and everybody waiting behind,
514
00:44:46,434 --> 00:44:49,104
queuing up ready to go
once the barrage finished.
515
00:44:49,187 --> 00:44:54,567
But it wasn't like that. There was some
bloody fighting there, believe me.
516
00:44:54,651 --> 00:44:57,570
We moved off before the barrage
517
00:44:57,654 --> 00:45:00,240
and we were allowed a walking pace -
518
00:45:00,323 --> 00:45:04,327
that was so the artillery
fell in front of us.
519
00:45:07,497 --> 00:45:11,918
In the morning
we were disappointed, to say the least.
520
00:45:12,001 --> 00:45:18,883
When the tanks should've passed us,
they hadn't arrived. Nobody had arrived.
521
00:45:22,345 --> 00:45:27,392
By the time the sappers got the mines up
and there was a road made,
522
00:45:27,475 --> 00:45:32,188
the Germans realised the reason,
and they pinpointed that opening.
523
00:45:37,152 --> 00:45:41,740
There was uncertainty that
the ground would erupt underneath you,
524
00:45:41,865 --> 00:45:46,536
but you forget about running through a
minefield when a shell suddenly drops
525
00:45:46,619 --> 00:45:49,664
and machine-gun fire opens up
and mortar fire.
526
00:45:49,748 --> 00:45:51,499
There were squeals, shouts.
527
00:45:51,583 --> 00:45:54,335
It was a battle of attrition.
528
00:45:54,419 --> 00:45:58,715
It was fought in a way,
and rightly in a way,
529
00:45:58,798 --> 00:46:03,344
in which you had to continue
the offensive
530
00:46:03,428 --> 00:46:06,431
until you had broken
the enemy's power of resistance.
531
00:46:06,514 --> 00:46:08,141
And this does take time.
532
00:46:09,100 --> 00:46:12,520
If infantry destroys the antitank gun
533
00:46:12,604 --> 00:46:14,355
and the minefields are clear,
534
00:46:14,481 --> 00:46:17,442
then the tank can come forward
and exploit the situation.
535
00:46:17,567 --> 00:46:21,613
But until that happens,
no success, no tanks.
536
00:46:22,405 --> 00:46:25,825
Montgomery lost 200 tanks
in the first two days,
537
00:46:25,909 --> 00:46:29,120
as many as the Germans had started with.
538
00:46:29,204 --> 00:46:32,582
Rommel, now back in Africa,
though clearly far from well,
539
00:46:32,707 --> 00:46:36,503
immediately counter-attacked,
angry his panzers had not done so
540
00:46:36,586 --> 00:46:39,631
when the British had been bogged down
in the minefields.
541
00:46:39,714 --> 00:46:42,300
It was too late.
542
00:46:45,428 --> 00:46:48,473
Rommel was thrown back,
with losses he could ill afford.
543
00:46:48,556 --> 00:46:51,935
Casualties were heavy on both sides.
544
00:47:02,070 --> 00:47:06,991
They really hung on, see.
It was really stubborn.
545
00:47:07,075 --> 00:47:12,747
When we'd finished, then we realised
the casualties we'd left behind.
546
00:47:13,706 --> 00:47:17,961
You kept saying to yourself, "It won't
happen to me. He'll catch it, I won't."
547
00:47:18,044 --> 00:47:19,712
All of a sudden it dawns on you,
548
00:47:19,796 --> 00:47:23,675
"One day you won't always
get away with it, lad."
549
00:47:31,057 --> 00:47:34,227
It was a killing match,
as Monty had predicted.
550
00:47:34,310 --> 00:47:37,313
A messy, horrid killing match.
551
00:47:37,939 --> 00:47:43,152
A First World War battle
fought with Second World War weapons.
552
00:47:49,534 --> 00:47:52,287
The battle of attrition
was going Montgomery's way.
553
00:47:52,370 --> 00:47:55,707
The moment had come
for him to let loose his armour.
554
00:48:13,349 --> 00:48:18,021
800 tanks, mostly Shermans,
the latest and best tank from America,
555
00:48:18,104 --> 00:48:20,565
were thrown against
the Germans and Italians.
556
00:48:20,648 --> 00:48:23,067
And Rommel had less than 100 tanks.
557
00:48:32,368 --> 00:48:34,412
Again, the fighting was bitter.
558
00:48:34,495 --> 00:48:36,748
Rommel began to yield a little.
559
00:48:51,846 --> 00:48:54,349
For two days more the battle raged.
560
00:48:54,432 --> 00:48:57,936
It was the biggest tank battle
of the Desert War.
561
00:48:59,854 --> 00:49:05,360
Rommel was now down to only 35 tanks,
compared with Montgomery's 600.
562
00:49:06,986 --> 00:49:10,698
Just when he was thinking of slipping
away to hold a line 60 miles back,
563
00:49:10,782 --> 00:49:13,326
Hitler ordered him to stay.
564
00:49:17,246 --> 00:49:22,126
It's a particularly nasty form
of ending one's days
565
00:49:22,210 --> 00:49:24,754
if one is trapped in a tank
566
00:49:24,837 --> 00:49:28,591
and the tank brews up and is on fire.
567
00:49:28,675 --> 00:49:33,805
You will never lose the awfulness
568
00:49:33,930 --> 00:49:36,516
of screams of men trying to get out.
569
00:49:52,448 --> 00:49:54,701
The British armour was through
570
00:49:54,784 --> 00:49:58,246
and by the afternoon of November 4,
the 12th day of the battle,
571
00:49:58,329 --> 00:50:01,374
Rommel was in full retreat.
572
00:50:06,754 --> 00:50:11,801
Thousands of Italians were left behind.
The Germans had pinched their transport.
573
00:50:11,884 --> 00:50:15,054
Rommel's deputy, Von Thoma,
was captured too.
574
00:50:22,395 --> 00:50:25,982
Alexander signalled Churchill
to ring out the victory bell,
575
00:50:26,065 --> 00:50:27,358
which Winston did -
576
00:50:27,442 --> 00:50:32,655
the first time church bells had been
rung in Britain since Dunkirk.
577
00:50:36,576 --> 00:50:41,414
Heavy rain fell on November 6
to impede both pursued and pursuer.
578
00:50:41,497 --> 00:50:44,584
Montgomery's corps commanders
were all for rushing ahead
579
00:50:44,667 --> 00:50:47,253
to trap Rommel
before he could reorganise.
580
00:50:47,336 --> 00:50:51,049
Monty was not going to risk
being trapped himself.
581
00:50:52,008 --> 00:50:55,553
Montgomery was very conscious
582
00:50:55,636 --> 00:50:59,474
that we had already been twice up
and twice back,
583
00:50:59,557 --> 00:51:04,312
and he was determined
not to push back for a third time.
584
00:51:07,356 --> 00:51:09,025
The air force saw to it
585
00:51:09,108 --> 00:51:12,403
that Rommel's retreat
was not without incident.
586
00:51:15,031 --> 00:51:18,743
He had nowhere to run.
All he could was run into the sand.
587
00:51:18,826 --> 00:51:22,246
This is where desert warfare
was something on its own.
588
00:51:22,330 --> 00:51:24,999
You just sat out there
or moved out there
589
00:51:25,083 --> 00:51:27,085
and you were exposed to everything.
590
00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:51,150
Past Mersa Matruh,
Sidi Barrani, through Halfaya Pass,
591
00:51:51,234 --> 00:51:56,030
Rommel was pushed back,
turning to fight a little every day.
592
00:51:58,491 --> 00:52:01,911
On November 13,
to Churchill's great joy,
593
00:52:01,994 --> 00:52:04,330
Tobruk was retaken.
594
00:52:04,413 --> 00:52:07,125
A week later it was Benghazi's turn
to change hands
595
00:52:07,208 --> 00:52:10,878
for the fifth and positively final time.
596
00:52:18,970 --> 00:52:23,266
In mid-January 1943, Tripoli fell -
597
00:52:23,349 --> 00:52:27,979
the prize that had eluded O'Connor
two years before.
598
00:52:33,401 --> 00:52:37,613
At last the British people
had something really to cheer about.
599
00:52:37,697 --> 00:52:41,367
And Churchill?
The big victory he had been hoping for
600
00:52:41,450 --> 00:52:44,996
before America would dominate the war.
601
00:52:47,498 --> 00:52:52,420
You have altered the face
of the war in the most remarkable way.
602
00:52:52,503 --> 00:52:57,550
I must tell you that your fame,
603
00:52:57,633 --> 00:53:02,221
the fame of the Desert Army,
has spread throughout the world.
604
00:53:07,894 --> 00:53:10,646
Now, this is not the end.
605
00:53:10,730 --> 00:53:15,318
It is not even the beginning of the end.
606
00:53:15,401 --> 00:53:19,530
But it is, perhaps,
the end of the beginning.
70609
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