| Original caption: “German infantry sit on the desert sands during a rest period as smoke pours from shelled positions around El Alamein. This picture arrived in the United States from Neutral Portugal.” Panzerarmee Afrika rests during the 1st Battle of El Alamein. Note Opel Blitz trucks in the background. On the Alamein front the possibilities to refresh and rest the troops were negligible. There wasn’t any natural cover; water was scarce; and the distances involved in the Desert Campaign were unbelievable. Malta won its importance as a base for the fight against the Axis convoys back and forth between Italy and North Africa, inasmuch as the greater portion of the Italian and Nazi German transports went from southern Italy to Benghazi, the principal transfer point for German and Italian supplies. The convoy routes lay within effective striking range of Malta. Tobruk did not have sufficient tonnage capacity; therefore there was an endless column of supply vehicles from the harbor to the positions before Alamein. These were constantly menaced by the Royal Air Force (RAF). This method of supply consumed precious fuel and required that the transport columns were overburdened more than necessary. The distance from the battlefront to Tobruk was 550 kilometers (310 miles); from the major port of Benghai, a 1,000 kilometers (620 miles; and from Tripoli, where many supplies also arrived, it was over 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles). On the other hand the British supply lines from Alexandria and Suez were only 90 kilometers (55 miles) and 850 kilometers (530 miles), respectively. In a sober strategic estimate of Panzerarmee Afrika’s situation in August 1942, the Command had to recognize that now a situation existed in which neither of the deadly threats – Allied control of the air on 1 hand and naval base of Malta on the other – to the axes of supply in the rear of the Heer (“Nazi German Army”) had been destroyed. Nor could the situation be expected to improve, by gaining the Nile Delta right in the lap of British strength in the Eastern Mediterranean. Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel’s (November 15, 1891 – October 14, 1944) army was halted in the middle of the desert, far from its base of supply, while the enemy superiority in the air grew stronger daily. On the other hand the possibilities for improving its own combat effectiveness, even to rest and refresh the exhausted troop units, were insignificant at best. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0729.jpg |
| Image Size | 478.30 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2048 x 1407 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Kriegsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | July 17, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | El Alamein |
| State or Province | Matrouh |
| Country | Egypt |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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