 France had fallen. The majority of their fleet lay at the French North African base of Iran. The mission of the British Royal Navy keep the French fleet from Nazi hands. Mission accomplished. The Royal Navy had reluctantly crippled the French fleet. Thus, a prelude to a long and grueling struggle, one that would eventually alter the course of the war in Europe. The Battle of North Africa. It is September the 13th, 1940. Three months previously on June the 10th, Italy had joined her Axis ally Germany in war against the British. Upon war's outbreak in Poland in 1939, Italy had declared itself non-belligerent and played a waiting game. But Hitler's war machine had moved fast. Mussolini had no alternative now but to actively enter the conflict. The war was extended to the Mediterranean and Africa as the Italians joined the victorious Germans. Now the Italian army was about to embark on a venture to win themselves a great empire and assure them a position as one of the major powers on earth. The Battle of North Africa begins. The Italian plan was this. From Ethiopia, one army under the Duke of Eoster was to advance upon Egypt from the south. Another, under Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, was to drive east from Libya. Combined strength of the two armies totaled half a million men. Their opponents, hard-pressed at home, feeling the weight of the Nazi blitz against England, mustered 100,000 British and Commonwealth troops. The Italian attack began well. Graziani's forces struck at Egypt. The fall of France had secured their rear in Tunisia. England was fighting for its life in a battle of Britain. So the Italians advanced into Egypt as far as Sidi Barani. It was the greatest opportunity Italy had to increase her empire. These troops might have raced through Egypt and joined with the other Italian force in Ethiopia. But the goal of a great empire turned into an illusion. Ultimately, to disaster. The dreams of glory promulgated by Il Ducce did not match with reality. The desert terrain was fearsome. Although the Italians dreamt of glory, the hard work involved in attaining it was another matter. The troops were often sick, always homesick. Morale became low. Italian tacticians made many mistakes. These mistakes proved costly. Under General Wavell, British forces surprised them at Sidi Barani on December the 9th. The Italians had dallied there. Mussolini had threatened Graziani with loss of command if they didn't move on into Egypt. Now too late. British armour raced along the Libyan coast. Marshal Graziani had made a costly error by turning these coastal towns into fortresses, walled with barbed wire, guns and anti-tank ditches. They were proved to be no match for the highly mobile British. One after another the towns fell to the British. Benghazi. The Italians made a hasty exit, retired from the city. They were cut off by fast-moving armour and militarized infantry. The Italian army was trapped. British Empire forces captured over 133,000 prisoners, their own losses 604 men. By February the 8th, 1941, they occupied the eastern half of Libya, as far as the town of El Aguila. General Wavell's victory in Libya protected Egypt on the west and left him free to destroy the Italian army in Ethiopia. The Blitzkrieg tactics used by Germany so successfully were now employed by the British against the Axis partner. Under orders from Rome, the Duke of Aosta made a last stand, but by May the 19th all Italian resistance had ended. Ethiopia, first of the fascist conquests, was liberated. The Emperor Hal Selassie returned to his kingdom. In Libya, British troops halted at El Aguila. The weakening of the British forces coincided with the arrival in Africa of a man who was to become of historic importance. February the 12th, 1941, General Erwin Rommel, veteran of the Polish and French campaigns, arrived to take command of the Africa Corps. By March the 11th, the 5th Panzer Regiment had completed its disembarkation in Tripoli, equipped with 120 tanks and the most modern and fearsome of German war equipment. The Africa Corps had been extensively trained for desert warfare. The men represented the best of the much-vaunted Nazi culture. Special equipment for the troops had been provided by the Tropical Institute at Hamburg. The Africa Corps comprised two armored divisions, each with 8,000 men and 135 tanks, plus the crack 90th Light Infantry Division. The weakened British position on March the 24th, he continued to advance, the British continued to withdraw. In the Benghazi, Rommel had seized the initiative. He proved a formidable foe who commanded respect, even though serving in the enemy corps. His strategy in using the awesome Mark III and Mark IV tanks, which outranged the British in firepower, was amazingly skillful. The British were forced to stabilize their forces farther to the east. The British had been pushed back into Egypt, but the retreat was not complete. One Australian division remained in Tobruk, a constant threat to Rommel's flank. Nazi propagandist Lord Hall called them the Rats of Tobruk. The term became an endearing one. The efforts to dislodge them cost Rommel time and strength. The area of Tobruk was about twice the size of the District of Columbia. The town itself consisted of plain one-story stucco buildings arranged in half a dozen crisscrossing streets. Rommel's intention was to attack Tobruk as quickly as possible, before the British had recovered from the onslaught of the Africa Corps. The combined offensive he ordered on April the 10th was brought to a halt. His attacks on the 11th and 14th were also unsuccessful. By May the 2nd, Rommel had taken Solom, Capuzzo, had reconquered the rest of Sirenaca. Tobruk held on. Rommel's greatest attack had failed to dislodge the gallant and heroic opposition. Few of the men in Tobruk ever had a roof over their heads. Stripped life of everything that makes it worthwhile and you have the standard of living in Tobruk at this time. Water was scant. Rations were merely a means of keeping alive. Only the essentials came through. Supply lines from air and sea were worth their weight in gold. The story of the desert in the summer of 1941 was the story of Tobruk. At the end of August, the Australian garrison was relieved and colonial empire forces moved in. Tobruk was a severe thorn in the side of Rommel. This fine port under British control forced the Germans to move 1,500 tons of supplies daily over open desert wastes. Tobruk was sorely needed as a supply point close to the front. Thus the siege was strengthened during September. On the morning of December the 4th, Rommel launched a heavy attack that was very nearly successful. The war in North Africa teetered back and forth. On May the 26th, 1942, the German offensive was launched in full force. Said Rommel, to every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance and we were now going to finish it for good. Then June the 21st, 1942. On June the 22nd, Rommel learned from Hitler's headquarters that he was a Field Marshal. Wrote Rommel to his wife, I would much rather he had given me one more division. All had sought for over a year was finally his, at great cost to both sides. June the 30th, the Axis forces came to the El Alamein line. Alexandria was 65 miles away. The Germans had won a great victory of Tobruk and were moving rapidly. Field Marshal Rommel was at the peak of his professional career. It was at this time that General Orkinleck received a distinguished visitor from England. Mr. Churchill stayed for five days. Other new arrivals remained permanently. They were General Sir Harold R.L.G. Alexander who replaced General Orkinleck as commander of the Middle East and General Sir Bernadette Montgomery who took over General Rich's 8th Army. Your prime and main duty will be to take or destroy at the earliest opportunity the German and Italian Army commanded by Field Marshal Rommel together with all its supplies and establishments in Egypt and Libya, signed Winston Churchill. General Montgomery took hold at El Alamein. Meanwhile, Lend-Lease supplies rolled in. President Roosevelt ordered every spare German tank shipped to North Africa. Both sides were girding for what obviously was to be a decisive battle. British plan for the forthcoming battle of El Alamein was to be the turning point in the Desert War. That was certain. All prayed that it should turn in their favor. The plan itself was simple. Blow a hole in the German positions, send in strong armor and keep widening the gap. The axis line at El Alamein was a maze of strong points for 35 miles. During October 1942, they were hit mercilessly from the air. This shipping was badly damaged. There's no secrecy about the British plan. General Montgomery had made it known to every man. In a personal message to his troops, he said, the battle which is now about to begin will be one of the decisive battles of history. It will be the turning point of the war. The eyes of the whole world will be on us watching anxiously which way the battle will swing. We can give them their answer at once. It will swing our way. Montgomery had said, give me a fortnight and I can resist the German attack. Give me three weeks and I can defeat the Boch. Give me a month and I will chase him out of Africa. Thus he instilled in his troops his own supreme confidence. They prepared. Guns ready. Equipment ready. Men ready. German and Italian radios began promising complete independence for the Egyptian people and made dates for the Africa Corps with the ladies of Cairo and Alexandria upon their victory. 1942 afternoon. While they could, Montgomery's men also relaxed and waited. In late afternoon, the British forces moved to the assembly areas. 9.40 p.m. A still desert night. The battle of El Alamein began. The war was heard in Alexandria over 60 miles away. The 8th Army was unleashed. General Montgomery chose the north to make a breakthrough. It would threaten the coastal road, which was the enemy's life, and would imperil his forces to the south. By dawn on the 24th, the Axis main defenses were bitten deep. His forces in vain, mustered them from the skies. Their strength had concentrated in the north. An advanced position called Kidney Ridge was counter-attacked five times in a single day by the 15th Panzers, but held out. After bitter fighting, the 9th Australian Division advanced due north across the coast road to a strong point known as Thompson's Post. There they stayed, while the enemy was hit by the RAF. Gradually, the enemy was drawn to the north. It was the moment General Montgomery had been waiting for. The 8th Army poured west. The Germans were caught. Taking advantage of the enemy's weakness, the British forces broke through all along the line. We were completely stunned. For the first time during the African campaign, I did not know what to do. His army was relentlessly pushed back. The Axis had suffered its first great defeat. The tide had turned, and already in the United States and Britain, preparations were underway for the invasion of North Africa on a scale never before equalled in military history. It was, as Winston Churchill said, the end of the beginning. Was a tremendous physical and psychological victory for the British forces. But the battle for North Africa and the Middle East was far from over. In our next issue, you will see how a tremendous undertaking the invasion of North Africa by combined American and British forces cleared the enemy from the Middle East and paved the way for the invasion of Europe through Italy. The big picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.