0:00:30 > 0:00:33It's May, 1942.
0:00:33 > 0:00:34The war in the North African desert
0:00:34 > 0:00:37has been raging for the past two years.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38GUNFIRE
0:00:39 > 0:00:42BULLETS RICOCHET
0:00:46 > 0:00:48MAN GROANS
0:00:48 > 0:00:50British and Commonwealth forces
0:00:50 > 0:00:52are battling a German and Italian Axis army
0:00:52 > 0:00:55intent on taking Egypt and the Suez Canal,
0:00:55 > 0:00:57gateway to the oilfields of the Middle East.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10The pendulum of power has swung back and forth over hundreds of miles.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Each side has had its victories...
0:01:17 > 0:01:19..and its bloody defeats.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21MEN CRY OUT
0:01:26 > 0:01:28But before the year is over,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31the last great army of the British Empire will draw a line in the sand
0:01:31 > 0:01:35and fight one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53HE BREATHES DEEPLY
0:01:59 > 0:02:02The leader of the Axis forces is General Erwin Rommel,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05the Desert Fox.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09He's the most famous soldier in the German army
0:02:09 > 0:02:11and he's poised for a new offensive.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Facing Rommel are British Generals who've come to fear,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21but also admire, this master of mobile warfare.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26To even the odds, new formations are being prepared for battle,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28including one in Scotland
0:02:28 > 0:02:31that has a special reason to take the fight to Rommel.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36Two years earlier, Rommel spearheaded a blitzkrieg in France
0:02:36 > 0:02:39that brought him up against the 51st Highland Division
0:02:39 > 0:02:41in the town of St Valery.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47While tens of thousands managed to escape at Dunkirk,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50the 51st was trapped.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52It fought on until the entire division of 10,000 men
0:02:52 > 0:02:55was forced to surrender.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The 51st Highland Division, commanded by General Fortune,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04had the great misfortune
0:03:04 > 0:03:07to be in the southern part of the line,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and they were captured in total by the Germans.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18Rommel was in charge of the German troops.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Every man from Fortune down
0:03:20 > 0:03:22were taken prisoner.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Took us years to overcome that.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29The capture of the 51st Highland Division
0:03:29 > 0:03:34came as a tremendous shock to the people of Scotland.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37There's hardly a community in the Highlands of Scotland
0:03:37 > 0:03:40which is left unaffected by what happened.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42They went into imprisonment
0:03:42 > 0:03:46and were not seen again until the end of the war in 1945.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48And of course, Scots being Scots,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51who don't like setbacks of this kind, don't appreciate them,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54there was a desire to get some kind of revenge
0:03:54 > 0:03:56at some point during the war.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Two years later, the 51st Highland Division is back in business
0:04:02 > 0:04:03and spoiling for a fight.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07They were desperate to get back to action against the Germans.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10But the whole of Europe is under the German jackboot,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12which leaves North Africa.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15And it didn't escape their notice - in fact, it was rubbed into them -
0:04:15 > 0:04:18that the General commanding the Afrika Korps
0:04:18 > 0:04:21was the same Erwin Rommel who had taken the previous division
0:04:21 > 0:04:22into captivity.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27But before the Scots can enter the battle,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30the Desert Fox makes his move.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Rommel pushes the Allied forces back
0:04:37 > 0:04:40to a 50-mile front called the Gazala Line,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43and concentrates his Panzerarmee in the north.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48The British 8th Army occupies a number of fortified boxes
0:04:48 > 0:04:50that extend down the line to Bir Hacheim.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Although protected by minefields, no-one in the British Army
0:04:56 > 0:05:00underestimates their enemy's strength and resolve.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08'Dear Father,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12'in the near future, you may cease to get mail from me for a time.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15'We have got a job to do, so I can't tell you what it is
0:05:15 > 0:05:19'because it's secret and damned dangerous.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21'There's only a 50/50 chance of coming through alive,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23'from what I can make out.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25'God bless you. Your loving son, Ray.'
0:05:27 > 0:05:31'It's one thing talking about the Battle of Gazala now'
0:05:31 > 0:05:34because we have history to look at
0:05:34 > 0:05:37and we know what the Germans did and what the British did,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39and where they all moved
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and careful plans were drawn with arrows and everything.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44It's all very clear and simple.
0:05:44 > 0:05:45Not to us, it wasn't
0:05:45 > 0:05:48because we didn't know what the bloody hell was going on.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52GERMAN RADIO TRANSMISSION
0:05:55 > 0:05:58RADIO CRACKLES, TRANSMISSION CONTINUES
0:05:59 > 0:06:04Determining Rommel's next move is the task of Captain Peter Vaux.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07As intelligence officer for the British 7th Armoured Division,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09he analyses enemy radio intercepts,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11interrogates prisoners
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and tries to predict where the Desert Fox might strike next.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20'According to accounts of German prisoners
0:06:20 > 0:06:22'clearing mines in the southern minefield,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25'an attack was due to take place here within a few days.'
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Vaux is convinced that Rommel will soon attack here,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33at the southern end of the Gazala Line...
0:06:33 > 0:06:35Why I have to go north, I don't know.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37..but his superiors disagree.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41They think that any attack will take place further north
0:06:41 > 0:06:44and that's where they've placed their strongest units.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Then, as he fine-tunes his plans,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52the Desert Fox receives an intelligence windfall
0:06:52 > 0:06:54that Generals only dream of...
0:06:55 > 0:06:58..an incredibly detailed summary
0:06:58 > 0:07:00of the strength and location of British troops.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05'It's the goose that lays the golden eggs.'
0:07:05 > 0:07:08They called it "The Good Source",
0:07:08 > 0:07:12which, by itself, doesn't give too much away.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13A good source can be anyone.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17It could conceivably be a spy in Middle East High Command.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23'Rommel said that the level of this intelligence was stupefying.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26'They could not believe what they were reading.'
0:07:26 > 0:07:30While Rommel had this unique ability
0:07:30 > 0:07:37to foresee British operations and strategy in North Africa,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39he controlled that theatre.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46But the Germans are not the only ones with an ear in the enemy camp.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48At Bletchley Park, near London,
0:07:48 > 0:07:52a top-secret decrypting unit has cracked the Nazi Enigma Code
0:07:52 > 0:07:55and is deciphering German radio traffic.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Their reports, called Ultra, are so highly classified
0:08:01 > 0:08:05they can only be read by the British Prime Minister
0:08:05 > 0:08:07and a handful of trusted aides.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11'Until the amount of traffic was such that it was physically impossible
0:08:11 > 0:08:13'for one human being to read'
0:08:13 > 0:08:16all of what Churchill called "the golden eggs,"
0:08:16 > 0:08:19he read every single Ultra decrypt.
0:08:19 > 0:08:20Everything.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25The British remain unaware of Rommel's "good source"
0:08:25 > 0:08:28until a code breaker at Bletchley Park
0:08:28 > 0:08:29reads a curious message.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34A single sentence in an intercepted radio exchange
0:08:34 > 0:08:37reveals that the Germans know something important,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40that the British have discovered the secret location
0:08:40 > 0:08:43of their Air Force Headquarters in North Africa.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47'Churchill himself reads this cable traffic
0:08:47 > 0:08:50'and asks this crucial question,'
0:08:50 > 0:08:55"How did they know that we know where that German air base is?"
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Churchill's spy masters assume that there's a traitor
0:08:59 > 0:09:03inside British High Command in Cairo, and set out to find him.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Meanwhile, on the Gazala Line,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12the latest information from his "good source"
0:09:12 > 0:09:16convinces Rommel that the time to strike is now.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26As the battle begins, Axis forces move north,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29making sure that the British spotter planes can see them.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37Then, in the failing light, there's a classic Rommel manoeuvre.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Hundreds of tanks all change course,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42charging south at top speed.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48GERMAN RADIO TRANSMISSION
0:09:48 > 0:09:51'Enemy Panzer columns are bearing down on us.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53'Looks like the whole damn Afrika Korps.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55'George 3, what's your position, over?'
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Just as Peter Vaux had expected,
0:09:57 > 0:09:59by the early hours of the following morning,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Rommel's army has completed a grand sweep
0:10:02 > 0:10:04around the southern end of the British line,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06heading straight for him.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09GUNFIRE
0:10:09 > 0:10:12His headquarters under heavy fire,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Vaux and his intelligence team only just escape.
0:10:25 > 0:10:2730 miles away,
0:10:27 > 0:10:2921-year-old Clifford Pace and his tank crew
0:10:29 > 0:10:31are waiting for orders.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35'We were somewhere towards the middle of the line.'
0:10:35 > 0:10:37It was dawn, we'd got up,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39we'd packed up our bedrolls,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41but not loaded the tank...
0:10:45 > 0:10:49'People were sitting on the ground, having tea, when suddenly...'
0:10:49 > 0:10:52All right lads, mount!
0:10:52 > 0:10:53Well, now!
0:10:56 > 0:11:00The order came over the air, "Start up, stand by to move,"
0:11:00 > 0:11:01and we were in action.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13Tank crews on both sides fight in conditions that are hard to endure.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Inside is scorching heat and choking dust.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Outside, any movement instantly exposes your position.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25GUNFIRE
0:11:26 > 0:11:29The whole thing was a gigantic battlefield.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37But the real fear is the German artillery,
0:11:37 > 0:11:42especially the deadly-accurate 88-millimetre guns.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49They did far more damage to our tank formations
0:11:49 > 0:11:51than the German tanks.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56The big guns fire solid shots.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Now those solid shots, if they don't actually hit a tank or target,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04bounce along the ground.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11You know, the same way a child can skim a stone
0:12:11 > 0:12:13across the water of a pond.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18If they hit anything, or anyone...
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Well, you can imagine what happens if it's a person.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33I saw lots of dead bodies.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35They're not a pretty sight.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39If you thought too much about that sort of thing...
0:12:40 > 0:12:43..I don't think one could have gone on for another day.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53'I personally hold nothing could be more startling than that
0:12:53 > 0:12:58'the German 88-millimetre guns could outrange British and American guns.'
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Observing the battle on the Gazala Line
0:13:02 > 0:13:05is American military attache, Colonel Bonner Fellers.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10'It is imperative that our army not engage the Germans
0:13:10 > 0:13:13'with such inferiority in gun power.'
0:13:13 > 0:13:17The United States entered the war only a few months ago,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19and the US Army wants to learn everything it can
0:13:19 > 0:13:22about modern armoured combat.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25'The air-ground liaison is poor
0:13:25 > 0:13:29'and the RAF repeatedly bombs its own forces.'
0:13:29 > 0:13:31PLANE ZOOMS OVERHEAD
0:13:31 > 0:13:33MISSILE WHISTLES
0:13:38 > 0:13:41'It is essential that American troops
0:13:41 > 0:13:46'have the means of definitely identifying ground and air troops.'
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Fellers is trying to persuade the US War Department
0:13:50 > 0:13:52to deploy troops into North Africa.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Performances like this make that task more difficult.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00The Germans have become masters
0:14:00 > 0:14:04at combining tanks, artillery and infantry in the desert.
0:14:04 > 0:14:05By contrast,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09the British Army is still struggling to coordinate its forces.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15'The British have only had voice radios for about four or five years.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18'There are still tanks which only have receive sets.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20'That means they can't actually transmit.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21'The argument was always,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24"Well, the only person who needs to transmit is the command tank.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27"He doesn't want to have people on the net confusing things,
0:14:27 > 0:14:28"answering back."
0:14:28 > 0:14:32And that's very much the culture of the British Army at this time.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33RADIO CRACKLES
0:14:33 > 0:14:35RADIO BEEPS
0:14:37 > 0:14:41'Officers who have actually been brought up on field telephones
0:14:41 > 0:14:43'find it very, very difficult to cope
0:14:43 > 0:14:46'with the speed at which information is arriving.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49'They suffer information overload very quickly indeed.'
0:14:49 > 0:14:51And what happens again and again and again
0:14:51 > 0:14:54is that their brains literally freeze.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57GUNFIRE
0:14:59 > 0:15:03'There was this extraordinary amateurishness that continued,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05'and it was amazing that the British had still not developed
0:15:05 > 0:15:07'the sheer, tough professionalism
0:15:07 > 0:15:10'that the Germans brought to every battle that they fought.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:14And the British total losses in those Gazala battles
0:15:14 > 0:15:16were absolutely appalling, especially in armour.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Colonel Fellers returns to the US Embassy
0:15:29 > 0:15:31to prepare a summary of the Gazala battle.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38His coded report to Washington is blunt and disparaging.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42'The 8th Army failed to maintain the morale of its troops.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46'Its tactical conceptions were always wrong.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49'It neglected completely cooperation between the various arms.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53'Its reactions to the lightning changes of the battlefield
0:15:53 > 0:15:55'were always slow.'
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Fellers was right. This wasn't just American prejudice.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01The fact was that nobody at the sharp end in the desert
0:16:01 > 0:16:04had the smallest confidence in British leadership.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Feller's report is cabled to Washington,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11where President Roosevelt and the US War Department
0:16:11 > 0:16:13are considering American involvement in North Africa.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17The Americans concluded that Rommel's army had shown
0:16:17 > 0:16:19it was much better than the British,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21and had concluded that Rommel was going to get to Cairo.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26In London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
0:16:26 > 0:16:28is rapidly forming the same opinion.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32The Desert Fox seems to know where and when to strike.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37If the spy or traitor supplying him with information is not found,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40the Allies are in danger of losing the desert war.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46We received the order...
0:16:47 > 0:16:49"We are not to retreat.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54"You stay here and fight to the last man and the last round."
0:16:56 > 0:16:5922-year-old Ray Ellis is a gunner on the Gazala Line,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and he's in the thick of the fighting.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14The first thing we knew was that we were spinning up into the air...
0:17:15 > 0:17:19..and then landing heavily and being dazed,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21and then...
0:17:21 > 0:17:22going up again.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24EXPLOSION
0:17:27 > 0:17:29'I got to my hands and knees
0:17:29 > 0:17:32'and looked around and my gun was finished.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36'The Saint, it was called, my gun. It was destroyed...
0:17:38 > 0:17:40'..and my crew were all obviously dead.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44'There were heads off and bodies split
0:17:44 > 0:17:46'and they were in a terrible state.'
0:17:46 > 0:17:50There was nothing much else I could do but try and fight,
0:17:50 > 0:17:51cos the battle's still going on.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07The Allied forces use their artillery, with some success.
0:18:12 > 0:18:1718-year-old Wolf-Dietrich Jahn is in a tank which takes a direct hit.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20He has to bail out and run for his life.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22GUNFIRE
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Ray Ellis moves to another gun and keeps on fighting.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14'One by one, the guns were knocked out
0:19:14 > 0:19:16'until there was only my gun firing.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20'And there were only two of us left,'
0:19:20 > 0:19:24and there was a man - I never know where he came from or who he was.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26'All I remember, he wasn't wearing any shirt
0:19:26 > 0:19:27'and he'd got a bandage on him.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36'And then a big German tank got behind us,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38'and I heard this machine gun.'
0:19:38 > 0:19:39MACHINE GUN FIRES
0:19:39 > 0:19:43And all of a sudden, this man just became a mass of blood, gore,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45just...
0:19:45 > 0:19:47into the inside of the shield, and he was dead.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51And I took a deep breath, waiting for the next burst...
0:19:53 > 0:19:55'..and the tank didn't fire again.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59'I'll never know why it didn't fire.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01'And the battle was over.'
0:20:01 > 0:20:03We'd done what we'd been asked to do,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06fight till the last man and the last round,
0:20:06 > 0:20:11and virtually, I was the last man, by some miracle.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28'We'd been fighting each other all day,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31'and I thought to myself afterwards...
0:20:32 > 0:20:36"We weren't enemies, really, as individuals.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38"We were enemies without enmity."
0:20:38 > 0:20:42'And he drove me away from the battlefield.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45'I didn't feel that I was driving away with an enemy,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'I was just driving away with another soldier.'
0:20:49 > 0:20:53Ray Ellis will spend the rest of the war in a POW camp.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04As Axis forces continue to advance,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07British Intelligence makes a breakthrough
0:21:07 > 0:21:09in the hunt to identify Rommel's "good source".
0:21:11 > 0:21:13An Ultra decrypt of a German signal
0:21:13 > 0:21:17compares British with American battle procedures.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Churchill orders that other intercepted German messages
0:21:20 > 0:21:23be urgently cross-checked.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26It's soon clear that the Germans are receiving information
0:21:26 > 0:21:29from an American source in Cairo,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33but the British are still not sure if it's a leak or a spy.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41However, before he can be silenced,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44the "good source" delivers the Nazis
0:21:44 > 0:21:47another piece of devastating intelligence.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51The British are about to launch extensive raids
0:21:51 > 0:21:53on Axis airfields in the Mediterranean.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01GUNFIRE
0:22:04 > 0:22:05The operation is a disaster.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Many of the raiders are killed or captured.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12The enemy knew they were coming.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14'It was a rout.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16'I think you'd be hard pressed to find,'
0:22:16 > 0:22:19in the whole of the Second World War,
0:22:19 > 0:22:25such a complete reversal of fortune as a consequence of this penetration
0:22:25 > 0:22:28and they suspect a traitor.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Churchill is departing for America when he's told of the raid.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Seething with rage, he cables his security chief.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40The leaks must stop.
0:22:42 > 0:22:43It does the trick.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Within 24 hours, the source of the leak is uncovered.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54It's a cipher called Code 11, used at the US Embassy in Cairo
0:22:54 > 0:22:56in its most secret communications with Washington.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Italian military intelligence
0:23:01 > 0:23:06broke into the United States Embassy in Rome
0:23:06 > 0:23:09'in September of 1941.
0:23:09 > 0:23:16'That team managed to steal a copy of the Diplomatic Code 11,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20'photographed it and returned it undetected.'
0:23:24 > 0:23:27The well-informed Colonel Bonner Fellers
0:23:27 > 0:23:28has been using Code 11 for months.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31He's not a spy,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34but he has been most helpful to the enemy.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40'His frequency of reporting back was, on average, five reports a day.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43'The British are telling Fellers where their troops are deployed,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45'the weaponry that their troops have,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48'the operational planning of their troops,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51'their tactics and their strategy.'
0:23:51 > 0:23:58It is not an exaggeration to say that possession of Fellers' intelligence
0:23:58 > 0:24:01was the greatest secret that the Germans possessed
0:24:01 > 0:24:05in the Second World War.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09The British insist that the Americans
0:24:09 > 0:24:11immediately change Code 11.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14But Washington is slow to react.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Fellers continues to send his detailed coded reports
0:24:19 > 0:24:23and once again, they end up in the hands of the Desert Fox.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30His Panzerarmee charges confidently toward Tobruk.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Allied troops fall back,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35abandoning their equipment in a dash for the Egyptian border.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40That was the end of the battle.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43The whole army was retreating.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49'Today, the enemy has made a determined attack against Tobruk.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51'He penetrated defences in the south-east sector
0:24:51 > 0:24:54'and advanced elements have reached the harbour.'
0:24:59 > 0:25:05By the morning of June 21st, the battle is all but over.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06In just two days,
0:25:06 > 0:25:11Rommel takes the fortress of Tobruk with a force half its size.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Tens of thousands of Tobruk's defenders are taken prisoner
0:25:17 > 0:25:21and huge amounts of equipment and supplies fall into Rommel's hands.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26IN GERMAN:
0:25:28 > 0:25:31'The fall of Tobruk came at the worst possible time
0:25:31 > 0:25:33'for Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35'Suddenly, all his arguments about
0:25:35 > 0:25:39'continuing the fighting in North Africa was built on sand,'
0:25:39 > 0:25:41and the Americans saw Tobruk
0:25:41 > 0:25:45as a reason for not continuing the fighting in North Africa.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48'They were much more concerned
0:25:48 > 0:25:50'to take the war back to Germany and Europe.'
0:25:52 > 0:25:53In Washington,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Churchill is talking to President Roosevelt in the White House
0:25:57 > 0:26:00when he's handed a message with the news.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03"Defeat is one thing," he wrote.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05"But disgrace is another."
0:26:05 > 0:26:07The humiliation for Britain,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10the humiliation for its Prime Minister,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14to be in the home of America's President and be told
0:26:14 > 0:26:17'that a large British army had simply given up
0:26:17 > 0:26:20'with no display of heroics, with no great last stand,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23'had just handed over everything.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26'To Churchill, this was a terrible, terrible moment.'
0:26:28 > 0:26:32For General Claude Auchinleck in the Middle East High Command,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35the fall of Tobruk caps off a terrible month.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Egypt, the passage through the Suez Canal
0:26:38 > 0:26:42and the oilfields in the Middle East are threatened.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46If Rommel is not stopped soon, the desert war is lost.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54'An optimistic estimate of the British tank force at the front
0:26:54 > 0:26:55'is 100 tanks.'
0:26:57 > 0:26:59Colonel Fellers' report to Washington
0:26:59 > 0:27:02reflects the Allies' desperate position.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06'They lost from 40% to 50% of their artillery.'
0:27:06 > 0:27:10But no-one has told him that Code 11 has been compromised,
0:27:10 > 0:27:11so he continues to use it.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14If Rommel intends to take the Delta,
0:27:14 > 0:27:16now is the time.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19KEY CLICKS
0:27:19 > 0:27:22MACHINE BEEPS
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Rommel's troops are battle weary.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35They've been in action for weeks.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39But armed with the latest intelligence,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Rommel has momentum now.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43He drives them forward towards Cairo,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47the Suez Canal and, perhaps, ultimate victory.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54General Auchinleck orders the remnants of his 8th Army
0:27:54 > 0:27:57to withdraw to a new line at a place called El Alamein
0:27:57 > 0:27:59and start digging in.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07El Alamein is the last natural defensive position
0:28:07 > 0:28:08between Rommel and Cairo.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12In the north is the Mediterranean.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15In the south is the impassable Qattara Depression.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Between the two is a 40-mile stretch of soft sand and rocky desert.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26It's here that the war in North Africa will be decided.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Meanwhile, Rommel is eagerly awaiting an update
0:28:32 > 0:28:33from the "good source".
0:28:33 > 0:28:35It could make all the difference.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40Right on cue,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43the methodical Colonel Fellers is soon ready to telegraph
0:28:43 > 0:28:45his latest report to Washington.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47MACHINE BEEPS
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Germany's best code breakers are standing by, as usual.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57But something's wrong.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02The Americans have finally changed the code.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08'For Rommel, June 1942 was the equivalent of
0:29:08 > 0:29:12'a man with full vision...'
0:29:12 > 0:29:15being put into a room with no lights on.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18I mean, he had 360 degrees, all the lights on
0:29:18 > 0:29:20and then...the lights went off.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28Despite this setback, Rommel still has his eyes fixed on victory.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32The Afrika Korps, followed by the Italians,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36rolls eastwards towards the Suez Canal.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59The news reaches Cairo that Rommel is only 70 miles from the Delta.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03British Headquarters begin burning documents.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07One or two fires appear, one above the British Embassy.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09Soon there were ten, then there's 30.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13And, suddenly, it seems that the whole of Cairo,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16and then British bases right throughout the Delta,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19are burning everything they've got.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29At El Alamein, the 8th Army works tirelessly,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32building its defences, waiting for the inevitable attack.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41Rommel's plan is to smash through the Allied line in the north,
0:30:41 > 0:30:43seize the vital road and rail lines,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46while a secondary force protects its flank further south.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50ARTILLERY FIRE
0:31:07 > 0:31:09The battle rages for several days.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16Auchinleck is determined to do more than simply defend.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19And he has just the men to take the fight to the enemy.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28The Australian 9th Division
0:31:28 > 0:31:30is brought back into the line from Syria.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34These men are no strangers to the desert.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37For six months in the previous year, they'd fought bravely
0:31:37 > 0:31:40to keep Rommel out of Tobruk.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42We got told we were moving.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45We didn't get told where.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50We knew that Rommel was on his way down the desert
0:31:50 > 0:31:53but we didn't have a clue what was going on, you know.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55We were on trucks every day,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59and anything was a little bit dangerous,
0:31:59 > 0:32:00that's where they sent us.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Sort of reinforcements for that little area.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08The Australians rush into action on the coast west of El Alamein
0:32:08 > 0:32:11and quickly overrun the Italian defensive positions.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16Some German troops behind them are taken completely by surprise.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29In their first encounter with the retreating Germans,
0:32:29 > 0:32:34the Australians are about to strike a major blow in the desert war.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37The Australians come across a group of tents.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41These tents are the tents of Wireless Intercept Company 621,
0:32:41 > 0:32:44a vital intelligence unit of Rommel's.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54GUNFIRE
0:33:00 > 0:33:04As the Australians work their way through 621's headquarters,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07they realise very quickly that this is no ordinary unit.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Hands up! Drop your weapons!
0:33:10 > 0:33:13Take your weapons off!
0:33:13 > 0:33:16There are too many radios, there are decrypt books,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20- there are code books lying all over the place.- Hands on your head!
0:33:20 > 0:33:24You don't have to be a genius to realise that what you've got hold of
0:33:24 > 0:33:27is a very, very important Intelligence Unit.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41The British are shocked by what they find in the haul.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Unit 621 had become expert, not only in using captured code books,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51but in breaking map ciphers and simple codes
0:33:51 > 0:33:54used by Allied officers communicating in a hurry.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59It's clear there's been a lot of careless talk.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Harrier 1, the Wooden Tops are a man down at Lord's, over.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Rommel's operators were so good, he was getting Allied signals
0:34:05 > 0:34:09faster than those who were actually meant to receive them.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Rommel was furious.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15By losing company 621,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19he effectively lost his greatest source of intelligence.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22It's been called the most important intelligence coup
0:34:22 > 0:34:25of the entire North African campaign, and it was.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32During his time in North Africa, Rommel's fingertip feel
0:34:32 > 0:34:36for the shifting sands of battle has earned him his title,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40the Desert Fox, with his uncanny ability to deploy troops
0:34:40 > 0:34:43at the right place at the right time.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47But with Rommel deprived of both his good source
0:34:47 > 0:34:50and his battlefield intelligence,
0:34:50 > 0:34:538th Army seizes the moment to attack.
0:34:53 > 0:34:58What Auchinleck then does is not simply to try and seal things off,
0:34:58 > 0:35:05he conducts a remarkable series of offensive battles himself,
0:35:05 > 0:35:07so that Rommel is not simply held,
0:35:07 > 0:35:11but then given a knock, first in one place and then another.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20After weeks of attack and counter-attack,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23neither side can gain an advantage.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25It's a stalemate.
0:35:32 > 0:35:38In August 1942, Winston Churchill arrives in North Africa.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42Auchinleck may have stopped Rommel, but he hasn't beaten him,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and the Prime Minister is not happy.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Churchill is not just fed up.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52Churchill is in a state of near fury over what has happened.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57He has sent an enormous amount of equipment to the Middle East
0:35:57 > 0:36:02and now he finds himself meeting General Auchinleck
0:36:02 > 0:36:03in his headquarters
0:36:03 > 0:36:07less than 50 miles from Alexandria,
0:36:07 > 0:36:1070 miles from Cairo.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13Churchill is furious.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15There is a photograph taken
0:36:15 > 0:36:20of Churchill meeting Auchinleck in the desert.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23One can only see Churchill's back,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27but one can tell from his posture that Churchill is in a state of rage.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30It's all Churchill can do to control himself.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Churchill's instinct for war was a very highly developed instinct,
0:36:38 > 0:36:42and he felt that Auchinleck felt like a loser, and he sacked him
0:36:42 > 0:36:44and I think he was dead right.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48In his shake up of leadership in North Africa,
0:36:48 > 0:36:53Churchill appoints General Harold Alexander as Commander in Chief
0:36:53 > 0:36:57and, as head of the 8th Army, the controversial Bernard Montgomery.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02Sir Bernard Montgomery was a pretty nasty piece of work,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05and I think that was one of his foremost qualifications
0:37:05 > 0:37:08for taking over 8th Army.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10That the British Army always suffered
0:37:10 > 0:37:14from having far too many officers and gentlemen in its upper reaches.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Really nice guys, who played a decent game of cricket
0:37:16 > 0:37:19and walked when they were LBW.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22You don't need people like that to run your armies in war.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24You need tough bastards.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32Montgomery is a fitness fanatic and commits his troops
0:37:32 > 0:37:34to weeks of rigorous physical training, day and night.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43I've no intention of launching our attack
0:37:43 > 0:37:45until we are completely ready.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50Our mandate from the Prime Minister is to destroy the Axis forces
0:37:50 > 0:37:52in North Africa.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55It can be done and it will be done.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57We will stand and fight here.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02If we can't stay here alive, then let us stay here dead.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Montgomery's forces are bolstered with the delivery
0:38:07 > 0:38:10of 300 of the new Sherman tanks from America.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16And amongst the reinforcements
0:38:16 > 0:38:19are the men of the 51st Highland Division,
0:38:19 > 0:38:21who've been training in the desert since mid-August.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26They called us pinkies.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29The sun burning your face and that, we were all red.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31They referred to you in the derogatory.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34Not all of them, you know, but some of them pass a comment,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38"There's the pinkies," you know. They didn't think too much of us.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43In many respects, they were a green division.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48They hadn't seen combat, they'd trained very hard, both in Scotland
0:38:48 > 0:38:51and in England before they embarked for overseas service.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55But there's a great deal of difference between training
0:38:55 > 0:38:58and doing it for real.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02In as much that they were strangers to war,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05they had the memory of the defeat at St Valery,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09and the burning desire to get back at General Erwin Rommel.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Rommel's defensive preparations for the Battle of Alamein
0:39:15 > 0:39:19can be summarised in three words...
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Mines, mines and even more mines.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27This is Rommel's infamous Devil's garden.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Hundreds of thousands of mines and other deadly booby traps.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Montgomery decides to focus his main attack in the north,
0:39:39 > 0:39:43whilst staging diversions in the south.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47And he put a huge effort into an elaborate plan to fool the enemy.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51It involves first of all the construction of tracks,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54a whole track system, which leads nowhere.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57False camps actually built in the desert.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59All the activities, which one would expect
0:39:59 > 0:40:03of an army preparing for a major attack, are seen to be taking place.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05From the German observation posts,
0:40:05 > 0:40:09it appears that there are hundreds, if not thousands of trucks,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12concentrating forces on their southern flank.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18With the Axis forces now focused on the south,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21Montgomery assembles his troops for a massive offensive
0:40:21 > 0:40:23through Rommel's minefields in the north.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31The attack will take place on the night of October 23rd.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36For the tens of thousands of men concealed in forward positions,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40it's a long day's wait.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45Some chaps I noticed took a swig of whisky before the start.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48I was offered. I said, "I don't want that kind of courage."
0:40:50 > 0:40:53When I assumed command of the 8th Army, I said
0:40:53 > 0:40:57that the mandate was to destroy Rommel and his army
0:40:57 > 0:40:59and that it would be done as soon as we were ready.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02We are ready. Now.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09At 9.40 Egyptian summer time, the loudest sound ever heard
0:41:09 > 0:41:11in the desert erupted on the northern sector.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14All hell breaks loose.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17A thousand British guns open up.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25It was fantastic. You know, I look back
0:41:25 > 0:41:29and could see the skyline just a mass of flame.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35And the whole sky was alight.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Crikey, it was a magnificent sight, really.
0:41:43 > 0:41:49The order of the day before the Battle of Alamein was started
0:41:49 > 0:41:52was "tonight, we are going to hit the enemy for six."
0:41:55 > 0:41:58If any comrades are lost in your advance,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02any comrades get shot or wounded, you don't stop to pick them up.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04You keep going.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15They stepped out and the pipers out in front blowing the pipes.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17They made you feel like you wanted to jump up and join them.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20And even though fellas were falling, they still kept going,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23just straight ahead.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32You can't use words satisfactorily
0:42:32 > 0:42:37to tell somebody who wasn't there
0:42:37 > 0:42:40what it was like, walking through
0:42:40 > 0:42:45shelling and machine guns.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48You just went on.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51I mean, if these three divisions hadn't gone on,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54it would have been a bloody fiasco.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10Every tenth bullet was a tracer
0:43:10 > 0:43:12and when those Spandaus were firing,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14the tracers were right up against one another
0:43:14 > 0:43:18and you had to realise there was nine more bullets in between.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25You see men dying and your mates getting hit.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36I remember George Morrison was lying beside me on this occasion,
0:43:36 > 0:43:38and we were chatting away,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41waiting for the guns to go forward,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44and suddenly George went (INHALES SHARPLY)...
0:43:47 > 0:43:49..and...
0:43:49 > 0:43:52George was dead.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Out in front of the waves of infantry, guide parties,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02mark the centre lines of the advance.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06Engineers get to work, clearing a path through the enemy minefields.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Lieutenant Peter Watson is leading a small group of men
0:44:14 > 0:44:17behind an artillery barrage.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24You went forward at a sufficiently slow pace
0:44:24 > 0:44:27to make sure that when guns started firing behind you
0:44:27 > 0:44:30to give you support, you didn't get mixed up with them.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33Using, of course, a prismatic compass,
0:44:33 > 0:44:35because we couldn't use anything else in the dark.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Holding it in my hand and, all of a sudden, I was hit.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49The CO found me on my front.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52He said, "Peter, you've got to go back.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55"You're covered in blood. You're no good to us now."
0:44:55 > 0:44:57I said, "I don't want to, sir."
0:44:57 > 0:44:59He said, "No, back you go."
0:45:03 > 0:45:06And when I went finally into hospital, they said,
0:45:06 > 0:45:10"We won't take that shrapnel out because you'll have no bum left
0:45:10 > 0:45:13"if we did," which I thought was rather amusing.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27The infantry is suffering.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30But it's even worse for the tank crews.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Our job was to act as bait
0:45:36 > 0:45:41to draw 15 and 21 Panzer down from the north
0:45:41 > 0:45:47to give the infantry and the armour up there a chance to break through.
0:45:49 > 0:45:55The order was, go through gaps in the minefields
0:45:55 > 0:45:58made by our own Royal Engineers.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10Oh Christ, they've sighted us.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12Take it up about 20 yards.
0:46:17 > 0:46:18Miss, damn it!
0:46:22 > 0:46:23There was a frightful crash.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27Christ! Everybody out! Bail out!
0:46:41 > 0:46:48We bailed out and got down into the marks in the sand.
0:46:48 > 0:46:53We knew we could crawl back on those tracks without getting blown up.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00And I think we lost every tank in my squadron
0:47:00 > 0:47:02in that gap of that minefield.
0:47:16 > 0:47:21Montgomery knows that the first phase of the El Alamein battle
0:47:21 > 0:47:23is not going according to plan.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27The expected breakthrough has not occurred,
0:47:27 > 0:47:31and enemy defences are much stronger than Montgomery had anticipated.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35Montgomery needs to think again.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39In a provocative move, he orders the Australian Division to push north
0:47:39 > 0:47:42to cut off Rommel's coastal forces.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45And this is what Montgomery refers to as the dog fight.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48The Australian Infantry are going to go in,
0:47:48 > 0:47:51they're going to bring down the German armoured reserves
0:47:51 > 0:47:52on top of themselves.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56It will create the weakness that Montgomery needs to exploit
0:47:56 > 0:47:57and let his armour loose.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04For the Australians, it's the start of a week
0:48:04 > 0:48:06of bitter and bloody fighting.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10They are walking into the most heavily fortified sector
0:48:10 > 0:48:12on the German line.
0:48:13 > 0:48:19Rommel becomes obsessed with this divisional battle.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22He makes the decision to move his best armoured formations,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25the 90th Division, the 15th Panzer Division,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28up to the north to counter-attack the Australians.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31And now the Australians have attracted to themselves
0:48:31 > 0:48:34virtually the entire Afrika Korps.
0:48:42 > 0:48:47The Australians created the weakness that Montgomery needed to exploit,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49but it was a very costly success.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56Battalions being reduced from hundreds to tens.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01There was dust and smoke and shells.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03Oh, God it was a mess!
0:49:05 > 0:49:07And then I saw this coming out of the dust.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10And there was a little bit of a breeze.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13The dust and the smoke was sort of going up in the air and coming down.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15And this figure that was coming towards me,
0:49:15 > 0:49:17sometimes it looked 12 foot high
0:49:17 > 0:49:19and sometimes it was down about three inches.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24And I thought "Jesus, I've gone round the bend for sure."
0:49:33 > 0:49:34Tom.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36And who should it be but old Tom Duncan,
0:49:36 > 0:49:39my old mate from West Wyalong.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43God, was I pleased to see him.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50Just then we saw some Yankee planes coming over.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54You little beauty! Give it to 'em!
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Oh gee, Tom, they're not going to miss us by much.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10He said, "They're not gonna miss us at all!"
0:50:15 > 0:50:19And then he started to curse the Yanks.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21Well, he used language I'd never heard before
0:50:21 > 0:50:24and in the finish I started to laugh. I was hysterical too.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29And that settled us down a bit when I started to laugh.
0:50:29 > 0:50:30I said, "You know, Tom,
0:50:30 > 0:50:35"we should have been dead three or four different times.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39"I think we've lived three lifetimes in the last 24 hours."
0:50:44 > 0:50:45By 1st November,
0:50:45 > 0:50:499th Division has taken very, very heavy casualties,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51but they've succeeded in their objective.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56They have drawn upon themselves the entire German reserve.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Then at midnight, 1st and 2nd November,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10is the beginning of Supercharge.
0:51:10 > 0:51:15British Artillery, massed, opens up.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21For Rommel, this is one front too many.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Eventually, the German line begins to crack.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30It's one of the most decisive battles in the desert war.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52Within days, the desert is littered with hundreds of burning Axis tanks.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05Rommel sends a message to Berlin, requesting a retreat.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10Hitler responds by ordering the Desert Fox to stand fast.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13"As to your troops", he writes,
0:52:13 > 0:52:17"you can show them no other road than that to victory or death."
0:52:22 > 0:52:25But Rommel has never obeyed orders,
0:52:25 > 0:52:27and he certainly doesn't intend to obey this one.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31On 4th November, Rommel gives the order to withdraw.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39Rommel is beaten, and writes of his despair to his wife.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44"Dearest Lu, we are facing very difficult days,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48"perhaps the most difficult a man can undergo.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52"The dead are lucky. It's all over for them."
0:52:57 > 0:52:597th Armoured's intelligence officer, Peter Vaux,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02can finally send a report
0:53:02 > 0:53:04he's wanted to write for a very long time.
0:53:06 > 0:53:07CHEERING
0:53:18 > 0:53:21The Panzerarmee is no more.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25While those with fuel and transport flee back to Libya,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28the rest are abandoned to their fate.
0:53:28 > 0:53:35CHURCHILL: Rommel's army has been defeated. It has been routed.
0:53:35 > 0:53:40It has been very largely destroyed as a fighting force.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42CHEERING
0:53:42 > 0:53:47The strategic significance of El Alamein cannot be underestimated.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51As Churchill said famously, after the battle of El Alamein,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54"This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58"But it is perhaps the end of the beginning."
0:53:59 > 0:54:02It will take another six months of fighting
0:54:02 > 0:54:04before the Axis forces are evicted from North Africa,
0:54:04 > 0:54:09and the Allies can truly celebrate the end of the desert war.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12But El Alamein marks a turning point in the Second World War.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15Churchill writes in his memoirs,
0:54:15 > 0:54:20"It may almost be said, before Alamein, we never had a victory,
0:54:20 > 0:54:23"after Alamein, we never had a defeat."
0:54:27 > 0:54:31In Europe, Erwin Rommel continues to fight for Germany
0:54:31 > 0:54:33until his death in October, 1944.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38Implicated in the July plot to kill Hitler,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41he's given the choice of a court martial or suicide.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46Fearing his wife and son will be punished if he's found guilty,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49he chooses the latter.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54The Nazis keep the myth of the Desert Fox alive,
0:54:54 > 0:54:57giving him a state funeral.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05In nearly three years of fighting,
0:55:05 > 0:55:08the North African desert has been transformed.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13Millions of tonnes of military hardware litters the landscape.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18Tens of thousands of men are buried in its pitiless sands.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21And lives have been changed for ever.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27There's no glory in war.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31Men are faithful until death.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40They are the he...
0:55:40 > 0:55:42HE FIGHTS TEARS
0:55:48 > 0:55:50They are...
0:55:52 > 0:55:56They are the true...true heroes.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03The 51st Highland Division fight with distinction
0:56:03 > 0:56:04until the end of the war.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10In September 1944, Field Marshall Montgomery gives them the honour
0:56:10 > 0:56:12of retaking the town of St Valery,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14where four years before,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16the original division had been forced to surrender.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22The men of the 51st finally get their revenge.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35That's my war.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37Yes, well, it's probably the last time
0:56:37 > 0:56:41that I shall ever talk to anybody about it.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43But never mind.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02I started to wake, but I hadn't opened up my eyes,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05and there's absolute silence.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09It was weird, and I thought, "Oh God, I must be dead."
0:57:09 > 0:57:14And then I heard a voice say, "Corporal Madeley, wake up.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16"Wake up, Corporal. Wake up, Corporal Madeley."
0:57:16 > 0:57:20And I opened my eyes, and there was a nurse bending over me.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23And I thought she was the most beautiful thing
0:57:23 > 0:57:25I'd ever seen in my life.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28And there was a beautiful perfume,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31and all we'd had before that, of course,
0:57:31 > 0:57:35was the smell of gunpowder and dead bodies and goodness knows what else.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39And I was so clean.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41I was washed, there were clean sheets
0:57:41 > 0:57:46and I had a pillow with a pillow slip and I was in clean pyjamas.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49And then I realised, of course, that's right, I got wounded,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52and it all came back to me then.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56In the next bed to me was Tom Duncan,
0:57:56 > 0:58:00my old mate, from West Wyalong.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02HE LAUGHS
0:58:02 > 0:58:03Yes.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09Gosh, what a...what a feeling.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14Yeah, it was marvellous, it was marvellous.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17I'm sure heaven's no better.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19HE LAUGHS
0:58:51 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd