Hans-Otto Behrendt stared at the map in front of him and tried to think, despite the fierce Egyptian heat. A few miles to the east, 100,000 of his fellow German and Italian soldiers were waiting in the desert, facing almost twice as many Allied troops. The opposing armies were stretched out in parallel lines about 40 miles long, running from the Mediterranean coast in the north down to the Qattara Depression in the south, impassable to vehicles.
It was only a matter of time, Behrendt knew, before those Allied troops launched their attack. As intelligence officer to the German commander, Erwin Rommel, it was his job to work out when it would come – and where.
The date was 23 October 1942. For the previous two years, Axis and Allied forces had pursued each other back and forth across north Africa. At one time or another, each side had thought it was on the point of victory – only for the tide to turn. A few months earlier, Behrendt had believed he might be about to witness the capture of Egypt. Axis forces had been barely a day away from Cairo, where panicking British soldiers and officials had been preparing to fight to the death or flee, piling civilians onto trains and burning vast tranches of secret documents. But, after months of retreats, the Allied armies had somehow held out. And Axis forces, short of fuel and ammunition – short of everything, in fact – had been unable to strike the decisive blow.
Now it was the turn of the enemy to push for victory. Troops from across the British empire had dug into the sand, waiting for their new commander, Bernard Montgomery, to give the word.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2024-Ausgabe von BBC History UK.
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