Alamein is possibly the one battle of the Second World War that most contemporary Britons have heard of yet it remains contentious, largely because of the controversy surrounding the merits of the British commander, Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery whose name will be forever associated with it. However, Alamein was not simply a victory for Eighth Army or Montgomery; it was a victory of modern armaments, of the Royal Navy in preventing Axis supplies arriving from Italy and of the Desert Air Force in destroying supplies and supporting the ground forces. Ultimately Montgomery was backed by the full weight of British strategy while Africa was only a side show for the Germans.
Nevertheless, for the Commonwealth countries and for Great Britain in particular, suffering as she was from the strain of three years of defeat, victory was of colossal significance. It would be wholly wrong to underestimate its significance. Church bells were rung with glee at the news. Alamein, while for the first time placing the battle properly in its strategic and the operational context, describes the action as it necessarily devolved upon the infantry, gunners, sappers, cavalrymen, airmen and the essential support personnel on both sides, amid a welter of confusion, smoke, dust, flies and blood.
Jon Latimer was born in Prestatyn, Flintshire in 1964. He attended Swansea University in 1982, ostensibly to study Geography, but love of the sea meant that he left with a degree in Oceanography instead. He then enjoyed a varied and interesting career working as an oceanographer and environmental scientist.Jon also served in the Territorial Army for sixteen years. Commissioned in The Royal Welch Fusiliers he served with the 1st and 3rd Battalions and with 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Wales, as well as on attachment with 1/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers and with the staff of 4th Armo...
More about Jon Latimer