I would rather be the hammer than the anvil.

Irvin Rommel.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music The

The Episode 376, two hammers, one anvil.

We're going to look at North Africa today, and we'll begin where we left off the last time we looked at North Africa in episode 367.

In that episode, I told you about the Battle of Gazala, in which Rommel's Italian and German units routed the British 8th Army near Tobruk and sent them reeling back to the east toward Alexandria.

The 8th Army managed to reorganize and establish a new defensive line at El Alamein,

which was essentially the last place they could have made a stand before Alexandria,

just 80 kilometers farther east.

L. Alamein was uncomfortably close to Alexandria, but it had a lot going for it as a defensive position.

As I explained earlier, the new front line was at the point where the Qatarra Depression

comes closest to the Mediterranean

shore, just 65 kilometers or 40 miles. The Gattara depression was impassable to motor vehicles,

meaning Rommel would not be able to use his favorite tactic of sending his armor to his right

flank in the south and circling them behind the British

line. Since that would not be possible at El Alamein, the only remaining option for Romo was a direct

attack on the British front line. If he could pull that off, Alexandria, here we come.

But he couldn't.

Then the British went on the offensive, hoping to break the axis line.

They couldn't either.

This fighting went on for most of the month of July 1942,

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