The
Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October–11 November 1942) was a major battle of the
Second World War that took place near the
Egyptian railway halt of
El Alamein. With the
Allies victorious, it marked a major turning point in the
Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. It followed the
First Battle of El Alamein, which had stalled the
Axis advance into Egypt, after which, in August 1942,
Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Montgomery had taken command of the
British Eighth Army from
General Claude Auchinleck. This victory turned the tide in the
North African Campaign and ended the Axis threat to
Egypt, the
Suez Canal, and of gaining access to the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields via North Africa. From a psychological perspective, Second El Alamein revived the morale of the Allies, being the first major offensive against the Axis since the start of the European war in 1939 in which the Western Allies had achieved a decisive victory. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of
French North Africa in
Operation Torch, which started 8 November.