alamein
The Miracle of El Alamein
Remember the miracle at El Alamein in Egypt.
British infantry manning a sandbagged
defensive position near El Alamein,
17 July 1942.
A time when Churchill said the last-ditch stand at El Alamein was a
“moment in the presence of a recession of our hopes and prospects in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean
unequaled since the fall of France.”
Rommel was halted just a few miles from defenseless Alexandria.
Why?
His water ran out.
Had he reached El Alamein two days later, he would have found a completed water pipeline filled with fresh water.
Arriving when he did, he found the newly constructed water pipeline being tested with salt water; his men died of
thirst.
“Before El Alamein we never had a victory,” said Churchill.
“After El Alamein we never had a
defeat.”