Thread by @WalkingGround

Welcome to the #watchparty #livetweet of Battlefields: El Alamein (2001).

The documentary, presented by Richard Holmes, is available on YouTube.



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This is the "director's cut" of the #livetweet, featuring additional images and quotes.

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Richard Holmes (1946-2011) was a British military historian and army officer.

Known to the British public for his television documentaries, he once explained, "I don't really see myself as a TV presenter. I'm a historian who likes telling stories."

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The Second Battle of El Alamein took place from 23 October - 11 November 1942.

The Allied commander was Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery. (IWM E 18980).

The Axis commander was Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (BArch 101I-443-1582-32).

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“This is a field of battle like no other…”

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Scots Guards in trenches in the new positions in the El Alamein area.

IWM E 13944.

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“I watched the Germans come over this ridge…”

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Panzer Mk III on the 1st escarpment above Mersa Matruh, June 1942 (BArch 101I-785-0293-45).

Bild 101I-785-0293-45.

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“An obscure railway halt called Alamein…”

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Infantry manning a sandbagged defensive position near El Alamein.

IWM E 14575.

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Australian reinforcements arrive on the battle front and are greeted by British troops of the 8th Army.

IWM E 14303.

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“The Prime Minister flew to Egypt to see things for himself…”

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Lt Gen Bernard Law Montgomery assumed command of the Eighth Army on 13 August 1942.

“"I have cancelled the plan for withdrawal. If we are attacked, then there will be no retreat. If we cannot stay here alive, then we will stay here dead."

IWM E 15787.

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Monty wearing his bush hat decorated with the badges of some of the units which served under him.

IWM E 19699.

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“Rommel’s aim was to smash his way over the Alam Halfa ridge…”

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“Along the whole of the 35 mile front, for months, both sides had been laying anti tank mines…”

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Mk V anti-tank mine.

Contained a HE charge of 8.25 lbs (TNT or Baratol) requiring 350 lbs of pressure to detonate.

IWM MUN 195.

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South African sappers laying anti tank mines.

IWM E 15167.

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Lieutenant-General Montgomery's message to the Eighth Army before the Second Battle of El Alamein, 23 October 1942.

“Let us pray that the Lord mighty in battle will give us the victory.”

IWM MH 6005.

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A 25-pdr gun firing during the British night artillery barrage which opened Second Battle of El Alamein, 23 October 1942.

IWM E 18467.

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“At 21:40 hours, hundreds of guns behind us opened up an artillery barrage intent on softening up the enemy. The ground shook; the noise was frightening; and, the sky behind us was aglow with gun flashes."
- Cecil Ritson, Natal Mounted Rifles

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“Day and night the tremendous barrage was kept up on enemy positions. Every night of the battle the darkness has been stabbed in a thousand places with the flashes of guns.”

IWM E 18984.

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“The leading troops, in this sector, highlanders of the 51st Division…”

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“We knew that we were the Highland Division going into battle…”

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“The time came for us to fix bayonets and get to the tapes. We moved off. The creeping barrage started and in no time at all there was screaming and crying out in pain as the men were walking on the anti-personnel mines.”
- Pte S. Gray, 1/6th Queens

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“The battle commenced with a huge barrage, which for those days was tremendous. The sky was lit and fires of burning petrol dumps littered the desert..”
- Thomas Murray, 7th RIfle Brigade

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British soldiers move forward with fixed bayonets, El Alamein, 1942.

NAM NAM. 2005-05-25-4.

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“He took one of the toughest decisions that a general has to face…”

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British Infantry advancing, supported by a Sherman tank, past a smoking German Panzerkampfwagen Mk III Ausf.L and an 88 mm German anti-tank gun.

Oil on canvas by Will Longstaff (1879-1953).

NAM. 1990-06-4-1.

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“The Germans attacked the British at Snipe all day in waves…”

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“We got through the minefields and broke into open ground…”

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Sherman tanks of the Eighth Army move across the desert at speed as the Axis forces begin to retreat from El Alamein.

IWM E 18971.

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“This is what everyone had been waiting for…”

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A British soldier gives a V-for-Victory sign to German prisoners captured at El Alamein, 26 October 1942.

IWM E 18522.

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“Today, the desert is almost as empty as it was before the fighting…”

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“This great citizen army of brickies and barristers, teachers and taxi drivers, had come of age…”

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“It was a heavy toll for one unit…”

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The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at El Alamein.

The cemetery has 6480 identified casualties. There are 815 unidentified burials.

cwgc.org/visit-us/find-…

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Thank you for joining us in our #watchparty #livetweet of ‘Battlefields: El Alamein.’

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