The battle began under strong moonlight as a tremendous burst of artillery fire shattered the silence. The commander of the German forces, Erwin Rommel, was on sick leave in Germany for the first time in his career. Since September, the commander of the British forces, Major General Bernard Montgomery, had been amassing vast reserves along the northern front, and on the southern side he constructed a mammoth dummy stronghold. The ruse succeeded: He attained total surprise when he attacked from the north and trapped the German forces in a 40-mile corridor. At first, Rommel could move only forward or backward. Nine days later, he knew he could move backward only. He faced round-the-clock bombardments and attacks by infantry, tanks, and artillery, in waves that seemed endless. Rommel fell into MontgomeryΓÇÖs trap. Because Hitler had ordered him to fight to victory or death, he also lost important parts of his forces. When Rommel finally attempted to retreat, Montgomery outflanked him and staunched the withdrawal. Thus, in one of the decisive battles of the war, the GermansΓÇÖ invasion of Africa was repelled and the tide of battle turned. RommelΓÇÖs invincible German army was mauled and the Allies began to drive the German forces into a lengthy withdrawal.
