CHAPTER 4 - DESERT EPILOGUE

Summary

The fighting at El Alamein between July and November 1942 was the culmination of the AIF's operational experience as part of the British and Dominion army in the Mediterranean theatre. With eight DSOs being awarded to the 14 COs who served in these battles, the last in the war in which Australian battalions fought as part of a full-strength infantry division employed as such, an argument could be mounted that Alamein marked the high point of Australian battalion command. The Alamein battles were the only occasion on which Australian COs in the Mediterranean fought fully equipped, although not full-strength, battalions, and they had more supporting arms under their direct command than they had ever had previously.

Alamein is the epilogue to the story of improvisation, learning and adaptation told in the previous chapter. The exercise of command at Alamein, and in particular the October battle, demonstrated a maturity and refinement that was absent in many of the engagements of 1941. Narratives of the battles do not indicate any of the rivalry that was sometimes apparent in earlier campaigns, and there is little evidence of COs seeking to prove themselves – there was not the need: four had already commanded their battalions in action, at least six had served as 2iCs, four had been decorated for bravery and at least six were graduates of METS. These were officers still prepared to take risks, but generally they were calculated risks firmly grounded in experience rather than the foolhardy risks of untutored enthusiasm or sheer desperation. This same experience allowed COs to judge where their presence was most necessary, and the blooming of the flexible command system that had been budding in 1941 gave them the mobility to do so. In any case, COs at Alamein tended to remain with a headquarters to the rear of their forward troops, and much greater control was facilitated by improvements in communications, more experienced troops and the development of drills to ensure that thorough battle procedure was carried out even when time was short.