Editing First Battle of El Alamein (section)

===Tel el Eisa===
On 8 July, Auchinleck ordered the new XXX Corps commander—Lieutenant-General [[William Havelock Ramsden|William Ramsden]]—to capture the low ridges at Tel el Eisa and Tel el Makh Khad and then to push mobile battle groups south toward Deir el Shein and raiding parties west toward the airfields at El Daba. Meanwhile, XIII Corps would prevent the Axis from moving troops north to reinforce the coastal sector.<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004|p=345}}.</ref> Ramsden tasked the Australian 9th Division with [[44th Royal Tank Regiment]] under command with the Tel el Eisa objective and the South African 1st Division with eight supporting tanks, Tel el Makh Khad. The raiding parties were to be provided by 1st Armoured Division.<ref name="Playfair346">{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004|p=346}}.</ref>

Following a bombardment which started at 03:30 on 10 July, the Australian 26th Brigade launched an attack against the ridge north of Tel el Eisa station along the coast (Trig 33). The bombardment was the heaviest barrage yet experienced in North Africa, which created panic in the inexperienced soldiers of the Italian [[60th Infantry Division "Sabratha"]] who had only just occupied inadequate defences in the sector.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=58}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Caccia Dominioni de Sillavengo|1966|pp=70–71}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bates|1992|pp=139–141}}.</ref><ref>Scoullar (1955), [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Egyp-c19.html#n205 p. 205] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016120242/http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Egyp-c19.html#n205 |date=16 October 2008 }}</ref> The Australian attack took more than 1,500 prisoners, routed an Italian Division and overran the German Signals Intercept Company 621.<ref>{{harvnb|Stewart|2002|p=125}}.</ref> Meanwhile, the South Africans had by late morning taken Tel el Makh Khad and were in covering positions.<ref name="Playfair346"/>

Elements of the German 164th Light Division and Italian [[101st Motorized Division "Trieste"|101st Motorised Division "Trieste"]] arrived to plug the gap torn in the Axis defences.<ref name="Playfair346"/><ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=65}}.</ref><ref>Scoullar (1955), [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Egyp-c21.html#n220 p. 220] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202195019/http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Egyp-c21.html#n220 |date=2 December 2008 }}</ref> That afternoon and evening, tanks from the German 15th Panzer and Italian ''Trieste'' Divisions launched counter-attacks against the Australian positions, the counter-attacks failing in the face of overwhelming Allied artillery and the Australian anti-tank guns.<ref>{{harvnb|Bates|1992|pp=141–142}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Caccia Dominioni de Sillavengo|1966|p=74}}.</ref>

At first light on 11 July, the Australian [[2/24th Battalion (Australia)|2/24th Battalion]] supported by tanks from 44th Royal Tank Regiment attacked the western end of Tel el Eisa hill (Point 24).<ref name="Playfair346"/><ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=67}}.</ref> By early afternoon, the feature was captured and was then held against a series of Axis counter-attacks throughout the day. A small column of armour, motorised infantry, and guns then set off to raid Deir el Abyad and caused a battalion of Italian infantry to surrender. Its progress was checked at the Miteirya ridge and it was forced to withdraw that evening to the El Alamein box.<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004|pp=346–347}}.</ref> During the day, more than 1,000 Italian prisoners were taken.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=68}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bates|1992|p=143}}.</ref><ref name="Barr114"/><ref>{{harvnb|Barr|2005|p=114}}.</ref>

On 12 July, the 21st Panzer Division launched a counter-attack against Trig 33 and Point 24, which was beaten off after a 2½-hour fight, with more than 600 German dead and wounded left strewn in front of the Australian positions.<ref name="Barr114">{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=70}}.</ref> The next day, the 21st ''Panzerdivision'' launched an attack against Point 33 and South African positions in the El Alamein box.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=72}}.</ref>  In the El Alamein Box, the Royal Durban Light Infantry (RDLI) faced the full force of the German attacks. The RDLI did not have adequate anti-tank guns and the German artillery cut the South African telephone cables, disrupting their field artillery support. The attack was halted by intense artillery fire from the defenders. Although the South Africans repulsed the German attack, by 16:10, German tanks and dive bombers had advanced up to 300 metres from the South African positions. The 9th Australian field artillery, 7th British Medium Regiment had to assist in repulsing the German attack. At last light, the 79th British Anti-Tank Regiment was deployed to assist the South African forces, but the German attack was petering out. The South African losses on 13 July totalled nine dead and 42 wounded. 

South African casualties were relatively light due to their skill in withstanding the German attacks negated their casualties. Had the El Alamein Box been captured by Rommel's forces, the consequences for the Eighth Army would have been devastating; the El Alamein line would have been ruptured, and Australian forces would have been cut off from the Eighth Army and forced into a general retreat to the Nile Delta.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jacobs |first=Colonel (Dr) C. J. |journal=Military History Journal |issue=2 |date=December 2004 |title=The Role of the 1st South African Division during the First Battle of El Alamein, 1–30 July 1942 |url=http://www.samilitaryhistory.org |publisher=The South African Military History Society |volume=13 |pages=1 |via=Database}}</ref> Rommel was still determined to drive the British forces from the northern salient. Although the Australian defenders had been forced back from Point 24, heavy casualties had been inflicted on 21st Panzer Division.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|pp=73–76}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bates|1992|p=145}}.</ref><ref>Maughan (1966), [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/19/chapters/12.pdf pp. 565–566] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208210804/https://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/19/chapters/12.pdf |date=8 December 2015 }}</ref> Another attack was mounted on 15 July but made no ground against tenacious resistance. On 16 July, the Australians—supported by British tanks—launched an attack to try to take Point 24 but were forced back by German counter-attacks,<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|pp=78–80}}.</ref> suffering nearly fifty per cent casualties.<ref name="Johnston03p86">{{harvnb|Johnston|2003|p=86}}.</ref>

After seven days of fierce fighting, the battle in the north for the Tel el Eisa salient petered out. Australian 9th Division estimated at least 2,000 Axis troops had been killed and more than 3,700 prisoners of war taken in the battle.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=81}}.</ref> Possibly the most important feature of the battle, however, was that the Australians had captured Signals Intercept Company 621, which had been  providing Rommel with priceless [[Signals intelligence|intelligence]] from British radio communications.<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|Stanley|2002|p=66}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barr|2005|pp=112–114}}.</ref>