Produced by the Army Film and Photographic Unit and the Royal Air Force Film Production Unit, this black-and-white film is Part 1 of “Desert Victory,” exploring the Battle for North Africa during World War II. The picture is dedicated to the men of the Eight Army. With that, the scene moves to a barren landscape at mark 01:30. At mark 04:00, the film takes the viewer to El Alamein, where two decisive battles in 1942 had taken place. We are shown Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck, a British Army commander who was Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East theatre (but later relieved of command during the crucial Alamein campaign). The British are shown successfully defending their position from German artillery and fighters near mark 06:00, and at mark 07:00 are visited by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August 1942. (The British Eighth Army had all but exhausted itself after the first battle of El Alamein in July 1942, and the visit was as much a morale boost for the troops as it was a review of Auchinleck, who was replaced as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command by General Harold Alexander). Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was named commander of the Eighth Army.
Alexander’s primary mission as commander was to take on and defeat German Field Marshall Erwin Rommell, whose control of much of Egypt threatened the British Commonwealth’s Suez Canal. To that end, the film reminds its viewer (at mark 08:30) that British men and women at home were at work in factories to make certain supplies and armaments were always being made available. Scenes of workers on assembly lines and in aircraft factories fill the screen, and at mark 09:37, the viewer is told that workers in the United States are also contributing to the war effort, especially in the creation of the Sherman tank.
At mark 13:51, we catch a glimpse of Rommel in some of the captured German footage, and explanation of how the Germans were beginning to suffer from a lack of supplies, thanks to constant bombardment from American and British aircraft on supply lines and supply ships. The Royal Navy also did its part, the viewer is told at mark 15:15, as nearly two dozen German ships were sunk in the Mediterranean Sea. 17:07, the Second Battle of El Alamein, fought from October 23 to November 11, 1942. It would end in an Allied victory. At 19:22, we see Adolf Hitler, and an receive an explanation of how he promoted Rommel to the rank of field marshall.
The British had other plans and beginning at mark 21:40 are shown preparing for battle, including readying aircraft and arming tanks with shells. “And now that all new what was to be done and all was made ready,” the narrator says at mark 22:55, “there were final moments of normal desert life. Of rest, of washing clothes, of a swim in the sea.” And as the sun set, they rested … and waited.
“The Battle of El Alamein began in the evening,” we are told at mark 24:50, as tanks rumble across the screen. “As light failed, the final moves were made.”
The darkness and quiet of the film is suddenly broken at mark 27:14 with a shout of “Fire!” and blasts of ammunition as fighting erupts. The film ends following three minutes of intense footage and amidst the sound of a bagpiper.
