good talk

For a period in 1942, the entire world's gaze was upon a dusty, railway stop, El Alamein.  The war in North Africa began on June 10, 1940, with British Commonwealth troops facing the Italians, who did so poorly that the Germans reinforced in Feb., 1941, with Erwin Rommel and the vaunted Afrika Korps.  A daring, aggressive, commander, who led from the front, exposing himself to danger, Rommel's maneuvers culminated in the capture of the port city of Tobruk, Libya on June 21, 1942, forcing the Commonwealth to retreat into Egypt.  The Commonwealth took-up the last possible defensive position before Alexandria and the rest of Egypt would fall to the Axis, but revitalized by reinforcements and the leadership of Bernard Montgomery, the Commonwealth prevailed in the 2nd Battle of El Alamein (Oct. 23 to Nov. 4, 1942), aided in part by Rommel being in Germany for medical-treatment, and his 2nd in command, General Stumme, dying from a heart attack early in the battle. On Nov. 8, 1942, 60 thou Americans under Dwight Eisenhower landed at Oran (Ed's Old Man), Algiers, and Casablanca, turning the balance in favor of the Allies, the Axis being forced continually westward, until they capitulated in Tunisia, on May 13, 1943, surrendering 230 thou.  In Alexandria, I got a taxi and driver for 10 hours and did a cursory tour of the battlefield, that is, I visited Ruweisat Ridge, to tour properly, and the only way it can be done, you're out there camping for 2 nights, and with an official-guide, as there's many landmines.  There was much chivalry, a building for railway workers, known as "the Blockhouse", was used as a hospital, with German and Australian doctors working side by side on the other's badly-wounded.  I visited the War Museum, run by the Egyptian Army, it's very impressive, lots of ordnance.  At the Commonwealth Cemetery, there's 7000 tombstones marking the graves of soldiers from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, and elsewhere, starkly, no grass.  The German War Memorial contains the entombed remains of 4000 German soldiers, on a beautiful stretch of beach.  The Italian Memorial is in a beautiful tower, engraved with only the names of the dead, and there's a museum.  On the way to the Italian Memorial is a large rock, on which is inscribed,   Manco la fortuna, non il valore  ...We lacked good luck, not courage...