Second Battle of El Alamein

[sighs] I mean, this is really attritional stuff.

This is the First Battle of Alamein, so the famous Alamein battle with Montgomery and everything, that's the Second Battle of Alamein.

This is the first battle fought, you know, throughout much of July in, in sort of, in pretty big, big phases.

And of course, RTR, 6 RTR has once again taken a hammering.

I haven't enjoyed everything I've read by quite a long chalk, I've got to say.

So there are things that you sort of read them and you think, well, this is an interesting and indeed useful account of the Battle of El Alamein or whatever, but I would struggle to urge anyone to have it as bedtime reading.

What I have enjoyed, Most Secret War by R.V. Jones, which is one of the better memoirs of a very interesting war.

He knows how to tell a story.

The film opens with a depiction of Operation Flipper, a failed British commander raid in 1941, setting the stage for Rommel's military prowess and the respect he commanded even among his adversaries.

As the narrative progresses, we witness Rommel, played by James Mason, navigating the challenges of the North African campaign, particularly during the Battle of El Alamein.

Despite his strategic acumen, Rommel is thwarted by Hitler's unrealistic orders, which demand victory at all costs.

James Mason's portrayal of Rommel is both celebrated and critiqued.

Yeah, and all of that's kind of stuck with me.

And he sort of – he would say, well, I learned this when I was – personal aid to General Montgomery at the Battle of Alamein, you know.

This is how I learned to do this particular bit of analysis, you know.

He had such an extraordinarily sort of wide vision and also the contacts were, you know, he's sort of done so many different, different things, hasn't he? Quite an extraordinary person in that respect.