This is a History Extra production.

In October 1942, Axis and Allied forces went head to head in the North African desert.

Fighting over access to the Suez Canal and crucial oil fields,

tanks and infantrymen slogged it out across sand dunes and minefields, under the command of two

of the most charismatic military leaders of the war. In the fourth episode of our series on

World War II's greatest battles, I spoke to the

military historian James Holland about the second battle of El Alamein. James is the author of several

books from the Second World War and also the co-founder of Chalk History Festival, which runs from

the 24th to the 30th of June this year. We're offering an exclusive 15% off Chalk Festival Day tickets

for subscribers to either History Extra or BBC History Magazine.

Check out our spring offers and all other benefits at history extra.com slash pod.

Today we're going to be talking about the second battle of El Alamein.

Why did you nominate El Alamein as being one of the greatest battles of World War II?

Well, I think it's very easy to dismiss the importance of the Mediterranean Front and the southern flank from the German point of view.

You know, it's very easy to confuse huge

numbers of troops with strategic importance, and that's not necessarily the case.

And Alamein is a really important turning point because it's the moment where the Western

Allies turn the tables once and for all in North Africa, which has been playing out in a kind of

sort of ding-dong back-and-forth

series of battles, back and forth across the North African desert.

And that changes after this.

After Alamein, the Allies only going in one direction, and so were the Panzer Army,

...