The British, along with troops from the British Empire easily repelled the Italians. However, the Italians despite having numerical superiority and tactical surprise did not achieve their goals. This led him to order his army to attack British controlled Egypt from the Italian colony of Libya. Mussolini had grandiose dreams of recreating the Roman Empire and he sought to control North Africa, in the wake of the British and French defeats in 1940. Germany only became involved in North Africa because of their alliance with Italy. The German dictator was actually an admirer of the British Empire. He was quite happy to dominate Europe and to leave the control of Africa to the British and French. Choosing to take a defensive stance, Rommel fortified his position and placed over 500,000 mines, many of which were anti-tank types.Hitler was not interested in North Africa. Moving forward, Rommel attacked Montgomery's lines at the Battle of Alam Halfa (August 30-September 5) but was repulsed. As a result, command of the 8th Army was assigned to Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery. Before he could take command, Gott was killed when the Luftwaffe shot down his transport. Auchinleck was replaced as Commander-in-Chief Middle East by General Sir Harold Alexander, while the 8th Army was given to Lieutenant General William Gott.
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