There is a commemoration on 11th November that is almost as significant as the Armistice that ended hostilities on the Western Front in 1918. It is the moment that for many historians marks the turning point of World War II, when Rommel was driven out of Egypt by the “Desert Rats” who he had fought for 18 months.
This Allied victory by 8th Army (which was made up of infantry divisions from Australia, Britain, India, New Zealand and South Africa as well as French and Greek brigades) inspired Winston Churchill to deliver one of his much-repeated wartime quotes during the annual Lord Mayor’s reception in London: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The Prime Minister must have felt a tremendous sense of relief not only because the year had been full of disasters such as the loss of Hong Kong, Singapore and Tobruk, but also because the US landings in French North Africa were about to begin. Recognising this was the turning point of the war, Churchill authorised the ringing of Church bells throughout the United Kingdom; a sound that had not been heard for over two years. Soon afterwards, he visited his alma mater, where he was given a rapturous reception by the schoolboy audience when he said: “Far be it for me to say how long the road will be, or how great the effort will be…I do feel that I can assure you that we are moving forward, stronger every month and that the day will shortly come…when we shall reach a broader and brighter light…”
18 November 1942
Rupert Wieloch 