Mersa Matruh fell on 29th to a thrust by 90th Light and more than 6000 prisoners were taken. With Matruh fallen the advance swept forward towards El Daba and XX Corps followed closely behind the armoured spearhead now approaching close to the Suez Canal.
Less than 2 hours drive from the point unit's position at midnight on 29 June, lay the British fleet base of Alexandria. Only 60 miles separated the African Panzer Army from the objectives for which it had been fighting for over a year but already the ground conditions were deteriorating. East of Mersa Matruh the Libyan plateau is cut by numerous steep-sided and deep wadis and the passable country begins to narrow until at El Alamein it is only 40 or so miles wide. This was a natural barrier for one flank rests on the sea and the other on the impassable sand seas of the Quattara Depression. The only route to Alexandria was across this cut-up, stony desert whose narrow width had been set with strong fortifications and extensive mine-fields. As at Gazala these fortifications were a line of mutually supporting boxes and at Alamein they pivoted around the principal box bearing that name. Into these defences streamed the remnants of 8th Army and, passing through the lines of boxes, held by fresh and untried troops the formations which had been shattered at Gazala and at Knightsbridge halted for breath and within a short time had turned, once again, at bay.
The strengths of both armies was about equal at that time, but the morale of the Panzer Army was decidedly higher than that of 8th Army for the Germans could see before them the successful end to the campaign. Leaving little time for proper planning Rommel decided to make a quick thrust in the hope of penetrating the Alamein line and planned that the heaviest blow would fall in the north while the Italian Motorised Corps carried out a feint attack in the south. A British spoiling attack came in during the afternoon of 30 June under cover of a sand-storm but 21st Panzer struck back and the British armour withdrew.
On 1 July after an all-night drive the Africa Corps was ordered into the attack at first light. Three-quarters of an hour after that time at 06.46hrs, the assault rolled with troops who were desperately tired. Rommel could see before his eyes the glittering prizes of the Middle East and drove his men on. But the British, too, realised that this was the preparation for the final battle and fought with a bitterness that was born of desperation. All through the long July day the fighting swung back and forth; the box at Bir el Schine was taken but 90th Light Division lost all its artillery without making any impression upon the British defenders. Throughout 2 and 3 July the battle continued and into the fight the British flung the Royal Air Force to carry out an intensive, almost continuous, bombardment of the Axis troops. British counter-attacks against the lost box were beaten off with a loss of 30 tanks and in 90th Light Division's sector the advance inched forward against fanatical opposition right to the edge of the British prepared defences. There the attack collapsed through sheer exhaustion and weakness; the strength of 90th Light had been reduced to only 58 officers, 247 non-commissioned officers, and 1023 men.
Rommel swung the emphasis to the central sector dominated by the Ruweisat ridge but in the south the New Zealanders had attacked the Ariete Division which broke and ran, leaving the flank open, and only a vigorous counter-attack by the panzers held the New Zealanders back. The loss of Ariete in the line reduced the strength of the Axis forces to a level at which it was no longer possible for Rommel to continue with the offensive and the assault against the Ruweisat ridge was called off on 4 July. The ensuing pause was used to regroup and to bring forward ammunition, particularly artillery shells and this piece of husbandry proved itself when a British tank force broke through the positions held by 21st Panzer, rolled over an infantry battalion, and had practically thrust through the gun line when it was brought under fire by an army artillery group and driven back with loss. An ammunition column reached the forward positions and these new supplies were able to ensure that for the immediate future the German artillery would be able to reply to British barrages, although on a much more modest scale.
The Littorio and the Ariete Divisions each had 5 tanks, 2 and 1 gun respectively, while the Africa Corps' panzer divisions had a combined total of 50 vehicles. There were only 1500 men in 90th Light's infantry component, the reconnaissance battalions had only 15 machines between them, 20 armoured trucks, and 2 batteries of guns. The Italian X Corps had 11, partly motorised battalions each of 200 men, 30 light, and 5 heavy batteries of guns. Thus, the position at the end of the first week of July was that neither side had the reserves whose commitment would have broken the deadlock. An exhausted British Army which had lost 80,000 men had halted an equally exhausted Axis army along a defensive position, which had been selected by one former commander and prepared by another.
After the necessary regrouping the Panzer Army was ready for action again and the first attacks on 9 July, against the Alamein position, went in from the south. The mine-fields were crossed, the field defences taken by storm, and a penetration of the main defensive area looked possible when a British counter-attack against the Italians on the northern sector tore Sabratha Division apart A battle group from 15th Panzer Division closed the gap but then, on 11th, the 8th Army struck at another Italian division and destroyed two battalions of infantry. There were no reserves to commit and Rommel was forced to send in his batteries of 8.8cm guns to hold the gap until he could mount an assault upon the Australians. This counter-attack drove them back and on the central sector the Ruweisat ridge was, once again, the scene of desperate struggles to gain the high ground. During the following days the battle roared around this narrow strip of desert with the 8th Army selecting weak Italian units and destroying them one by one. On 15 July Brescia was rubbed out; two days later Trento followed Trieste and the British began the first move to roll up the German front from the south. A small sector around the Bir el Schine became the focus of the righting as the 8th Army strove to capture the place and thus divide the Axis forces. A desperate counter-attack restored the situation but this battle of attrition could only end in German defeat unless the supply position was eased.
The appearance of both Kesselring and Cavallero upon the field of battle allowed Rommel the rare opportunity of asking them directly for supplies. Both the senior officers brought promises but no certain information. Berlin had proposed and promised so many things but high seas, strong winds, and any number of excellent reasons were given for the non-arrival of the ships. Rommel was sick at heart and his bitterness was increased at the news of the latest losses, for at the reported rate the time would soon come when the Africa Corps would no longer exist. As well as this fear of impotence was the added worry that Italian units were becoming less and less able to stand the lightest stress. There was no alternative; Rommel called off the attacks and. realising that the British commander would capitalise upon this weakness, made a point of organising personally the defence of the captured sectors. So effective were his efforts that the British probing assaults made on 23 June were flung back with a loss to the 8th Army of 146 of its tanks and 1400 of its men. Both sides now began to prepare for the trials ahead.
A heavy sense of destiny hung over the battlefield during those months of late summer and early autumn 1942. Instinctively, it seemed both sides knew that the clash for which they were preparing would be the one to decide the fate of Africa. If Rommel could revivify his exhausted soldiers and their dilapitated machines, if the magic of his personality could bring them forward once again and this time with sufficient impetus to smash through the Alameir. defences, then the prizes for which he had fought lay within the grasp of his veteran warriors. But if he failed, then he and his armies were condemned tc watch, with a full knowledge of its grim and awful consequences, the 8th Army increase day by day in strength and confidence until one moon-fillec night a roar of guns would beat the drum roll of defeat of Axis hopes in the southern Mediterranean.