El Alamein naar Stalingrad (juli - sep 1942) | Call of Duty

By the summer of 1942, World War II had been raging for nearly three years and showed few signs of abating. The conflict that began in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland had already spread far beyond Europe. As the Axis powers sought to expand their vast empires, the battlefields stretched from Africa to Asia.

Now, with Germany, Italy, and Japan uniting against the Allies, fighting broke out in every corner of the world. The struggle continued on the war-torn continents, while naval battles were fought at sea to control supply routes.

As the Axis powers strengthened their hold over the previously calm waters of the Mediterranean, the risk increased that the Allies fighting in North Africa would be cut off. The future of their Western Desert Campaign was far from certain. Italian and German troops now posed a very real threat to British interests in Africa, penetrating deep into the Egyptian desert landscape and reaching El Alamein, just outside Cairo.

In no time, little stood between the Axis powers and the Suez Canal, the vital gateway to the oil fields of the Middle East. If the Allies wanted a real chance at victory in World War II, the battles ahead to secure North Africa would be crucial.