Recorded 25 October 2017.

October 23 marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein, one of the turning points of the Second World War. The 9th Australian Division was crucial to the victory of Montgomery’s 8th Army at Alamein. Although the Australians represented only 10 per cent of the 8th Army, they suffered 20 per cent of its casualties in what an admiring British general described as ‘homeric fighting.’ Dr Mark Johnston, author of several books about the 9th Division and Alamein, explains why General Montgomery later acknowledged that he could not have won the battle without ‘that magnificent 9th Australian Division.’