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WWII On This Day: October 23

What happened on October 23 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1942, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
Soviet submachine-gunners fight in the ruins of the Red October works, October 1942.
Soviet submachine-gunners fight in the ruins of the Red October works, October 1942. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R74189 / Georgii Zelma · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Source
Battle of Stalingrad

The assault reaches the Barrikady and Red October works

LI Corps renewed its attack on 23 October with 79th Infantry Division leading against the Red October metallurgical works while other formations continued fighting around Barrikady. By afternoon German troops had taken part of the metallurgical complex, blocks west of the bakery and much of the bakery itself; a spearhead reached the Volga by nightfall. The penetration further divided Soviet-held ground but also dispersed German infantry among workshops, furnaces, embankments and riverbank strongpoints. Soviet replacements continued to cross at night, and east-bank artillery increasingly punished German concentrations inside the narrow…

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British artillery opens the El Alamein offensive on the night of 23 October 1942; ambulances and carriers wait in the glare of the guns.
British artillery opens the El Alamein offensive on the night of 23 October 1942; ambulances and carriers wait in the glare of the guns. Sergeant Gladstone / IWM E 18465 · UK Government public domain (Imperial War Museums) Source
The Second Battle of El Alamein

The artillery bombardment opens Operation Lightfoot

At 21:40 on 23 October roughly 900 British and Commonwealth guns opened fire on identified Axis batteries and forward positions. The initial programme concentrated fire against enemy artillery before lifting towards infantry objectives. The flash of the guns illuminated the desert behind the Allied line. Gunners then shifted their fire to support infantry moving into mined and wired defences. The Eighth Army’s opening barrage supported a timed combined-arms attack on selected positions in the Axis line.

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British 25-pounder guns fire during the opening night barrage of 23 October 1942.
British 25-pounder guns fire during the opening night barrage of 23 October 1942. No. 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit / IWM E 18468 · UK Government public domain (Imperial War Museums) Source
The Second Battle of El Alamein

Infantry begins crossing the first mine belts

At 22:00 XXX Corps infantry advanced behind artillery fire towards the first defensive positions. Australian, British, New Zealand and South African formations attacked across the northern front, with engineers following to cut and mark routes through the mines. Gaps between Axis strongpoints helped leading infantry reach some objectives, but guns and deeper belts obstructed the armoured exploitation. As units penetrated, they needed to secure both flanks of each lane so supplies and follow-on tanks could pass.

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