What happens
Richard D. McMillan, a United Press correspondent attached to the British 8th Army in North Africa, recounts his coverage of the desert campaign. He describes being roused from sleep during the June 1942 retreat past Matruh, the British decision to hold at El Alamein, and his time at the front as the defending forces dig in against Rommel's advance. He also reports on the British mood in the summer months and on the night attack that opened the offensive later that October, ending with the British commander announcing a complete victory. The story is told in McMillan's own voice from the front lines.
The Western Desert of North Africa, Egypt and Libya, 1942, including Matruh, El Alamein and the front line near Alamein.
Characters: Richard D. McMillan, Field Marshal Rommel, Lieutenant-General Bernard L. Montgomery
Listen for: McMillan's account of the June retreat, the battery crew roasting sausages over burning petrol-soaked sand, and Montgomery's press conference announcing victory.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.