The Devil's gardens was the name given by Erwin Rommel, commander of the German Afrika Korps during World War II, to the defensive entanglements of land mines and barbed wire protecting his positions at El Alamein in late 1942. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs The German Afrikakorps ( German: Deutsches Afrikakorps DAK) was the original German blocking force (Sperrverband = Armored Blocking Force in Libya World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A land mine is an Explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the Proximity of a vehicle person In the Military science of Fortification, wire obstacles are defensive obstacles made from Barbed wire, Barbed tape or Concertina wire The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II.

A Matilda scorpion tank equipped for mine clearing. The Tank Infantry Mk II Matilda II (A12 (sometimes referred to as Senior Matilda was a British Tank of World War II. A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a mine-field by deliberately detonating mines in front of the vehicle that carries it

During the 'break-in' phase of the battle, British commander Lt General Bernard Montgomery planned for engineer troops supporting infantry brigades of 2nd New Zealand Division to clear lanes through the minefields along which attacking formations would pass into the Axis positions. Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, (məntˈgʌmərɪ əv ˈæləmeɪn The 2nd New Zealand Division was New Zealand's major land formation during much of World War II. Engineers using hand tools were supplemented by scorpion tanks equipped with rotating flails to explode anti-vehicle mines. A mine flail is a vehicle-mounted device that makes a safe path through a mine-field by deliberately detonating mines in front of the vehicle that carries it These did not work as well as had been hoped and manual methods of clearing had to be resorted to. This would have been more difficult, had the minefields not been sown with relatively few anti-personnel mines. ^[1]

An estimated 3 million mines were laid before the battle, most of which remain in position to this day, becoming more unstable as the years pass and injuring local people who use the area. ^[2]

References

1. ^ Schneck, William. Breaching the Devil's Garden: The 6th New Zealand Brigade in Operation Lightfoot. The Second Battle of El Alamein. 2005. US Army Communcations-Electronics Command
2. ^ Sixty years on and the El Alamein armaments still maim. The Daily Telegraph, 19th October 2002. [1] accessed 16th April 2007

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