Edgar Williams; Strategist Behind El Alamein Rout
Edgar (Bill) Williams, credited by British Field Cmdr. Bernard Law Montgomery with inspiring the strategy that led British forces to a rout over their German counterparts at El Alamein, is dead.
Williams, who later was responsible for obtaining Rhodes scholarships for women, died June 26 at age 82 in Oxford, England, his home.
Montgomery said Sir Edgar, who was knighted in 1973, pointed out that the Germans had positioned themselves between and behind their Italian allies at El Alamein, a village in northern Egypt. Williams said the less-seasoned Italians could be separated from the Germans and routed.
His strategy resulted in a decisive 1942 victory that pushed the Axis troops westward into Tunisia, leading to an Allied victory in North Africa the next year.
After the war, Sir Edgar served as a fellow of Balliol College at Oxford and warden of Rhodes House in Oxford from 1952 to 1980.
At his urging, 24 women came to Oxford among a group of 72 scholars in 1977, the first in the then 75-year history of the program.
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