World War II veteran Theodore Schiessen

World War II veteran Theodore Schiessen (L), 85 from Giessen, Germany, shakes hands with Australian veteran Henry 'Curly' Mobcomb, 78, at the end of the 65th commemoration ceremony of the battle of el-Alamein at the German war memorial in el-Alamein, 350 kms north of Cairo, 27 October 2007. Both sides had incurred in heavy losses of more than 30,000, but the Allied forces' victory el-Alamein between British field marshal Bernard Montgomery and German general Erwin Rommel commanding the Afrika Corps ended Axis hopes of occupying Egypt, controlling access to the Suez Canal, and gaining access to the Middle Eastern oil fields, thus marking the end of the German Axis expansion in Africa. AFP PHOTO/CRIS BOURONCLE (Photo credit should read CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP via Getty Images)