Product Description

In the summer of 1940, Mussolini aimed to conquer North Africa, only to be routed by far smaller British and Commonwealth forces who drove out the invaders and captured the entire Italian Tenth Army. This defeat led Hitler to send the Deutsches Afrika Korps, commanded by Rommel, to bolster the Axis forces in Africa. From April 1941, the "Desert Fox" and his Allied opponents fought many bitter battles across the inhospitable deserts of North Africa. The battle of Alam Halfa in July 1942 saw Rommel thwarted just outside Cairo and the Suez Canal. The battle of El Alamein in October that year was the turning point in North Africa, with Rommel being forced into a long and stubborn withdrawal towards Tunisia. The Germans were forced to fight on two fronts after the Allied "Torch" landings in French North Africa, and were finally defeated in May 1943. In this title, military writer George Forty tells the story of these turbulent campaigns through the camera lens, in a series of photographs illustrating every aspect of the Desert War, supported by clear, concise text.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #429169 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-28
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Review
This book gives a detailed chronological account of each stage in the Desert war. Includes personal reminisces from those who fought. Provides an insight into one of those important and brutal accounts of the Second World War.

Customer Reviews

Cracking photo's but relatively weak text
THis is one of four books I've recently bought covering this period, and of them all it is perhaps the weakest in terms of the narative, the detail and the evenhandedness of treatment. Forty is clearly writing from a particular point of view, and is at times dismissive of the efforts of protagonists to an extent that is surprising if you're used to academic, dry histories. For all that, he does weave a very tangible sense of the attitudes of the commonwealth forces in the region. The saving grace of the book is the photos which give excellent material for model makers.