Product Description

General Auchinleck, British C-in-C Middle East and commander of the 8th Army, chose to stop Rommel's advance into Egypt in 1942. The first battle of El Alamein halted Rommel's advance cold, and his attempt to resume the advance was defeated by Montgomery, forcing Rommel to wait for the Allied offensive. On 23 October, a 1,000-gun barrage launched the third battle of El Alamein. Although Rommel tried to hold the Alamein line, he had to retreat westwards when his forces were in danger of being surrounded. Never again did the Afrika Korps threaten Egypt. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the battle that turned the tide in favour of the Allies in Africa.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70366 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Ken Ford was born in Hampshire in 1943. He trained as an engineer and spent almost thirty years in the telecommunications industry. He now spends his time as an author and a bookseller specialising in books on military history. He has written a number of books on World War II subjects. Ken now lives in Southampton. Howard Gerrard studied at the Wallasey School of Art and has been a freelance designer and illustrator for over 20 years. He has worked for a number of publishers and is an associate member of the Guild of Aviation Artists. He has won both the Society of British Aerospace Companies Award and the Wilkinson Sword Trophy and has illustrated a number of books for Osprey, including Campaign 69: 'Nagashino 1575' and Campaign 72: 'Jutland 1916'. Howard lives and works in Kent.

Customer Reviews

The average Osprey Campaign Book
I have just recently finished another of Osprey's Campaign Books, the one about Tobruk and by comparison I found this one a tad disappointing. Not that it is bad, far from it - it just dosn't live up to the standards of the previous book.

On the positive side it outlines the three major battles, the first battle of El Alamein, the battle of Alam Halfa and the second battle of El Alamein. In the first the Germans were stopped by Auchinleck, the Battle of Alam Halfa was Rommels last offensive stopped by Montgomery and the last was Montgomery's defeat over the Afrika Korps and their Italian allies. The book covers all of these reasonably well.

What it fails to achive is to make the history living enough, possibly because the scope is so large and it being 3 battles rather than one or simply because of the authors style. The text is dry in the main and the maps are complex and lack interesting detail, especially the birds eye view and one map is even in the wrong chapter.

I would have liked to see more detail on the units involved and possibly some perspective of the fighting man. I found the book informative but not a joyful read.

A quality Ken Ford as we know it...
Enjoyable read.
Maps seem rather spartan as with many other Osprey books lately.
Ken Ford is a quality name in the Osprey line. As always in his books I do miss personal accounts in the text. Just following regimental numbers through the pages however well researched, doesn't make for very inspiring reading.