"Good Books on the Desert War in North Africa?" Topic

Martin Kitchen has a new one out at 600+ pages. Has anyone read it? What do you think of it? Purports to be more of a strategic view taking into account the greater war. On that topic – what are the best reads from the following perspectives:
1) Best narrative type history of the whole campaign?
2) Best on single battles/ campaigns?
3) Best from an Allied or a German perspective?
Thanks,
Mike

For flavor Alan Moorhead's "The Desert War" takes some beating.

Bob Crisp's, Brazen Chariots, is tops for armored combat in the desert. He is a troop commander in Stuart/Honeys. This is a "from the turret" type personal narrative.

Dean

Iron Hulls Iron Hearts by Ian Walker on the Italian armoured divisions.

Certainly can't go wrong with "An Army at Dawn" for the American view of the war.

I'll second "An Army at Dawn," although I've not finished it yet. Jentz's "Tank Combat in North Africa" is a good account of the early battles with lots of technical detail.

I'll put in my votes for "Army at Dawn" and "Iron Hulls Iron Hearts".
Joep

"Pendulum of War" The Three battles of Alamein by Niall Barr covers all the battles and commanders with a thorough look at the commanders (both sides) and the battles in this area.
Picked this up at a bargain books for $9 USD here on LI,NY

It's historical fiction, but "Killing Rommel" by Steven Pressfield simply rocks. Following the LRDG is one of the more amazing aspects of the desert war, for me, and danged if this book doesn't capture the flavor, carry the story, and make it seem like it aught to be a movie.

Barrie Pitt's "Crucible of War" a trilogy for the overall campaign, Samuel W. Mitcham's "Rommel's Greatest Victory" for Gazala, "The Rommel Papers" the Fox's own letter etc, edited by Liddell-Hart, Jentz's "Tank Combat in North Africa" for the early battles and tank tactics. And the best all around memoir is Bob Crisp's "Brazen Chariots"

I'll second 'Brazen Chariots' along with 'Take These Men' by another tanker in the same regiment as Crisp. Very good to read one after the other for some blazing tank combat.

Another good one is 'Alamein to Zem Zem'.

From the other side is 'With Rommel in the Desert' by one of Rommel's adjutant who later commanded a recce battalion.

Minimos suggestion is a gem .A must read for those who play allied forces ,talk about armour inequality.A courageous heart beat in the boys of the italian armoured divisions in North Africa.

It's a rare book but worth the read if you can find it, "Armor Command: The Personal Story of a Commander of the 13th Armored Regiment, of CCB, 1st Armored Division, and of the Armored School During World War II" by BG Robinett.
I remember a vivid account of an engagement between Stuarts and Pz IV's where the lead company of Stuarts deployed and engaged the Germans while the other two companies tried to outflank the German column. Repeated 37mm hits that bounced off the Germans followed by tremendous blows from the Germans long barrel 75mm at under 200 yards. One Stuart had the front slope crushed-in killing the driver and pinning his foot lightly on the throttle just as he had put the tank in reverse causing it to slowly back out of the battle.

"1) Best narrative type history of the whole campaign?
2) Best on single battles/ campaigns?
3) Best from an Allied or a German perspective?"

Oh dear, so many to choose from and many good contenders mentioned already. I might suggest:

1) Greene and Massignanis 'Rommels North African Campaign', although it isn't as general as say, Moorheads African Trilogy.

2) I have a soft spot for FM Lord Carvers 'Tobruk' which covers the siege, Crusader and Gazala.

3) Allied – a second for Bob Crisps 'Brazen Chariots'

3) German – 'With Rommel in the Desert' by Hans Schmidt. Nice to see Shermans being described as heavy tanks for a change.

Mooreheads African Trilogy for the whole war is a must.

Diary of a Desert Rat by R L Crimp
link
is an unusual memoir in that it's by a literate squaddie rather that an officer. He was in a motor battalion. Good read.

Doug

I think you possibly preclude "tank battles in miniature" by Donald Featherstone. Long OOP but you can get it out a library or second hand.
Although his suggested mechanics for wargames rules are way out of date.
Range guessing.
Who'd use that nowadays huh?

'The Desert Generals' by Correli Barnett. A good balance to Montgomery's version of how he won the Desert War.

'The Desert Generals' by Correli Barnett. A good balance to Montgomery's version of how he won the Desert War

To be fair, Barnett's championing of Auchinleck's achievements isn't really a mainstream view and a number of authors are critical of his performance. Adrian Stewart's "Early Battles of the Eighth Army" offers a well-reasoned assessment and is certainly worth reading.

"The Battle for North Africa" provides an excellent overview of the entire campaign in a very readable form.
Frank Harrison's "Tobruk: The Birth of a Legend" gives a gripping account of the siege from one who was there.

If your tastes run to personal accounts, "Brazen Chariots" is highly recommended, but a little too brief. I also second the recommendation of "Take These Men" by Cyril Joly. It is a fictionalised account based on Joly's own experiences, rather than a personal account as such, but very good. Jopling's "Bearded Brigands" and Timpson's "In Rommel's Backyard" are both excellent first hand accounts of life and action in the LRDG.

One other gem I forgot to mention: "War in the Desert" by James Lucas. The second half focuses on Second Alamein and is good but the first half is even better. It includes chapters on day to day existence in the desert (rations, hygene etc)and the roles of each of the main service arms. It is full of nitty gritty detail such as what fighting, recce and standing patrols entailed in practice, how a defensive box was laid out, format of a set piece infantry attack etc. A must have if you want this kind of info from a British perspective.

Fiction- Derek Robinson "A Good Clean Fight."
(#2 in a Trilogy) set in the Western Desert 1942- while it does focus on pilots and aerial combat Robinson creates a remarkably good narrative on LRDG and German counter-measures. One of my favorites.

Fiction: "The Sands of Valour" by Geoffrey Wagner.

Fact: "The North African Campaign 1940 – 1943" by W.G. Jackson.

ing Avoid At All Costs: North African Victory by Adrian Stewart.

early battles of the Eigth Army. I have sold several copies of this title at conventions and my store.

If you are interested in the DAK, there is Dal McGuirks Rommels army in Africa. It has a wealth of details about the aarmy itself I have not seen anywhere else. There are lots of books with pictures of tanks and machineguns. I have not seen another that has color pictures of unifornms. Not painted plates like an Oprey, but photos of actual uniforms.

I would like to find an opposite one just like it for 8th Army. It seems only fair after all.

Another very good overview of the theater is War Without Hate: The Desert Campaign of 1940-43
by John Bierman and Colin Smith

link

I just listened to the audio edition of Killing Rommel by Stephen Pressfield (unabridged). The link below is for the book.

link

The CD edition is one of the finest narrations (by Alfred Molina) I ever heard, and I work in the audio book industry… Just outstanding work for an outstanding novel.

I am about half way through war without hate right now and am enjoying int a lot.

Thoughts on "The Path to Victory" Douglas Porch?

Always enjoyed "Tobruk- the great siege reassesed" by Frank Harrison

"Thoughts on "The Path to Victory" Douglas Porch?"

My opinion of this work has already been given here:

TMP link

Essentially I agree with his premise that it was good that the Allies started in the Med instead of going straight to France, as it allowed them to leverage their advantages in sea and air power. However, he is so wrong about so many 'minor' details that it is very distracting.

For example, in the intro he states that the Italians sank HMS Nelson with an aerial torpedo. While it is true they hit the Nelson, they certainly didn't sink her. From there it just gets worse, including a discussion of how weak the armor of the Tiger tank was, and how it was so vulnerable to the British 6pdr. Indeed, whenever he tries to describe anything lower than the operational level of the war, he gets it wrong, sometimes quite impressively wrong.

Panzer Battles by Von Mellenthin was an interesting read. But then I like books that have a different slant.

chris

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the much-acclaimed "The Rising Tide" by Jeff Shaara yet.

Mr Shaara masterfully threads a fine line between "historical fact" and "historical fiction", making use of actual historical accounts and memoirs to "re-create" what people like Eisenhower, Rommel, Patton and such were thinking during their best and worst moments.

I would strongly recommend it.

link

Colin Campbell's "Breakout: Minqar Qaim North Africa 1942" for an account of the New Zealand Division's most desperate battle, surrounded by the Afrika Korps as the 8th Army fell back to Egypt.

"Although his suggested mechanics for wargames rules are way out of date."

If feeling mean I sometimes make the players net their radios in as Mr Featherstone suggests. If they are manpack, I make them re-net if they move them….