"Desert Campaign - Atlas Type Book - ?" Topic

So I'm rereading 'Dilemmas of The Desert War' by Michael Carver: one of my favorite books.

The maps are adequate for unit movements but completely lacking in terms of actual terrain, elevation and depression.

Which got me thinking: I have over 50 books on the Desert Campaign in my collection and none of them have really adequate terrain depiction.

I have several WWII Atlas books but their coverage is broad by campaign.

Is there any Desert Campaign book(s) with good terrain maps or any type of Desert Campaign Atlas books availabe – ?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Do you have Bengasi Handicap, from Command Decision at Old Glory?

Yes.

Possibly too much information, but have a look at link

The incredibly annoying part is that they didn't map Beda Fomm …

try

The Campaign for North Africa Hardcover – 1980
by Jack Coggins

Who thought the desert had such varied terrain! So many tracks, settlements etc!

Here's a another set of detailed NA maps, but at 1:250,000. And, yes, they did map Beda Fomm.

link

MH

And here's another couple of maps:

link

MH

Finally, I reviewed this book on Amazon (USA). It contains color photos of various portions of the desert, but per my review comments, almost totally lacks historical context. It is definitely NOT a "then-and-now" book. The editor should at least have given a map location for each image, and ideally a compass direction as well.

link

MH

John: I will take another look at BH as I don't recall the maps having that type of detail.

Sancho: thanks! That is exactly what I was looking for.

Wackmole9 & hindsTMP: thanks for the book info and additional map references.

Anyone have this book:

link

Is it worth buying – ?

Thanks Wackamole, I've got The Campaign for North Africa on order now from ABE.com

That "Then and Now" book is tempting, "Joes Shop".

Looking at the reviewers, at least some of them seem legit, although some look like 5-star review hacks.

MH

I just ordered the Coggins book myself – looking forwad to getting it after reading reviews on several sites.

MH: agreed re reviews. I have several of the then and now series but wondering how that format would translate into a non-european desert campaign.

Joe

Update: received 'The Campaign for North Africa' by Jack Coggins as recommended by Wackmole9 (above) this week from Amazon.

link

This is a very interesting and unusual book. The author uses a large series of highly detailed pencil drawings and large black and white maps to chart the campaign.

I was able to open this book to the series of Gazala Maps and while re-reading 'Dilemmas of The Desert War' follow the action(s) with no problems.

The maps are not topographic but are clear and very easy to follow especially since this is a large book and each map has its own border.

This book was not on my radar so thanks again to Wackmole9 for the recommendation. If you are interested in the Desert Campaign this is a great addition to your library!

I found a copy of the Campaign for North Africa in a university library. I was dissapointed as everything prior to Torch is one brief introduction. Mixed with everything else in WWII up to that point. JOE if this is an incorrect assessment please let us know.

I did find a two volume set by Barrie Pitt, The Crucible of War. Part one is called Western Desert 1941, and the second part is Year of Alamein. Beware it has been republished over three volumes. Gets mixed reviews but looked good to me.

Stephen: no, I would say you are spot on. It's not a book I would recommend as a primer or detailed treatment of the North African Campaign.

However, the maps are excellent and the book is valuable as a guide to supplement other books that are lacking same. I think Carver's books on North Africa ('Dilemmas of The Desert War', 'Tobruk' and 'El Alamein') are outstanding but the detail (which I appreciate) on unit movement/action is dense and the maps are completely inadequate which is a problem with most books especially those that cover Tobruk (1941) Crusader and Gazala.

Pitt's series is very good: the original publication has good maps but several subsequent reprints left them out so one has to be careful when purchasing.

R'/Joe

As I recall, Coggins' Campaign for North Africa and a similar book about Guadalcanal are books that made those two campaigns come alive in my imagination as a younger reader – the illustrations of equipment and the maps helped me to visualize the campaigns – and made other accounts, like Brazen Chariots come alive.

Joedog: agreed. I had the Guadalcanal book but had no idea re the North African book until the info was provided in this thread.