The Battle for North Africa
The Battle for North Africa

Author: Glyn Harper

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2017-06-06

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0253031435

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“A well-researched and highly readable account of one of World War II’s most important ‘turning point’ battles.” —Jerry D. Morelock, Senior Editor at HistoryNet.com In the early years of World War II, Germany shocked the world with a devastating blitzkrieg, rapidly conquered most of Europe, and pushed into North Africa. As the Allies scrambled to counter the Axis armies, the British Eighth Army confronted the experienced Afrika Corps, led by German field marshal Erwin Rommel, in three battles at El Alamein. In the first battle, the Eighth Army narrowly halted the advance of the Germans during the summer of 1942. However, the stalemate left Nazi troops within striking distance of the Suez Canal, which would provide a critical tactical advantage to the controlling force. War historian Glyn Harper dives into the story, vividly narrating the events, strategies, and personalities surrounding the battles and paying particular attention to the Second Battle of El Alamein, a crucial turning point in the war that would be described by Winston Churchill as “the end of the beginning.” Moving beyond a simple narrative of the conflict, The Battle for North Africa tackles critical themes, such as the problems of coalition warfare, the use of military intelligence, the role of celebrity generals, and the importance of an all-arms approach to modern warfare.

The Battle of Alamein
The Battle of Alamein

Author: John Bierman

Publisher: Viking Adult

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13:

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"The picture is large in scope, juxtaposing the designs and delusions of grand strategy against the courage, chaos, and confusion of individuals in combat. At Alamein, Nazi Germany's hitherto unbroken succession of land victories was finally reversed, and the mightiest war machine the world had ever seen suffered its first major defeat. This riveting account is military history at its absolute best."--BOOK JACKET.

El Alamein
El Alamein

Author: Bryn Hammond

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-06-20

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13: 1780964536

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El Alamein, Britain's victory in the deserts of North Africa in 1942, was the first major reversal of fortunes for Hitler's Third Reich. Before the Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the British had never won a major battle on land against the Germans; nor indeed had anyone else. Drawing on a remarkable array of first-hand accounts, this book reveals the personal experiences of those on the frontline and provides fascinating details of how the war was actually fought. It also includes analysis of the strategic decisions made by the generals. El Alamein is the story of exactly how a seemingly beaten and demoralized army turned near-defeat into victory in a little over four months of protracted and bloody fighting in the harsh North African desert.

What Ifs of Jewish History
What Ifs of Jewish History

Author: Gavriel D. Rosenfeld

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-09-08

Total Pages: 419

ISBN-13: 110703762X

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Counterfactual history of the Jewish past inviting readers to explore how the course of Jewish history might have been different.

Destiny in the Desert
Destiny in the Desert

Author: Jonathan Dimbleby

Publisher: Profile Books

Published: 2012-10-15

Total Pages: 727

ISBN-13: 1847654673

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It was the British victory at the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 that inspired one of Winston Churchill's most famous aphorisms: 'This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning'. And yet the significance of this episode remains unrecognised. In this thrilling historical account, Jonathan Dimbleby describes the political and strategic realities that lay behind the battle, charting the nail-biting months that led to the victory at El Alamein in November 1942. It is a story of high drama, played out both in the war capitals of London, Washington, Berlin, Rome and Moscow, and at the front in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morrocco and Algeria and in the command posts and foxholes in the desert. Destiny in the Desert is about politicians and generals, diplomats, civil servants and soldiers. It is about forceful characters and the tensions and rivalries between them. Drawing on official records and the personal insights of those involved at every level, Dimbleby creates a vivid portrait of a struggle which for Churchill marked the turn of the tide - and which for the soldiers on the ground involved fighting and dying in a foreign land. Now available in paperback in time, Destiny in the Desert, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman prize 2012-13, is required reading for anyone with an interest in the Desert War.

War of Shadows
War of Shadows

Author: Gershom Gorenberg

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2021-01-19

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 1610396286

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In this World War II military history, Rommel's army is a day from Cairo, a week from Tel Aviv, and the SS is ready for action. Espionage brought the Nazis this far, but espionage can stop them—if Washington wakes up to the danger. As World War II raged in North Africa, General Erwin Rommel was guided by an uncanny sense of his enemies' plans and weaknesses. In the summer of 1942, he led his Axis army swiftly and terrifyingly toward Alexandria, with the goal of overrunning the entire Middle East. Each step was informed by detailed updates on British positions. The Nazis, somehow, had a source for the Allies' greatest secrets. Yet the Axis powers were not the only ones with intelligence. Brilliant Allied cryptographers worked relentlessly at Bletchley Park, breaking down the extraordinarily complex Nazi code Enigma. From decoded German messages, they discovered that the enemy had a wealth of inside information. On the brink of disaster, a fevered and high-stakes search for the source began. War of Shadows is the cinematic story of the race for information in the North African theater of World War II, set against intrigues that spanned the Middle East. Years in the making, this book is a feat of historical research and storytelling, and a rethinking of the popular narrative of the war. It portrays the conflict not as an inevitable clash of heroes and villains but a spiraling series of failures, accidents, and desperate triumphs that decided the fate of the Middle East and quite possibly the outcome of the war.

Fighting the People's War
Fighting the People's War

Author: Jonathan Fennell

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-01-24

Total Pages: 967

ISBN-13: 1107030951

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Jonathan Fennell captures for the first time the true wartime experience of the ordinary soldiers from across the empire who made up the British and Commonwealth armies. He analyses why the great battles were won and lost and how the men that fought went on to change the world.

Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign
Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign

Author: Jonathan Fennell

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-02-17

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 1139496026

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Military professionals and theorists have long understood the relevance of morale in war. Montgomery, the victor at El Alamein, said, following the battle, that 'the more fighting I see, the more I am convinced that the big thing in war is morale'. Jonathan Fennell, in examining the North African campaign through the lens of morale, challenges conventional explanations for Allied success in one of the most important and controversial campaigns in British and Commonwealth history. He introduces new sources, notably censorship summaries of soldiers' mail, and an innovative methodology that assesses troop morale not only on the evidence of personal observations and official reports but also on contemporaneously recorded rates of psychological breakdown, sickness, desertion and surrender. He shows for the first time that a major morale crisis and stunning recovery decisively affected Eighth Army's performance during the critical battles on the Gazala and El Alamein lines in 1942.

Pendulum Of War
Pendulum Of War

Author: Niall Barr

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2010-12-15

Total Pages: 586

ISBN-13: 1446413705

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In late June 1942, the dispirited and defeated British Eighth Army was pouring back towards the tiny railway halt of El Alamein in the western desert of Egypt. Tobruk had fallen and Eighth Army had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Rommel's Panzerarmee Afrika. Yet just five months later, the famous bombardment opened the Eighth Army's own offensive which destroyed the Axis threat to Egypt. Explanations for the remarkable change of fortune have generally been sought in the abrasive personality of the new army commander Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery. But the long running controversies surrounding the commanders of Eighth Army - Generals Auchinleck and Montgomery - and that of their legendary opponent, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, have often been allowed to obscure the true nature of the Alamein campaign. Pendulum of War provides a vivid and fresh perspective on the fighting at El Alamein from the early desperate days of July to the final costly victory in November.