The battle in the North African desert against the Italians and then the Germans was the most lengthy and long waged campaign that was fought by the British and the 8th Army during WWII. Actually, the British 8th Army was comprised as much by Commonwealth, Polish, and Free French forces as it was by purely British troops, but you get the idea.

The desert campaign was unlike any that the British had been ready for or training for. As a result, they generally did quite poorly against first the Italians and later against the Germans. Though always in quantitative superiority against their foes, qualitatively they never seemed to catch on to just how to fight a fast moving desert war. At least not until Montgomery was put in charge in late 1942.

Prior to that, it had been pretty much one series of errors and mistakes after another, with significant loss of life and materiel. Further more, the British sacked commanders at such a furious rate that none of them had the opportunity to really learn from their errors so their successors continued to make the same gaffes.

However, if nothing else, these various battled did provide a cadre of trained troops who had learned how to fight and survive in these hostile climes. They were able to pass this knowledge on to the new troops that arrived so when the 8th Army finally did get some quality leadership, they were able to fully put that training into use. Of course, one also has to look at the fact that by the time Montgomery got into the picture, the German Afrika Korps was a shadow of its previous self. Also, the Germans had to contend with the Allied invasion on the north west coast, further stretching their resources. This pincer movement eventually drove Axis forces out of North Africa in mid 1943.

The author has chosen to divide the book into several salient sections including the combat mission of the 8th, the unit organization and how it changed, battle doctrine and training, and the weapons and equipment that were used (from which much of their earlier troubles stemmed). It also goes into the area of 3c and intelligence before choosing several battles to show how the 8th Army fought during several key times of the campaign.

In all it makes for fascinating reading and tends to explode a few myths along the way. It s a book that I found enlightening and entertaining and I'm sure you will as well.

July 2007

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