The war in North Africa was a turning point for the Allies, as significant for the outcome of the global conflict as the Luftwaffe's failure to destroy the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain or the Russian victory over the German invaders at Stalingrad. Until they achieved a final victory in the desert wastes of North Africa, things had gone badly for the Allies on land and sea. North Africa gave the Allies new confidence - and helped to prevent the Nazis from controlling the oil fields of the Middle Eas
A war generally associated by two great leaders, both of them Field Marshals - Sir Bernard Montgomery on the British side and Erwin Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox, on the German side (see pictures above). But it involved more than a million men from other nations too - among them the US, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Italy - and thousands of ships, tanks, heavy guns and aircraft.
The battles were not unlike naval warfare, with the fighting raging backward and forward over desert wastes rather than the sea. American troops first experienced modern war in this bleak place, and their leader - General George Patton - learned some valuable lessons.
Warren Tute writes with the keen insight of someone who was actually there. As a Royal Navy officer (he retired as a Lt-Commander in 1946), he took party in the landings in North Africa and later in Sicily and Normandy where the lessons of co-operation in North Africa were applied well. Apart from his acclaimed books, Tute was also active in film and television.
A foreword to the book was written by General Rommel's son, Manfred Rommel, who makes this fascinating observation - that it was a consolation to his father that the German soldiers he had seen with sadness surrender at the end of the desert war were actually spared, as prisoners of war, from being sacrificed in Hitler's final and futile battles.
This copy is in Very Good condition with only minimal shelf wear and some spotting on the page edges. It is a little musty from storage. As usual, photos are of the item that you will receive.