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Alamein to Zem Zem

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This book used to be extremely hard to find, so it's nice to see this edition and know that it's been reprinted since i read it in '82.

Here's what makes this book so interesting: Douglas was a student of literature, British, so his perspective on being a tanker in WWII reflects an insightful sensibility. He fought in numerous campaigns in Africa (Alamein and on) before dying in Normandy shortly after being called back to active duty. Douglas is considered one of the finest war poets of WWII, but it's his descriptions of tank battles and the hot, concussive nature of it that is most memorable to me.

This is the kind of war memoir that is often overlooked but rare in it's depth and scope.

I just finished From Alamein to Zem Zem by Keith Douglas. Douglas was a 24 year old lieutenant in the British Army who, on the eve of the battle of Alamein, deserted his staff job in Cairo to rejoin his regiment and take part in the attack. The thin little book (167 pages) covers Douglas' experiences as the commander of a troop of Crusader tanks in the battle and the pursuit of Rommel's Afrika Korps that followed.

Despite his youth, Douglas had established a reputation as something of a poet and his facility with words makes this memoir something very special. I enjoyed it immensely. Douglas is by turns matter of fact and lyrical when describing his experiences. For me at least, he provided the sense of vicariously being in the desert with him as he rode his tank into battle.
Unfortunately the book is simply too short, Douglas was wounded during the campaign and after describing his evacuation back to a hospital in Palestine in some detail, the rest of his recuperation is given only a cursory description, as is his return to his unit.

After the period covered by the memoir, Capt Douglas returned to Great Britain to train for the D-Day invasion. He landed on Gold Beach 6 June 1944 and was killed three days later by mortar fire at the age of 24.

I recommend the book very highly as one of the best personal memoirs of WWII I've read.

Warning spoilers - This is a rare eyewitness account of fighting in a rare theatre written by a rare person; a poet. Keith Douglas is bored of recovering behind lines and disobeys orders in order to return to the front.
The highly interesting scenes that follow describe in economical spare, yet highly descriptive prose the tank battles in the various desert theatre's that seem so familar from the movies. The terrain and climate become characters as they should. Certain Brits really took to the desert in a way none of the Germans ever did. Terrific stuff and incredible details of something I thought was confined to WW1 when commonwealth troops get fed into a meatgrinder in classic tory cannon fodder fashion. This was a shock for me as an Aussie raised on the Gallipoli myth. It's poetic justice that the ' colonel Blimp' type responsible gets blown away as the desert fox becomes the hunted instead of the hunter.
It's not so neat what happens to poor keith but he does get a little cocky and you cant really blame him for thinking he's leading a charmed life. The Germans or Italians certainly mastered booby traps if not the back wadi's. They say that such a thin sliver killed Keith Douglas during the D-day landings that he looked completely unmarked. Made me wonder how close we came to not having the dynamite, ' Homage to Catalonia'.
There are several way's Hitler could have won the whole war and this was the famous ' end of the begining' of, perhaps the most fascinating one these.' A bloody close run thing.'

A gripping account of life and death in north Africa during World War II. Douglas is an engaging writer and I found it difficult to put down this slim volume until I had finished it. I am not a great reader of "war" books but "Alamain to Zem Zem" is an exception.

Yes, that Keith Douglas, the famous "Oxford" poet wrote this slim and lyrical volume on the British army experience in North Africa. It's a shame that this book is out of print now and used copies are commanding a high price.