Customer Reviews

The Battle for North Africa

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Being a veteran, Mr Strawson concentrated his writing to the military and some political aspects of the campaign in North Africa. The political was mostly involving Churchill's interference with the running of the war. Hitler wasn't the only one to micro manage the war. The battle coverage begins in earnest in 1940 with Wavell getting his forces ready for war with the Italians as well as building the infrastructure necessary to wage that war. It was difficult for London didn't give him much help but Wavell won a series of battles and the italian army was in trouble, forcing Hitler to send Rommel and the Afrika Korp to Africa in Feb, 1941. Besides describing the ebb and flow of the battles, the author spends a lot of time discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the British Commanders: Wavell, O' Connor, Auchinleck, Ritchie, Cunningham, Montgomery and Alexander. The author has high praise for Wavell and places the blame for his failures on Churchill. Churchill wanted to do to much with too little. And there is some anecdotal experiences as well.

Rommel is also discussed and is praised highly for his efforts, especially when considered he was not supported by Berlin very well. The book is highly British-centric and Operation Torch and the Kasserine affair are barely mentioned. Also the engagements in East Africa are barely mentioned. There are 12 black and white maps and they're pretty good. The photo section is good also. A Bibliography and Index ends the book.

The author covers all the key battles and gives credit to both British and German alike. I liked the closing where the author describes the importance of eliminating the Axis in Africa and allowing the Allies to invade Sicily and Italy. He also criticizes Churchill for reducing British forces in Africa to vainly assist in Greece and Crete. The author is convinced that if intervention in the Balkans never happened, Africa could have been won a year earlier. That also means Sicily and Italy could have attacked sooner and it would have probably been a little easier to capture those objectives.

This is a concise, easy to read narrative and though there are many books on the market covering this topic, it should be considered for anybody looking for an overview. Its also good enough and inexpensive enough for collectors to add to their libraries.

Strawson draws the broad conflict between the Axis and Allies in North Africa in World War II. This is a British perspective of the conflict, since the contributions of the Americans and Free French were only briefly mentioned. Also given low priority were the Italians. Therefore you get an Anglo-German conflict. Strawson is partially right since the conflict focused mainly on these two nation's armies. However to disregard the Torch landings in Morocco and Algeria, and not to mention the Free French, one gets the idea the author is being nationalistic.

Strawson is at his best in describing the strategies of the various commanders: Rommel, Wavell, Montogomery, and Auchinleck.

Unlike previous authors, Strawson is very complimentary on the services of Wavell and Auchinleck since they made victory possible for Montgomery. Their training, administration, and logistics helped Montgomery win. The policy and how it applied to other parts of the British Empire also helped to explain the long see saw duration of the battle.

A helpful read of the conflict.

i read this book a while back and found it to be a good start to this subject. the book does a good job of describing the experience of those involved in the desert war, which is the main focus of the book. although i search for more technical detail, this is certainly a good book to put those details into a more rounded perspective.