Desert War: The North African Campaign 1940-1943 [Paperback]

Alan Moorehead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

Covering the North Africa campaign in 1940, this acclaimed account of the tussle between Montgomery's Eight Army and Rommel's Afrika Corps is a remarkable account of one of the most complicated and epic stand-offs in the history of World War II. Beautifully documented and historically relevant, Moorehead's celebrated insight that tank battles in the desert reflected battles at sea—the lumbering tanks like ships lost in a vast ocean of sand—and the breadth and penetration of his vision that encompasses the whole panorama of war, illustrate why this account is considered to be the definitive reference of the African campaigns. From describing the soldier stubbing out his cigarette before going into action to the expression on a tank commander's face as he is hit, this poetically scribed documentation is a thorough and fascinating journey into one of history's most pivotal war campaigns.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

One of the most remarkable books of this or any other modern war. -- The New Statesman

About the Author

Alan Moorehead (1910-1983) was born in Melbourne, Australia. One of the most celebrated correspondents of the Second World War, his books include Gallipoli, The White Nile, and The Blue Nile.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140275142
• ISBN-13: 978-0140275148
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #308,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > History > Africa > North Africa

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Vivid Account - But Not A History, April 19, 2001

By 

crmsonsky (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desert War: The North African Campaign 1940-1943 (Paperback)

Do not buy this book expecting a history of the African Campaigns; what Moorehead has provided is a kind of personal transect of the events in Africa.

Moorehead's personal biases overshadow any journalistic allegiance to objectivity, but this is the beauty of the book. Finally a chance to see the war, not from the objective perspective of memoirs written long afterward, in which factual accuracy, multiple sources and the gift of hind-sight play such important roles, but from the immediate perspective of single man over the course of three years. When you read this book, you are seeing Moorehead's war. His eye for detail, his keen insights, his gross misconceptions, his various fascinations, his undeniably British dispositions, and the evolution of his attitude toward the war: all come through unfiltered.

One more thing, which I feel is worth mentioning:

This man can write. After experiencing the repetitive rhetoric of Amborse, the dry number crunching of serious historians, and the unpracticed style of the thousands who have set out to write their own memoirs, Moorehead's prose is a breath of fresh air. He is a veteran writer who knows that he is living through extraordinary times, and he takes the oppurtunity to put his talent to good use. His writing has a vividness which can usually only be found in the best fiction; and just like the best fiction, it is quite impossible to put down once it is picked up.

The result is a book which I recommend to anyone interested in the era - worthy of anyone's time, money and bookshelf space.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moorehead: A Forgotten Classic, May 15, 2002

By 

R. J Szasz "Rod Szasz" (Tokyo, Japan Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desert War: The North African Campaign 1940-1943 (Paperback)

If you are interested in the War in North Africa this is the read for you. It is absorbing and well written with a flow of a correspondent who is constantly moving to different parts of the front. I love and would recommend anything by Moorehead, but this is still a special book because he lived most of it. It is not however a history of the war. There are large chunks of the war that are not written about, time frames where whole battles are not directly refered to. That is because Moorehead was not there to cover the war. That does not detract from the flavour and action of the book. Moorehead is great in, among other areas,

* his description of the British Campaign against Italy in Ethiopia
* his descrption of the early days of the war and also the Australian role in the war against Vichy France in Syria and then its role to nip a coup and Nazi support for Iraq, firmly in the bud
* his description of the ebb and flow of battle that confused both sides, but ultimately was most boldly exploited by the Germans. The swirl of dust and whole lines of transport and tanks wondering either into or out of battle can almost be tasted.
* the seldom written about race to Tunis at the end of the book, the sudden rush across Algeria and then bogged down fighting in Tunisia; tough battle that tested the Americans for the first time and one where, despite the public image, was still largely British in effort.

The book is also of note in that halfway through Moorehead leaves the front for India and covers the Scripp's mission on Indian Independence at the height of the Japanese invasion. I know of really few descriptions of the positions of all the major parties in debating future of India: Gandhi with his unrealistic notion of "sating the violence of the Japanese invader with the blood of pacifist Indians who merely submit to the bayonets;" Ali Jinnah's willingness to send millions of Muslim troops to support the British if Britain would grant defacto status of the Muslim homeland of Pakistan. Somewhere between the two was the ever boxing clever Nehru. Moorhead met all these men and interviewed them in detail.

Moorehead also relates the loss of other correspondents in the fighting. The constant weariness and grind of the campaign that had Britain in the fighting for more than 3 years is apparent and there is a heartrending description of a British Tommy experiencing too much of the constant slogging and pounding of battle and not caring, in desperation, leads a forlorn attack in what was obviously a case of suicide.

This is one of the best books on WWII and war that I have ever read... and I may have read over 1000 since my early teens.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A personal history of the desert war (emphasis on personal), March 26, 2002

By 

Craig MACKINNON (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Desert War: The North African Campaign 1940-1943 (Paperback)

Alan Moorehead was a war correspondent who covered most of the 3-year desert campaign in North Africa in World War II. Therefore, he saw the war at first hand, sometimes coming under fire himself (usually from aircraft), sometimes getting lost in the vast desert, sometimes missing key events because his reporter's intuition led him astray. Although he was not usually on the front line, he did manage to get into towns within hours of their liberation. He had interviews with the general staff of the (British and U.S.) armies and a good grasp on the overall strategic vision of the campaign, from the Allies' point of view.

The writing quality is top-notch, especially descriptions of the burnt out and fought-over towns and countryside. You get a good flavour for the conditions the troops fought in and for the bravery and resilience shown by the soldiers. There are a number of very interesting sidelights to the action, highlighting the difficulties encountered in trying to report the war.

Unfortunately, there are a number of quibbles that detract from a 5-star rating. This book is not a "definitive" history of the war - it was written too soon and from a purely Allied point of view. It is undoubtedly biased - he constantly makes excuses for the Allied generals' failings to deliver a knock-out blow to the Axis, especially blaming the long supply line from England (neglecting the fact that half of the Axis' supplies were sunk in the Mediterranean). He refuses to admit the Allied forces were consistently outgeneralled by Rommell, blaming the British training and internal organisation instead, first claiming the generals could not change it (bureaucratic inertia), then applauding Montgomery for changing it quickly. There's distracting (and long) digressions from the front, especially a trip through India and a vacation to the U.S. While the politics of Indian independence are interesting in their own right, they are complex and require an historical context so they couldn't be developed properly. Finally, there is no background material - the author assumes at least a passing knowledge of the people and politics of the day, so it might be frustrating for a beginner. The maps are generally quite good, however, so geographical mastery of the area is not necessary.

Therefore, I recommend this book as a personal snapshot of the attitudes and actions of the Allied armies in the desert campaigns of WWII. As such, it is clearly biased, but the quality of the writing and the descriptions overcomes this difficulty.