Customer Reviews

Meeting the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch to Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Orr Kelly's "Meeting the Fox" - Great work! Aside from "The Rommel Papers" (E. Rommel/B.H. Liddell) this book is the only book singly dedicated to battles of the North African theatre that I have read so my review may be limited from a comparative standpoint. Yet with a fairly decent number of books on WWII under my belt I can easily state that "Meeting the Fox" was one of the most enjoyable I've read. It's a great complement to "The Rommel Papers" in that it is dedicated to the North African theatre after entrance of the US Army with Operation Torch - the first grand scale allied amphibious landing. "The Rommel Papers" deals more inclusively with the entire North African campaign, and not surprisingly from the German perspective. "Meeting the Fox" is really dedicated to examining the US Army's "trial by fire and blood" (as it was) upon it's first (disastrous) meeting with the German/Italian armies. Kelly paints a nice picture of how the US Army that landed in North Africa changed from a green, poorly trained and often poorly lead force in nine short months to one more familiar to most Americans that fought and won in Northern Europe a year later. Kelly is certainly critical of problems that arose in the early battles, but he is also fair. While others have lain certain and almost singular blame for early failures on Maj. Gen. Fredendall, the highest-ranking field commander during the first bloody loses, Kelly is quick to point out that Fredendall was not the only "incompetent". Moreover, Kelly gives credit to commanders who have shared blame but probably didn't deserve it, such as Combat Command B commander Brig. Gen. Robinett and Ranger leader Maj. Darby. Fortunately for many of those involved in early defeats that were not removed from command, they learned from the experiences and went on to brilliant successes, such as Darby.

"Meeting the Fox" is a well written, easy to read book. There is ample hard information and facts for the serious student and enough literary flare and style for the more casual WWII reader. All in all this book belongs on my Classics shelf and I recommend it highly!

Meeting the Fox turned out to be the book I was looking for - one which would give a detailed, but not confusing, history of the Allied campaign in Africa during WW II. It helps me and my late husband's grandsons appreciate and understand his part in that war.

Orr Kelly did an excellent job recounting the history of Operation Torch and the battle for Tunisia. He brought it alive by documenting and re-telling the personal stories of some real American heroes (Major Siglin, Captain Bill Tuck, Colonel Waters, etc.) This is a very enjoyable read that flows without losing the detail. Thank you Mr. Kelly.

Some in the Allied Command structure during WWII wanted to bypass the North African campaign and strike directly at Normandy as early as late 1942 / early 1943. This book shows clearly how much of a disaster that would have been.

The North African campaign was the testing ground of the Allied war machine, where the U.S. Army raised the officer corps and developed the tactics which would lead to ultimate victory on the fields and in the cities of Europe.

This book was written on a very interesting topic and is an excellent history. I sort of painstakingly only gave it four stars rather than five, because the book is mostly history and can sometimes be a little bit dry since there's no single group of soldiers or unit that it follows and that you can connect with. Of course, this is impossible for a history of an entire campaign in the largest war ever fought, so it really is five star history, just four star reading for me.

It lets you know all the strategic reasoning behind both sides moves, delves into the technological capabilities of the allies, explains the political wrangling between the U.S., England, and the French who joined the allies. As it progresses it tells the story of smaller units in the myriad string of battles that made up the campaign, expertly navigating back and forth between the tactical scene and the big picture, and between the telling of events and the analysis that gives them meaning and puts them into context. The history is chronological, comprehensive, and complete. One can imagine the fear, drama, suspense, sting of defeat, and adrenaline of going into combat for the first time against one of the most vaunted armies ever assembled on completely foreign land.

The North African campaign shows the U.S. military's somewhat painful growth process which was extremely interesting. Working with allies became sorted out, but not without major frictions such as the falling out between Patton and Air Marshall Cunningham. Tanks, artillery, infantry and air power were mixed and matched many different ways until the combination that worked was found, the price for that secret paid dearly in blood. Political, too old, or just sadly not competent officers were shaken out, and a solid, in-depth leadership core of middle and lower level officers were minted with experience.

One of the things I liked best about the book was how the author occasionally spiced it up with the sort of amazing fact is stranger than fiction moments that can only happen in war. U-boats torpedo supply ships on the invasion beaches, and guys jumping off ship get sucked back inside the hole the torpedo ripped in the side of the ship, forcing them to abandon ship twice. Soldiers trying to retreat are run over by tank treads, and simply pushed into the mud so that after the tank passes they get right back up and keep running, only a lot dirtier than before. Units surrounded on Djebels wait for nightfall and literally WALK through enemy lines, feet away from sleeping German soldiers and 88mm guns.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in military history, the U.S. Army, North African History, or how the start of great endeavors can be difficult learning experiences.

I was impressed by the previous reviews but certainly not by this book. In the foreward, the author states that he is basically a WW2 history amateur, and was 'moved' to write the book during a visit to the US Memorial Cemetery in Algiers. It shows; the author uses a very confusing style - by focusing on individuals, he can not give you a comprehensive idea of what the hay was going on. Individual POV has a place in military history, no doubt (see especially "The Coldest Winter"), but here it just makes things anecdotal and confusing. Similarly, the author's unfounded background causes him to confuse and mis-label military equipment (such as the American M3 'Lee/Grant" Medium tank and the M3 "Stuart" Light tank)(he even mis-labels the one on the cover:) but in an inconsistent way so that one is never sure which type of tank was involved. Similarly, he asserts several times that it was the German "Heavy machine guns" that made the difference in several German/British infantry engagements, due to the German gun's larger caliber and longer range etc. BS, as the Germans possessed no heavy machine guns (other than a 'fixed' mount for the 7.92mm MG34/42) and the German and British machine guns shared almost identical calibers, ballistic characteristics, and performance. These are only two examples of some often-grotesque errors in the presentation.
There are not any 'perfect' books on this interesting period of US involvement in WW2, but if you are a serious student of history you can certainly do a LOT better than this one.

This is a very well-writen military history of WW2 in Tunisia, from late 1942 to May 1943. Although the "Fox" in the title refer to German general Rommel, Rommel figures in only a small part of the book because he is largely involved in his famous retreat across North Africa while much of the action in the book takes place. Once Rommel finally arrives on the scene, he makes some inspections of the military situation at hand, issues orders, then soon departs for Germany, never to return. Other German commanders, notably von Arnim, direct most of the Axis movements. The author interweaves the stories of ground and air units, large and small, and includes the experiences of many individual soldiers as well. My only complaint was that the maps were not very good and made it difficult to follow the movements of the ground units. With as much detail as was provided in the text, good maps would have made the battles much easier to visualize.

This is an excellent military history of the African invasion. If you are looking for a book that will tell you about the importance of the invasion and how it influenced the war this is not for you. This is strictly a military account and while it is well done it offers little else. The prose is very clear and conventional like most military histories. Overall it is a great analysis of the war and provides an essential report on what happened in Africa.

I have never read anything on Operation Torch specifically before and totally enjoyed this book. It is focussed more specifically on the US forces as they dominated much of the landscape during Torch, although the British & French get adequate attention.

Excellent: Great to read about the incoming Eisenhower, Bradley & Patton. Also it was amazing at how brilliant the Afrika Corps was. They seemed to out-fight the Allies at every turn and would have beaten them with more men & materiel. What would the result have been if the Allies didn't have Ultra and Hitler had decided to invade Russia in 1942/43 AFTER dealing with Africa & the Middle East first?

Average: I would have appreciated more detail on the Allied Atlantic Crossing. So much is made of the great invasion of Normandy where troops travelled for 24 hours on ships to land on the beaches. A great majority of these Torch troops embarked on continental USA and were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean before hitting the sand before an unknown enemy. So much more could have been said about this ordeal. I think Orr gave the trip one or two paragraphs.

Mediocre: A little more credit to Churchill and his naysayers regarding the desire by the USA for an invasion of France in 1943. Whilst Churchill had his own private reasons, he could have been given a lot more credit for helping turn the US's green citizen armies into what we saw on the Cotentin Peninsula in 1944.

I recommend this book to you as an enjoyable and informative read.