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Montgomery and Alamein (Crucible of War)

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"Montgomery and Alamein" is the third volume of a three-volume set by Barrie Pitt published by Cassell & Co. in London. Pitt is no stranger to war or the theater about which he writes, having served in both the European and Middle East theaters in World War II.

After the quick and unexpected fall of Tobruk on June 21, 1942, to a carefully orchestrated air and ground attack by Rommel's Afrika Korps, the German advance in North Africa once again threatened the British hold on Egypt and the Suez Canal. Churchill flew to Cairo on August 3, split the Middle East command by creating Eighth Army, relieved Auchinleck and Ritchie, and placed Gen. Harold Alexander in command of Middle East Command and Lt. Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery in command of Eighth Army. Throughout the remainder of 1942, Montgomery led his Eighth Army to successive victories against the Desert Fox.

Montgomery had his work cut out for him, but he and his men inflicted a defeat on German forces at Alam Halfa on September 7, and thereafter methodically pressed the Afrika Korps back toward El Alamein. Rommel, who could no longer hope to regain the offensive in North Africa, now found his forces practically surrounded at El Alamein. From October 23 to November 4 the battle raged, and when it was over the Axis had been decisively defeated, their losses staggering. It was a prelude to Allied landings farther west on November 8, and the success of Soviet forces against the German 6th Army at Stalingrad in February the following year.

Thoroughly researched and written in a delightful, fast-paced style, Pitt gives readers their money's worth. I came away from "Montgomery and Alamein" with a far better appreciation of the man who arguably was Britain's most irascible commander, but also the most successful. It was once said of Montgomery that he was "quick as a ferret; and about as likeable." But in war there isn't room for nice guys. Montgomery knew that.

In the end, one has to give credit to Cassell & Co. for introducing all three volumes of their "Crucible of War" series on North African fighting-you won't want to buy one without purchasing the other two.

The Crucible of War: Montgomery and Alamein: The Definitive History of the Desert War - Volume 3

This book is nothing but a verbatim copy of a previous work, and an egregious case of misleading packaging by the publisher.

For those of you who have volumes I and II of Barrie Pitt's excellent The Crucible of War series, do not buy this so-called volume III because it is merely pages 203-453 of "The Year of Alamein" copied word-for-word, with the exact same layout, design, line drawings (and poorer reproductions of the exact same photographs and captions) put between different covers and marketed as something new.

I highly recommend volumes I and II of the series, as readable, interesting narrations of the Desert War that offer a nice balance between broad sweep and tactical detail. But I urge you to avoid wasting your money on so-called volume III. And I urge Amazon.com to warn its customers that they are not buying an original title, but rather another, shortened edition of volume II.

This book has been originally writtem 20 years ago and today is reproposed in a new package. Being brief the problems with this book are essentially two:

1) the author has a tendency to get lost in details many of them insignificants for the story, and some of them plain wrong (and the author could have corrected them).

2) the book is in the stream of war histories watched only by one side. It is interesting to note that the author never mentions the unusefulness of the battle of El Alamein: it is in fact well known that the Torch landings will have forced the Axis army to withdrawn anyway and therefore the British could have attacked the Axis much more easily. But this it would not have been a British-only victory, but an Anglo-American victory.

Therefore it seems a little pretentious to call this book the "definitive" history of the western desert war. Given the boredom caused by the plethora of details, it is more likely the "bed-time" history of desert war.