Customer Reviews

War Without Hate: The Desert Campaign of 1940-43

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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I have a vague recollection of a book published in Germany shortly after the war entitled War Without Hate whose subject matter was Rommel in the desert (and I seem to recall that it was a collection of Rommel's writings regarding the Desert War). This is not that book but that book may well have been the source of the title. While the Desert War was certainly less ugly than the generally contemporaneous struggles going on in Russia and in the Pacific, it certainly was not free from pain, fear and death. The final surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia resulted in more prisoners than the surrender of Axis forces in Stalingrad some four months before. The Germans used S mines designed when step on to spring up to roughly crotch height before exploding. When a British plan to attack Axis rear areas using troops disguised in German uniforms guided by anti-Nazi Germans failed because some allegedly anti-Nazi Germans betrayed the British to the Germans, the remaining allegedly anti-Nazi Germans were summarily executed. Flamethrowers were used to burn soldiers out of fortifications and many burned to death when their tanks "brewed up".

Yet there was an extraordinary mutual respect between the Germans and the British (that included a mutual disrespect of the Italians). They shared even their taste in music. Lili Marlene became the unofficial theme song for each side. One wonders why this was possible in the desert while unrelenting hatred raged elsewhere. Perhaps the answer can be found in the circumstances of the desert itself. There were few civilians in the combat areas so resentments arising from civilian deaths were relatively rare. (But there were few civilians on the Pacific islands either yet war there raged as savagely as anywhere at any time.) Neither side considered the desert to be their homeland. Both sides constantly fought the same enemy, the desert itself.

This book is a well-written history of the entire Desert War primarily from a British perspective. It is full of personal anecdotes of the war. We learn the true story of the hero (or anti-hero) of The English Patient. (Sorry, girls. He preferred the affections of men.) We are introduced to the mystery of the professional magician turned soldier who created the illusion that the port of Alexandria was elsewhere causing the German bombs to fall harmlessly into the sea. We learn of the deserter who won the Victoria Cross. We ride with Rommel as he inflicts the defeat upon the American Army at Kasserine Pass that he hopes will traumatize the green Americans into a permanent inferiority complex. Rommel captured so many American tanks and other equipment that, ironically, it was he himself whose morale suffered. When he saw the quantity and quality of American equipment, all of which had been transported directly from America to the beaches of North Africa, he could see the handwriting on the wall as regards the respective production capacities of America and Germany. (It is also interesting to note the casualties inflicted upon the Americans by the Vichy French in light of American deaths in Iraq reaching about 900 as I write these words. On November 8, 1942 the American Army landed in North Africa on beaches owned by the collaborationist Vichy French. Two days later, a ceasefire was negotiated between the Americans and the French by which time the French had killed 1000 Americans. Then the Americans could begin to fight the Germans.)

It bears mentioning as well that this book captures a true turning point of the war. The climax of the book describes the Battle of El Alamein that began on October 23, 1942. At that time, the German Army had not suffered a true land defeat. In Russia, the army was advancing into Stalingrad and, while resistance may have been more than expected, few doubted a German victory. In the Desert, Rommel was stalled outside of Alexandria but was still only a few miles from the Nile, the Suez Canal, and the oil-rich Arab states. By the end of November, 1942 Montgomery had smashed through Rommel's lines and Rommel was in full retreat west back through the 2000 miles he had conquered on his way east. The Germans were surrounded, eventually to surrender, at Stalingrad and the Americans had landed behind Rommel in their first offensive against Hitler. What a difference a month makes!

This is an excellent history of a campaign little known to the American public. If I have a criticism it is that coverage of the Torch landings and the following battles is sparse. Read Atkinson's An Army at Dawn for a far better examination of Torch.

This is one of the best military history books I have ever read. It provides good, detailed information about the battles, weapons, leaders, and espionage missions and personages of the African campaign without being too overburdening. Plus, the maps are some of the best maps I have ever seen in a work of military history. Kudos to John Bierman and Colin Smith.

War Without Hate tells the tale of the war in North Africa from the opening days in 1940 between the British and Italian soldiers, till it's conclusion in Tunis. In this book, the authors look at the soldiers from all levels (particularly the generals, but good attention is paid to the officers and other ranks) and describes what they did for their side. Most of the attention is paid to German and British soldiers who fought (the Italians are talked about lightly, while French and American soldiers get only a passing nod), their heroic actions, and the sense of camaraderie between the two of them. About half of the book deals with the pre-Alamein battles (from the Italian push past the wire, thru the first battle for Alamein) while the other half deal with Monty taking over thru the 8th Army's march to Tunis. This book does bring out many different interesting facts, including the cracking of the Americans Black Code (this was the American Diplomatic code) and it's contribution to the Germans, the LRDG (also known as the Libyan Desert Taxi Service), and the story of the English Patient. The photographs are excellent and there are a number of good area maps of the strategic battlefields.

Having written all of this I'll say that this book is a solid 4.5 stars on the Amazon scale of 1-5. However, since I can't rate in half stars on Amazon, I'm giving the book the nod to 5 stars because the authors did a very good job of presenting the material and that made reading the book a pleasure. I will say though that I did prefer the first half of the book to the back half, partially because I feel that An Army at Dawn did a much better job of wrapping up the end in Tunis.

Well, maybe not THE BEST but a damn fine read. I've been reading about the Desert War since 1962 when i bought Donald Crisp's classic "Brazen Chariots" so if i like this book its worth reading. Even the maps are OK, better certainly than most "real" histories. The chosen anecdotes and award citations all move the action in a comphrensible account. They even have the possible origin of the Monty Python Classic: "I'm not dead yet!"
--"Turner had been touring his perimeter, helping a short-handed gun crew or tending the wounded when he could, exhorting when he could not. Bird sometimes wished he could find a happier choice of words. 'Come on, you're not dead yet,' he growled at the shaken occupants of a slit-trench who had been almost buried alive by a near-miss." pp. 304-305.
And the title seems to come from Rommel's prospective but never written book on the war: War without Hate.
pete saussy

I was looking for a one volume history of the desert war. Ended up picking War Without Hate. Bad choice- this is not a very good military history. Two examples of this. First the book devotes more pages to the true story behind the movie The English Patient than it does to Operation Battleax. Battleax gets 2 or 3 lines- the English Patient gets about 5 pages. Second there is very little discussion of logistics- the key determining factor in the theater.

Those are just two examples. The book comes across as more lightweight pop-history than a serious study of the campaign.

One of the better WWII books I have read (there have been hundreds over the last fifty odd years). Splendid research, packed with all sorts of interesting facts and footnotes. Plenty of small stories within the larger frame of the epic battles against Rommel and his much-vaunted 'Afrikans'.
The writers captured the 'live and let live' feeling the combatants had in the harsh desert regions, many times risking their own lives to save wounded enemies. Lots of info about the armored aspects of the battles as well as the troops on each side with plenty of detail about the Italian troops, armor etc and lots of unique stories about actions where VCs were awarded.
Highly recommend this book for anyone tired of the usual run of the mill WWII histories as this sheds light on the more human side of war.
You won't regret reading this and the last few pages are terrific.

If you're even slightly interested in WWII in North Africa this is a book you should read. Provides a complete, in-depth overview of the campaign, while remaining entertaining, and without going so deep into obscure detail as to confuse the reader. The fact that it was written by journalists, in lieu of traditional historians, provides much of this readability for anyone who is interested in learning about the war as a hobby. All points of view - British, German, and Italian - are well represented.

The product description as well as that on the back of the book itself make it sound as if the book is entirely about the battles at El Alamein; while they are the main focus, the many months preceding them are covered in fine style, as well as the aftermath.

I, for one, highly reccommend this book.

Precisely detailed and imminently readable; the authors do an excellent job of injecting personal and fascinating stories into what might otherwise be a droll recitation of tactics in the desert. A fine read.

Ive always been interested in the Africa War of World War II and this was a great book on ihe German Side and the British side of the war, from Rommels and Monty's HQs all the way down to the squad level where the the action is. It starts out with the British just beating the heck out of the Italians, and then Rommel coming and being the greatest Genearl ever. But it shows how Monty made great decisions to lead to the British victory and the German evacutation. If you like World War II books, this is one for u.

Interesting and well written book with a fair description of men and events of those days