Following Mussolini’s declaration of war in June 1940, initially Italy faced only those British troops based in the Middle East but as the armed confrontation in the Western Desert of North Africa escalated, other nations were drawn in — Germany, Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, France and finally the United States to wage the first major tank-versus-tank battles of the Second World War. First tracing the history of the very early beginnings of civilization in North Africa, and on through the period of Italian colonization, Jean Paul Pallud begins his account when the initial shots were fired at the 11th Hussars as they approached Italian outposts near Sidi Omar in Libya. It proved to be the opening move of a campaign which was to last for three years. When the Afrikakorps led by Rommel joined the battle in February 1941, the Germans soon gained the upper hand and recovered the whole of Cyrenaica, minus Tobruk, in the summer. The campaign then swung back and forth across the desert for another year until Rommel finally captured Tobruk in June 1942 and then moved eastwards into Egypt. With British fortunes at their lowest ebb, changes in command led to Montgomery launching his offensive at El Alamein the following November. This began the advance of the Eighth Army over a thousand miles to Tunisia, resulting in the final round-up of the German and Italian forces in May 1943. Jean Paul and his camera retraced the route just prior to the recent civil war in Libya and the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011, so he was fortunate to capture the locations before yet another war left its trail of death and destruction. Although the campaign in 1940-43 was dominated largely by armor, nevertheless the Allies lost over 250,000 men killed, wounded, missing and captured and the Axis 620,000. Those that never came home lie in cemeteries scattered across the barren landscape of a battlefield that has changed little in over 70 years.

The seminal account of the battle between Montgomery’s Eighth Army and Rommel’s Afrika Corps, amidst the endless harsh wastes of the Western Desert. In 1940, Alan Moorehead was sent to cover the North Africa campaign by the Daily Express, and he followed its dramatic course all the way to 1943. The three books he subsequently wrote about the Desert War – later collected as his ‘African Trilogy’ – were swiftly acclaimed as a classic account of the tussle between Montgomery’s Eighth Army and Rommel’s Afrika Corps, under the beating sun of the Egyptian Sahara's Western Desert. Moorehead was responsible for the celebrated insight that tank battles in the desert are like battles at sea, the lumbering tanks like ships lost in a vast ocean of sand. The New Statesman could not have put it better when it described his achievement with this riveting book: ‘There is something of genius in the breadth and penetration of his vision, which encompasses the whole panorama of war and then narrows it down to the particular: the soldier stubbing out his cigarette before going into action, the expression on a tank commander’s face as he is hit… The story of the African campaigns will go down in history as one of the great epics of mankind, largely thanks to Mr Moorehead’s account.’

Shortlisted for the 2021 Society for Army Historical Research's Templer Medal Operation Crusader, launched in November 1941, was the third and final British attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk and break the German and Italian forces in North Africa. After tough initial fighting, the British made important gains, only to be countered by a stunning breakthrough overseen personally by Lt. General Erwin Rommel. As the British situation teetered, the commander of the 8th Army, Lt. General Alan Cunningham, was relieved of duty by his superior, General Claude Auchinleck. This decision changed the direction of the battle and perhaps the war itself. Why and how Cunningham was relieved has been the subject of commentary and speculation since it occurred. Using newly discovered evidence, Alexander Joffe rethinks the events that brought about the sudden relief of the operation's commanding officer, including insubordination. The book then discusses how narratives regarding the operation were created, were incorporated into British and Commonwealth official and unofficial historical writing about the war, and contributed to British historical memory. Based on a decade of archival work, the book presents a new and detailed analysis of a consequential battle and, importantly, of how its history was written and received in the context of post-war Britain.

National Archives War Histories is a new series of official accounts of famous campaigns and units in British military history. The histories were written by official historians who had access to all the original sources and often interviewed the leading surviving participants. This is the official account of revolutionary new warfare as practised by the famous 'irregular' units in the Desert campaign and is an authoritative official source book. This history includes stirring narratives of daring raids miles behind enemy lines. It features such famous characters as Ord Wingate, David Stirling and Lt. Col. Keyes VC, recounting the establishment and role of the forces within the 8th Army and Allied campaign. It includes photographs, maps, a list of officers serving and the awards received by members of the Long Range Desert Group. The book features the following units: The SAS Long Range Desert Group 'Layforce' Special Boat Squadron Long Range Boat Patrol Middle East Commandos Special Boat Squadron Indian Long Range Squadron Free French Commandos

Description This book introduces us to a new phase in the theatre of war in the Middle East. All partakers had been trained with both land and sea forces and were in a situation both to attack and defend. Controlling the air over North Africa and the Mediterranean was of vital importance and Rosaleen captures this in its full embellishment. We can read about what it was like under the blazing hot sun as a Boston has returned from a raid four brave South Africans come in and report. This book will thrill you the reader and is a fine tribute to all those who have been part of the desert war. Describing how it was hard to come to terms with too little water in the summer and perhaps too much in winter it creates a scene which brings our heroes alive again with these historic stories that may have been forgotten due to age and infirmity. This desert war was at times almost impossible with the sand storms, which stripped tents, covered everything with sand and almost stopped the planes from flying. This is a little gem of a book and deserves a place near to the readers heart. Read about the worse fear of all facing every R A F fighter, that of being stranded without food or water, this was a constant fact that had to be considered at all times. To read this book is an appreciation of the war and how hard it was to win, taking into account the strength of the enemy, planting hundreds of thousands of land mines were a problem to be dealt with. Every man of every rank piled in a carried on till the job was done, Rosaleen writes this book in way that shows the combined dedicated spirit of these our men of the R. A. F and other forces without whom we may not be able to say today...R A F Heroes of the desert war...They remembered our country. Will you remember them and their families? About the Author I have been in receipt of trauma counselling since 1999 on a daily basis, at times speaking till the early hours of the morning.Support from my trauma Counsellor helps me to come to terms with accepting that what has happened to me cannot now be changed. I cannot ever forgive those who had a vicarious liability to look after me and failed. As a result of being locked away for some years all because we were poor has brought certain limitations to my day to day life. Writing is a form of therapy and allows me to be free to be the person that I want to be, and should have been my birthright. Through writing I can reach out to others who may have had such an unfortunate experience as myself . Daily flashbacks can be upsetting and I fill my life with things to do so as to block them out. Day to day life can be exhausting and coping mechanisms that I learnt in order to survive have not helped me in the outside world. God help all fellow survivors and perhaps one day Ireland will accept the terrible price we paid. Shame on all you right thinking residents in Ireland to allow the government and Catholic Church to ignore harm done to me and many others who are either dead or too ill to tell their story. Thanks to Chipmunkapublishing I have been able to confront my demons and a Big Thank you to Reatha my trauma counsellor without her I would not be here today writing about my stolen life.

På grundlag af korrespondance, interviews m.m. med ørknkrigens deltagere på begge sider beretter forf., hvorledes kampene oplevedes af soldaterne - infanterister, artillerister, pionerer og kampvognsbesætninger.