Pendulum Of War: Three Battles at El Alamein - Softcover

Barr, Niall

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712668276 ISBN 13: 9780712668279

Publisher: Pimlico, 2005

Synopsis

In late June 1942, the dispirited and defeated British Eighth Army was pouring back towards the tiny railway halt of El Alamein in the western desert of Egypt. Tobruk had fallen and Eighth Army had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Rommel's Panzerarmee Afrika. Yet just five months later, the famous bombardment opened the Eighth Army's own offensive which destroyed the Axis threat to Egypt. Explanations for the remarkable change of fortune have generally been sought in the abrasive personality of the new army commander Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery. But the long running controversies surrounding the commanders of Eighth Army - Generals Auchinleck and Montgomery - and that of their legendary opponent, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, have often been allowed to obscure the true nature of the Alamein campaign. Pendulum of War provides a vivid and fresh perspective on the fighting at El Alamein from the early desperate days of July to the final costly victory in November.

About this title

Review:

"Excellent...a sophisticated, compelling and immensely readable account... Thoroughly researched, controversial, convincing... military history at its best" (Daily Express)

"There is no doubting the author's immense scholarship... He has a first-class understanding of strategy and tactics" (Simon Heffer Literary Review)

"Deserves to become the standard work on the desert war in 1942" (Richard Holmes)

From the Publisher:

A compelling new history of a crucial turning point in the Second World War which also provides a detailed picture of the British Army at a critical stage in its fight against Hitler's Germany.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pimlico
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0712668276
• ISBN 13: 9780712668279
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 592