Eighth Army versus Rommel: Tactics, Training and Operations in North Africa 1940-1942 - Softcover

Colvin, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1913336646 ISBN 13: 9781913336646

Publisher: Helion and Company, 2020

Synopsis

Eighth Army Versus Rommel is a riveting account of the Desert War from 1940 through Montgomery's celebrated battle of Alamein in 1942. Comprehensively researched and rich in previously unpublished material, it examines the undertrained and underfunded pre-war British Army, contrasting its leadership with its opposite numbers in Germany, and demonstrates how and why Eighth Army had difficulties in its first 18 months of fighting the Afrika Korps. This volume also examines the battles from the perspective of the commanders, the decisions they made and how cultural influences effected tactics and decisions of the Eighth Army high command. Ultimately, British commanders were as much the product of their military culture and education as Rommel and his commanders were of theirs, but British military culture and education was, for much of this period, markedly less fit for purpose than the German. Saul David, Professor of Military History at the University of Buckingham and author of All the King's Men and 100 Days to Victory, describes it as: "A compelling and highly original study, firmly based on archival research, that explains for the first time the real reason the British and Commonwealth troops struggled to overcome their German and Italian opposition in the Desert War: not because of inadequate generals and equipment per se, but rather because of inherent weaknesses in British military culture.

About this title

About the Author

James Colvin has had a lifelong interest in the desert war, originally because several family members and friends were involved in it. Like most veterans of war, they found it very difficult to talk of their experiences to those who had not shared them, and he was often intrigued by contradictions and omissions in the accounts he heard. This book emerged from attempts to solve some of the puzzles. James earned a degree in history from Bristol University and after a business career embarked on a research degree in military history with the University of Buckingham. He spent several years in the Territorial Army with 44 Parachute Brigade, has made a contribution on the desert war to The History Network's World War 2 Podcast, and another on Eighth Army operations to the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. This book is his first full length work.

Edition details

• Publisher: Helion and Company
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1913336646
• ISBN 13: 9781913336646
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256