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generalheff's review
4.0
This superb book describes the allied armies' defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa - but with a twist. Instead of 'yet another' history book - recounting all the action and events drily - this book instead begins each chapter with a couple of pages describing the outline of events, and then walks through those events by piecing together excerpts from combatants who were there.
Not only is this an astonishing feat of editing, but it offers a compelling and unique way of really getting at what it was like to be there. The generals - often the focus of other histories - are present of course but they are subordinate to the privates, corporal, lieutenants, sergeants and captains whose diaries and letters are the primary source of the material.
And their accounts are riveting. We follow certain individuals (John Harding, Peter Lewis and many others) across hundreds of miles of the desert campaign - I found myself looking forward to the next entry by a cast of individuals I'd grown familiar with. There really is surprising continuity in the accounts. The details themselves are (as would be expected) a mixture of the awful details of war, anger-inducing examples of organisational incompetence and a surprising amount of truly touching events - particularly where enemies ensure their opponents make it away from an engagement in peace or receive medical attention. There is also real humour in this - hearing junior troops absolutely tear into senior officers is an absolute treat, as is the stoic endurance and grim gallows humour on display throughout.
The book is not without faults however, and this is what just led me to hold off on the five star review - which is a shame as they would be easily fixed. First, the maps are atrocious. Unless you are a true buff on this particular bit of the war you will struggle to follow the place names and movements of soldiers described. I have no idea why the maps couldn't have been developed to have all the names mentioned in the chapters - it would massively help with readability. A second useful addition would be dates on the diary entries (or letters) - even if approximate - just to help orient the reader as to the rough timeline of what they are reading. Lastly it would be an amazing addition if, on the last entry for a particular soldier, there was a brief synopsis of what they did afterwards, such as where they fought or were prisoner of war, and where they died.
These are frustrating niggles in an otherwise marvellous book. I cannot recommend this highly enough for anyone interested in the human-dimension of war.
Not only is this an astonishing feat of editing, but it offers a compelling and unique way of really getting at what it was like to be there. The generals - often the focus of other histories - are present of course but they are subordinate to the privates, corporal, lieutenants, sergeants and captains whose diaries and letters are the primary source of the material.
And their accounts are riveting. We follow certain individuals (John Harding, Peter Lewis and many others) across hundreds of miles of the desert campaign - I found myself looking forward to the next entry by a cast of individuals I'd grown familiar with. There really is surprising continuity in the accounts. The details themselves are (as would be expected) a mixture of the awful details of war, anger-inducing examples of organisational incompetence and a surprising amount of truly touching events - particularly where enemies ensure their opponents make it away from an engagement in peace or receive medical attention. There is also real humour in this - hearing junior troops absolutely tear into senior officers is an absolute treat, as is the stoic endurance and grim gallows humour on display throughout.
The book is not without faults however, and this is what just led me to hold off on the five star review - which is a shame as they would be easily fixed. First, the maps are atrocious. Unless you are a true buff on this particular bit of the war you will struggle to follow the place names and movements of soldiers described. I have no idea why the maps couldn't have been developed to have all the names mentioned in the chapters - it would massively help with readability. A second useful addition would be dates on the diary entries (or letters) - even if approximate - just to help orient the reader as to the rough timeline of what they are reading. Lastly it would be an amazing addition if, on the last entry for a particular soldier, there was a brief synopsis of what they did afterwards, such as where they fought or were prisoner of war, and where they died.
These are frustrating niggles in an otherwise marvellous book. I cannot recommend this highly enough for anyone interested in the human-dimension of war.
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