At the height of his power in January 1941 Hitler made the fateful decision to send troops to North Africa to save the beleaguered Italian army from defeat. Martin Kitchen's masterful new history of the Axis campaign provides a fundamental reassessment of the key battles of 1941–1943, Rommel’s generalship, and the campaign’s place within the broader strategic context of the war. He shows that the British were initially helpless against the operational brilliance of Rommel’s Panzer divisions. However Rommel's initial successes and refusal to follow orders committed the Axis to a campaign well beyond their means. Without the reinforcements or supplies he needed to deliver a knockout blow, Rommel was forced onto the defensive and Hitler’s Mediterranean strategy began to unravel. The result was the loss of an entire army which together with defeat at Stalingrad signalled a decisive shift in the course of the war.
Contents
Introduction; 1. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy; 2. Germany intervenes in North Africa; 3. Tobruk: the first round; 4. Counterattack; 5. Withdrawal; 6. On the offensive again; 7. Tobruk; 8. El Alamein: the first round; 9. El Alamein: defeat; 10. Torch; 11. The retreat from Mersa el Brega; 12. Tunisgrad.
Reviews
"Rommel's Desert War is a book of outstanding importance. It will stand alongside, challenging and correcting, Liddell Hart's Rommel Papers. Martin Kitchen takes us to the heart of the Axis war effort in North Africa. His book effortlessly blends sources written in many languages into a gripping narrative. The struggle for Libya was not the 'war without hate': it was a squalid and nasty fight with enormous ramifications for world history. Kitchen captures both the brutality and the importance of the struggle. No one is going to see the Desert War in quite the same light after reading his book." Simon Ball, author of The Bitter Sea: The Struggle for Mastery in the Mediterranean 1935-1949
"Rommel's Desert War brings fresh sources and a fresh perspective to the North African campaign. Kitchen's skillful blend of policy and strategy, operations and tactics, pulls no punches. His stringent, well-documented critique of Rommel's performance in particular makes this a significant contribution to the literature on the Second World War." -Dennis Showalter author of Patton and Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century
"At last we have a book which provides a modern, balanced and fascinating account of the war in North Africa from the Axis point of view. Martin Kitchen reveals with real clarity the complex interaction between the two armies in the see-saw fighting of the desert. He punctures myths effortlessly and, impressively, links the fierce desert fighting with the political imperatives and realities of the fascist powers. This book is now essential reading for anyone interested in the desert war and its place in the wider history of the Second World War." -Niall Barr, author of Pendulum of War: Three Battles at El-Alamein
"For too long the decisive campaign in North Africa has been viewed as a military duel between Britain and Germany, personified in the figures of Montgomery and Rommel. Now at last, making full use of Italian sources, Martin Kitchen has given us a balanced, judicious and convincing analysis of the three-handed war in the desert. It will be required reading for every World War II historian." John Gooch, author of Mussolini and his Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940
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