War Without Hate: The Desert Campaign of 1940-1943

Rating:
Summary: Excellent history of the Desert War
Review: I have a vague recollection of a book published in Germany shortly after the war entitled War Without Hate whose subject matter was Rommel in the desert (and I seem to recall that it was a collection of Rommel's writings regarding the Desert War). This is not that book but that book may well have been the source of the title. While the Desert War was certainly less ugly than the generally contemporaneous struggles going on in Russia and in the Pacific, it certainly was not free from pain, fear and death. The final surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia resulted in more prisoners than the surrender of Axis forces in Stalingrad some four months before. The Germans used S mines designed when step on to spring up to roughly crotch height before exploding. When a British plan to attack Axis rear areas using troops disguised in German uniforms guided by anti-Nazi Germans failed because some allegedly anti-Nazi Germans betrayed the British to the Germans, the remaining allegedly anti-Nazi Germans were summarily executed. Flamethrowers were used to burn soldiers out of fortifications and many burned to death when their tanks "brewed up".

Yet there was an extraordinary mutual respect between the Germans and the British (that included a mutual disrespect of the Italians). They shared even their taste in music. Lili Marlene became the unofficial theme song for each side. One wonders why this was possible in the desert while unrelenting hatred raged elsewhere. Perhaps the answer can be found in the circumstances of the desert itself. There were few civilians in the combat areas so resentments arising from civilian deaths were relatively rare. (But there were few civilians on the Pacific islands either yet war there raged as savagely as anywhere at any time.) Neither side considered the desert to be their homeland. Both sides constantly fought the same enemy, the desert itself.

This book is a well-written history of the entire Desert War primarily from a British perspective. It is full of personal anecdotes of the war. We learn the true story of the hero (or anti-hero) of The English Patient. (Sorry, girls. He preferred the affections of men.) We are introduced to the mystery of the professional magician turned soldier who created the illusion that the port of Alexandria was elsewhere causing the German bombs to fall harmlessly into the sea. We learn of the deserter who won the Victoria Cross. We ride with Rommel as he inflicts the defeat upon the American Army at Kasserine Pass that he hopes will traumatize the green Americans into a permanent inferiority complex. Rommel captured so many American tanks and other equipment that, ironically, it was he himself whose morale suffered. When he saw the quantity and quality of American equipment, all of which had been transported directly from America to the beaches of North Africa, he could see the handwriting on the wall as regards the respective production capacities of America and Germany. (It is also interesting to note the casualties inflicted upon the Americans by the Vichy French in light of American deaths in Iraq reaching about 900 as I write these words. On November 8, 1942 the American Army landed in North Africa on beaches owned by the collaborationist Vichy French. Two days later, a ceasefire was negotiated between the Americans and the French by which time the French had killed 1000 Americans. Then the Americans could begin to fight the Germans.)

It bears mentioning as well that this book captures a true turning point of the war. The climax of the book describes the Battle of El Alamein that began on October 23, 1942. At that time, the German Army had not suffered a true land defeat. In Russia, the army was advancing into Stalingrad and, while resistance may have been more than expected, few doubted a German victory. In the Desert, Rommel was stalled outside of Alexandria but was still only a few miles from the Nile, the Suez Canal, and the oil-rich Arab states. By the end of November, 1942 Montgomery had smashed through Rommel's lines and Rommel was in full retreat west back through the 2000 miles he had conquered on his way east. The Germans were surrounded, eventually to surrender, at Stalingrad and the Americans had landed behind Rommel in their first offensive against Hitler. What a difference a month makes!

This is an excellent history of a campaign little known to the American public. If I have a criticism it is that coverage of the Torch landings and the following battles is sparse. Read Atkinson's An Army at Dawn for a far better examination of Torch.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview of the African Campaign
Review: This is one of the best military history books I have ever read. It provides good, detailed information about the battles, weapons, leaders, and espionage missions and personages of the African campaign without being too overburdening. Plus, the maps are some of the best maps I have ever seen in a work of military history. Kudos to John Bierman and Colin Smith.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview of the African Campaign
Review: This is one of the best military history books I have ever read. It provides good, detailed information about the battles, weapons, leaders, and espionage missions and personages of the African campaign without being too overburdening. Plus, the maps are some of the best maps I have ever seen in a work of military history. Kudos to John Bierman and Colin Smith.