The history of the North African Campaign is the story of an army forging itself into a superb fighting force from the debris of defeat and discouragement. Without the battle experience bought at such high cost by the Allied forces in North Africa, ‘Overlord’—the invasion of Europe would never have been possible.
Sir William Jackson, both a distinguished soldier who played a part in events related here and an experienced author of military history, surveys in one volume the chequered fortunes of Allied arms in three parts, starting with the Anglo-Italian campaigns in Libya and Abyssinia. Although British forces destroyed Mussolini’s “Imperial Legions” their victories, paradoxically, were achieved too quickly and too easily. Had they occurred later Rommel would probably have been seeking fame in Russia rather than the Western Desert, and had they proved more difficult, British commanders might have developed tactics better suited to dealing with the ruthless professionalism of the Afrika Korps.
The second part covers the exploits of Rommel’s Afrika Korps. The tactical lessons which they taught their British opponents were not immediately understood. Bitter experience brought forward men and ideas, eventually turning the tide at E] Alamein, but there was still a long way to go. The Americans had yet to buy battle experience as well.
Part Three surveys the impact of American intervention with its influx of men and material which led, after some brutal American defeats, to the final Axis surrender in Tunis, May 1943.