Crucible of War, The - Complete Set

WAVELL’S COMMAND:

Volume 1 of The Crucible of War trilogy covers General Wavell’s command, a period that began triumphantly with the rout of the Italian Army and ended in catastrophe with the devastating entry of Rommel into the conflict.

On 11th June 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France. From their colony in Libya, the Italians began invading Egypt in an attempt to expand their African Empire.

Thus began the Desert War – a battle to secure critical Middle East oil supplies which would last for three years.
Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East was General Sir Archibald Wavell. By 1940, and with limited resources, he was responsible for all British land forces in Egypt, the Sudan, Palestine, Transjordan and Cyprus, as well as the Army formations in British Somaliland, Aden, Iraq and along the shores of the Persian Gulf.

Attack was the only form of defense and under field commander General Richard O’Connor, an immensely successful and exhilarating campaign was carried out against Marshal Graziani’s forces. The Italians were pushed back hundreds of miles and 130,000 prisoners were taken. By February 1941 nearly all Axis forces had been expelled from North Africa.

It was a remarkable triumph in one of the most dramatic theatres of the Second World War.

AUCHINLECK’S COMMAND:

Volume Two of The Crucible of War trilogy covers General Auchinleck’s command — a period of disaster and defeat for the British Army, driven back towards Cairo by the Africa Korps under the tactical genius of Rommel.

The book ends however with the replacing of Auchinleck by Montgomery in August 1942.

Auchinleck's Command is essential reading for anyone interested in WW2, the British Army (it's strengths and weaknesses) and military leadership.

MONTGOMERY AND ALAMEIN:

Throughout the first half of the Second World War, control of the inhospitable North African desert was strategically vital for the Allies.

In the middle of 1942, the outcome hung in the balance.

Rommel and his Afrika Korps had been fought to a standstill at the first battle of Alamein and were desperately short of fuel and equipment.

The next encounter between the two armies would be decisive. The scene was set for a second, and bludgeoning, encounter at El Alamein in October. It was to prove Britain’s first decisive victory of the war.