Auchinleck's Command The Definitive History of the Desert War Book

This is an excellent book for those interested in the desert war in north Africa during World War II. Three revelations regarding the desert war readily come to mind when reading this book. First, was the professionalism of the German combined arms tactics. Their armor, artillery, and infantry worked together to perfection. The German 88 antitank gun was a devastating piece of equipment which knocked out large numbers of British tanks. Secondly, and sadly for the British, was that complete ineffectiveness of British tactical command. Although the British heavily outnumbered the Germans and had a much better supply situation, air superiority and decent armor (when large numbers of American made tanks arrived) yet the British came out on the losing end of many battles with decisively more losses in men, armor and equipment than the Germans. This seemed to be a reoccurring theme and one cannot but feel compassion for the average British soldier that showed great courage during these battles. Thirdly, the large number of tanks that America provided the British, at times stripping American armor divisions of their armor and sending it to north Africa, was a revelation to me. These American tanks were much more mechanically reliable than the British tanks and in the case of the Grant tank provided more firepower than the Germans had at the time. In my opinion without these tanks the British would have been decisively beaten by the Germans. With them they were able to hold on to fight another day. In some sense being able to fight another day is the theme of this book although I’m sure the British would have preferred, and may have deserved with better leadership, outright victory at this stage of the desert war.