"In late June 1942, the dispirited and defeated British Eighth Army was pouring back toward the tiny railway halt of El Alamein in the western desert of Egypt. Tobruk had fallen and Eighth Army had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Rommel's Panzerarmee Afrika. Yet just five months later, the famous opening bombardment signaled the start of Eighth Army's own offensive, which destroyed the Axis threat to Egypt." "Explanations for the remarkable change in the fortunes of Britain's desert army have generally been sought in the abrasive personality of the new army commander Lieutenant-General Bernard Law Montgomery. But the long running controversies surrounding the commanders of Eighth Army - Generals Auchinleck and Montgomery - and that of their legendary opponent, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, have often been allowed to obscure the true nature of the Alamein campaign." "This is also the story of how an army learned from its mistakes. For too long the change in personalities at the top has blurred the real continuity of experience that saw the Eighth Army transform itself from a tactically inept collection of units into a battle-winning army. Pendulum of War explores the Eighth Army's learning curve, and shows how lessons from bitter experience were used to develop improved tactical methods that eventually mastered the veterans of Rommel's Afrika Korps." --Book Jacket.

“A well-researched and highly readable account of one of World War II’s most important ‘turning point’ battles.” —Jerry D. Morelock, Senior Editor at HistoryNet.com In the early years of World War II, Germany shocked the world with a devastating blitzkrieg, rapidly conquered most of Europe, and pushed into North Africa. As the Allies scrambled to counter the Axis armies, the British Eighth Army confronted the experienced Afrika Corps, led by German field marshal Erwin Rommel, in three battles at El Alamein. In the first battle, the Eighth Army narrowly halted the advance of the Germans during the summer of 1942. However, the stalemate left Nazi troops within striking distance of the Suez Canal, which would provide a critical tactical advantage to the controlling force. War historian Glyn Harper dives into the story, vividly narrating the events, strategies, and personalities surrounding the battles and paying particular attention to the Second Battle of El Alamein, a crucial turning point in the war that would be described by Winston Churchill as “the end of the beginning.” Moving beyond a simple narrative of the conflict, The Battle for North Africa tackles critical themes, such as the problems of coalition warfare, the use of military intelligence, the role of celebrity generals, and the importance of an all-arms approach to modern warfare.

The 80th Anniversary of the historic final Battle of El Alamein is the ideal time to study the events leading up to General Bernard Montgomery’s famous victory over Field Marshal Rommel’s Panzerarmee Africa in Autumn 1942. Four months earlier after the loss of Tobruk , Rommel’s forces were in the ascendancy. Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed General Auchinleck from Command of Eighth Army and appointed Bernard Montgomery in his place. After the successful defense of Alam El Halfa Ridge in late August and early September ended Rommel’s inexorable advance, Montgomery set in train plans for the set piece offensive campaign at El Alamein which took place between 23 October and 4 November 1942. The stakes could not have been higher. Had Rommel broken through the Allied defenses in Summer 1942 or Montgomery’s forces not overwhelmed the German and Italian armies at El Alamein, Egypt and the Suez Canal would have fallen to the Nazis. Instead, the victory at El Alamein proved to be the turning point of the War against Hitler and led to the victory in North Africa

The 80th Anniversary of the historic final Battle of El Alamein is the ideal time to study the events leading up to General Bernard Montgomery’s famous victory over Field Marshal Rommel’s Panzerarmee Africa in Autumn 1942. Four months earlier after the loss of Tobruk , Rommel’s forces were in the ascendancy. Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed General Auchinleck from Command of Eighth Army and appointed Bernard Montgomery in his place. After the successful defense of Alam El Halfa Ridge in late August and early September ended Rommel’s inexorable advance, Montgomery set in train plans for the set piece offensive campaign at El Alamein which took place between 23 October and 4 November 1942. The stakes could not have been higher. Had Rommel broken through the Allied defenses in Summer 1942 or Montgomery’s forces not overwhelmed the German and Italian armies at El Alamein, Egypt and the Suez Canal would have fallen to the Nazis. Instead, the victory at El Alamein proved to be the turning point of the War against Hitler and led to the victory in North Africa

It was the British victory at the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 that inspired one of Winston Churchill's most famous aphorisms: 'This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning'. And yet the significance of this episode remains unrecognised. In this thrilling historical account, Jonathan Dimbleby describes the political and strategic realities that lay behind the battle, charting the nail-biting months that led to the victory at El Alamein in November 1942. It is a story of high drama, played out both in the war capitals of London, Washington, Berlin, Rome and Moscow, and at the front in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morrocco and Algeria and in the command posts and foxholes in the desert. Destiny in the Desert is about politicians and generals, diplomats, civil servants and soldiers. It is about forceful characters and the tensions and rivalries between them. Drawing on official records and the personal insights of those involved at every level, Dimbleby creates a vivid portrait of a struggle which for Churchill marked the turn of the tide - and which for the soldiers on the ground involved fighting and dying in a foreign land. Now available in paperback in time, Destiny in the Desert, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman prize 2012-13, is required reading for anyone with an interest in the Desert War.

El Alamein was one of the pivotal battles of the Second World War, fought by armies and air forces on the cutting edge of military technology. Yet Alamein has always had a patchy reputation - with many commentators willing to knock its importance. This book explains just why El Alamein is such a controversial battle. Based on an intensive reading of the contemporary sources, in particular the extensive and recently declassified British bugging of Axis prisoners of war, military historian Simon Ball turns Alamein on its head, explaining it as a cultural defeat for Britain. Alamein is a military history of the battle - showing how different it looks stripped of later cultural excrescences. But it also shows how 'Alamein culture' saturated the post-war world, when archival sources mingled with film, novels, magazines, popular histories, and the rest of Alamein's footprint. Whether you are interested in the battle itself or its cultural afterlife, if you have an opinion about Alamein, you'll question it after reading this book.

El Alamein, Britain's victory in the deserts of North Africa in 1942, was the first major reversal of fortunes for Hitler's Third Reich. Before the Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the British had never won a major battle on land against the Germans; nor indeed had anyone else. Drawing on a remarkable array of first-hand accounts, this book reveals the personal experiences of those on the frontline and provides fascinating details of how the war was actually fought. It also includes analysis of the strategic decisions made by the generals. El Alamein is the story of exactly how a seemingly beaten and demoralized army turned near-defeat into victory in a little over four months of protracted and bloody fighting in the harsh North African desert.