The Second World War is vanishing into the pages of history. The veterans were once all around us, but their numbers are fast diminishing. While still in their prime many recorded their memories with Peter Hart for the Imperial War Museum. As these old soldiers now fade away their voices from the front are still strong with a rare power to bring the horrors of war back to vivid life. The South Notts Hussars were the pride of Nottingham. A territorial artillery unit made up of a strange mixture of miners from Hucknall, the clerical classes working in Nottingham and some of the richest families in Nottinghamshire. They went to war as a widely disparate group. Their service in North Africa was dramatic in the extreme. Trapped in Tobruk for six months their 25-pounder guns helped keep Rommel's panzers at bay. By the time they moved forward to take up their positions at Knightsbridge in the Gazala Lines in the Spring of 1942 they had been welded into a real band of brothers proud of their proven fighting ability. Caught without infantry or tank support in the Cauldron they were ordered to fight to the last round. This is their story.

The Second World War is vanishing into the pages of history. The veterans were once all around us, but their numbers are fast diminishing. While still in their prime many recorded their memories with Peter Hart for the Imperial War Museum. As these old soldiers now fade away their voices from the front are still strong with a rare power to bring the horrors of war back to vivid life. The South Notts Hussars were the pride of Nottingham. A territorial artillery unit made up of a strange mixture of miners from Hucknall, the clerical classes working in Nottingham and some of the richest families in Nottinghamshire. They went to war as a widely disparate group. Their service in North Africa was dramatic in the extreme. Trapped in Tobruk for six months their 25-pounder guns helped keep Rommel's panzers at bay. By the time they moved forward to take up their positions at Knightsbridge in the Gazala Lines in the Spring of 1942 they had been welded into a real band of brothers proud of their proven fighting ability. Caught without infantry or tank support in the Cauldron they were ordered to fight to the last round. This is their story.

This book focuses on the extent to which the physical terrain features across Egypt, Libya and Tunisia affected British operations throughout the campaign in North Africa during the Second World War. One main theme of the work analyses the terrain from the operational and tactical perspective and argues that the landscape features heavily influenced British operations and should now be considered alongside other standard military factors. The work differs from previous studies in that it considers these additional factors for the entire campaign until the Axis surrender in May 1943. Until now it has been widely assumed that much of the Western Desert coastal plateau was a broadly level, open region in which mobile armored operations were paramount. However this work concentrates on the British operations to show they were driven by the need to capture and hold key features across each successive battlefield. At the operational level planning was led by the need to hold key ground across Libya and especially the province of Cyrenaica during the crucial middle period of the campaign. A secondary theme of the work argues that British forces began to improvise certain tactical doctrines, which altered the early practice of combined arms assaults into one of the Infantry and Armored formations fighting largely separated battles until the autumn of 1942. Other developments in doctrine which were affected by the terrain included the practice of unit dispersal to hold key ground and the use of temporary units such as Jock columns to harass and engage the enemy. The two themes are inter-linked and contribute fresh insights to the debate on British methods of warfare. The author has consulted key primary documents, reports, war diaries and published memoirs, from major UK archives and compared these with the campaign historiography to develop the main themes of the work. These include the National Archives, the Churchill Archives Center, the Liddell-Hart Center for Military History, the National Army Museum, John Rylands Center, Imperial War Museum at London and Duxford and London and the Tank Museum Archives at Bovington. The sources include unit war diaries, after action reports, along with many of the key published and some unpublished memoirs. His text is supported by 24 pages of specially commissioned color maps.

Tobruk was one of the greatest Allied victories – and one of the worst Allied defeats – of the Second World War. The 1942 fiasco rocked the very foundation of Winston Churchill's premiership. It revived the flagging hopes of the German people and fanned the flames of Arab unrest. Furthering Rommel's ascendency and souring relations within the British Commonwealth, it marked a turning point in Anglo-American relations in the fight against Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Utilising a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Tobruk 1942 examines why the fortress fell to Rommel's Axis forces in just 24 hours when it held out against repeated attacks the previous year. Comparing the 1941 and 1942 battles, this book presents a new perspective on Tobruk – the isolated Libyan fortress, and symbol of Allied freedom, which for a period in the war captured the world's attention.

Tobruk was one of the greatest Allied victories – and one of the worst Allied defeats – of the Second World War. The eight-month long 1941 siege – a defiant stand by the so-called ‘Rats of Tobruk’ – captured the world’s attention. Conversely, the fall of Tobruk in June 1942 came a shock to the Allies in the wake of Japan’s entry into the war and a string of defeats in the Far East. It rocked the foundation of Winston Churchill’s premiership, revived the flagging hopes of the German people and fanned the flames of Arab unrest. It furthered Rommel’s ascendency and marked a turning point in Anglo-American relations and the fight against Nazi Germany. Tobruk: Fiercely Stand, or Fighting Fall presents a new perspective – asking why the remote fortress successfully fought off repeated attacks in 1941, before tragically falling to Rommel’s Axis forces in just 24 hours in mid-1942. It begins with Italy’s invasion of Ottoman-held North Africa in 1911, before introducing key individuals - Rommel, Mussolini and Morshead – to examine how their WWI service shaped later events. From Mussolini’s ill-fated invasion of Egypt in September 1940, the book explores the capture of Tobruk in January 1941 by the Australian 6th Division, the ensuing siege of its sister 9th Division, and the fortress’ disastrous capitulation.

Erwin Rommel is the arguably the most well-known German general of the Second World War. Revered by his troops and applauded by his enemies, the so-called Desert Fox achieved legendary status for his daring exploits and bold maneuvers during the North African campaign. In this book, richly illustrated with over 400 images, the author examines the privations and challenges Rommel faced in leading his coalition force. Endeavoring to reach the Nile Delta, we find Rommel's Axis soldiers poorly prepared to undertake such an audacious operation. Much-admired by his men in the front lines, we discover a demanding and intolerant leader, censured by subordinate officers and mistrusted by his superiors in Berlin. Certainly no diplomat, we observe posed interactions with Italian and junior German officers through an official lens. We note Rommel's readiness to take advantage of his enemy's weakness and study his extraordinary instinct for waging mobile warfare. We consider his disregard for the decisive factor of supply and view his army's reliance on captured equipment. We learn how this brave and ambitious commander was celebrated by German propaganda when the Wehrmacht's fortunes in the East were waning. Conversely, analyze why Winston Churchill honored him as a daring and skillful opponent. Finally, we picture this energetic, ambitious, at times reckless, commander as he roamed the vast Western Desert battlefield. This is the story of Rommel in North Africa.

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.