Alamein and the Desert War

212 Pages·1968·26.09 MB·English

by  Derek Jewell

^ ORIGINAL 95(
J7093 A BALLANTINE WAR BOOK
ALAMEIN
AND THE
WAB
DESERT
A DRAMATIC ACCOUNT OF VICTORY IN AFRICA
BY FIELD MARSHAL BEBNABD M0NT60MEBY
AND OTHEBJK^ EDITED BY DEREK JEWELL
^-M"-
f
^i^ *^'"«^' -„,„3I A
fyWOLl
^^^
tei. *
»d^,J^- __--, -^4^; • Mk
3g
l^^^i^wi^^

"The battle which is now about to begin will
be one of the decisive battles of history. It will
be the turning point of the war."
-Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
At Alamein, Montgomery defeated Rommel,
the famed "Desert Fox," in one of the most
brilliant and savagely fought tank battles of
World War
II.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of
the Battle of Alamein, the London Sunday
Times invited Field Marshal Montgomery to
return to Africa and recreate the story of his
famous victory. To his narrative have been
added contributions of world-famed writers
and military experts: Len Deighton compares
the merits of German and Allied tanks; Barrie
Pitt analyzes Rommel's tactics and the fight-
ing inTunisia; George Perry interviews German
Generals on the African campaign, and other
writers complete the picture of desert warfare
in this vivid and supremely exciting book
specially prepared under the editorship of
Derek Jewell.
A special 16-page color section shows the
uniforms and insignia of the combatants with
color photos of Rommel, Montgomery and
episodes of the war.
^4
jT
1
jflWJ
^^ ^^'*^*" *^-'-*»^'*'^- " "^'V"J•..f*-"!
%/.
t^'A
i@^
Inj^H&^l^HPr^^^- vl^^l^H
I»^^^^K^H^lKw^^to^Ha'f^c^j^n|EmM*, a s.i-.,.v'^VpoiQ
S^lii^^.'-w.-.-.' .-^j^
jHp^P^j?^'^^^IHfeifojv^fc^'fn'>^
i^K^^L'
*^^K^-*-'^'
% ^^f- '
^^'^kxMir;--^30^B^^M:^^
Alamein
andihe
war
desert
edited by Derek Jewell
Historical adviser Barrie Pitt
Artdirector Michael Rand
DesignerDavid Barnes
(0)
BALLANTINEBOOKS'NEWYORK
^^1
.r life-vs.
^d^^'^
© Times Newspapers Ltd., and Derek Jewell, 1967.
First American Printing: July, 1968
Printed in the United States of America
BALLANTINE BOOKS, INC.
101 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003
: :
Contents
1 Three years of battles
11 The Benghazi Handicap 1940-1942 by Banie Pitt
24 The patterns ofwar 1940-1943 drawn by Roy Castle
28 The leaders who was who
:
32 Rommel's desperate drive by Barrie Pitt
42 Fortress Tobruk a view from the sea by Neil Bruce
:
48 Ironmongery ofthe desert by Len Deighton
61 The battle ofAlamein by Field-Marshal Montgomery
95 The chase to Tunisia by Barrie Pitt
2 What makes an army?
100 Rommel and Montgomery
photographedby Horst Baumann andIan Yeomans
104 The desert style drawn by Roger Coleman
107 Badges ofbattle drawn by Ken Lewis
109 The Intelligent Bad Element makes good
by Philip Norman
120 The Enemy Rommel reassessed
1 :
by Hans-AdolfJacobsen andAntony Terry
126 The Enemy 2 what the generals think
:
by George Perry
130 The private armies by Len Deighton
138 The Gaberdine Swine - and others
a glossary ofdesert slang by Peter Sanders
143 Desert newspapers
a grassroots press by Susan Raven
147 Lilli Marlene:
a song for all armies by Derek Jewell
3 The frmges of conflict
159 Cairo: back from the Blue by Olivia Manning
177 The canvases ofwar by Susan Raven
withpaintings by Ardizzone, Gross, Bawden etc.
182 Farouk and the night of shame by Barrie McBride
192 A portrait of Brother Ahmed by Charles Avite
drawing by Roger Law
197 The desert poets by Philip Oakes
203 Poems by Keith Douglas, Jocelyn Brooke,
Hamish Henderson and Gerald Kersh
Introduction: a different kind of war
The Desert War fought in Egypt and Libya between 1940 and
early 1943 may not have been the most important front in the
struggle against Germany, Italy and Japan. But no war could be
more fascinating.
It was not unimportant, of course. It was crucial for Britain,
especially before America'sstrength wasfully geared to help inthe
task of beating Hitler. Defeat in the Middle East, and the cutting
off of her oil source, could have crumbled Britain's position. The
effect on thenation'smoralewould have been catastrophic too, and
the few crumbs of victory from the Western Desert gave the
British some comfort during the defeat-ridden days of 1941 and
1942. The Soviet Union, engaged on the eastern front in the most
terrible and decisive battles of the second world war, would also
have been in extreme peril had the Axis been able to use the Nile
delta as a springboard to move against Russia's southern borders.
But outside the grand strategic context, the Desert War had a
A
life of its own. particular flavour. It was fought in wide open
spaces where there were comparatively few towns and few civilians
to get hurt. Ifthere has to be war, then this was the perfect arena.
The land is desert but not, on the whole, the soft and yielding sand
ofpopular Beau Geste imagination. Beneath the yellow face ofthe
Egyptian desert and the greyer surface of the Libyan is rock. It
makes, militarily, for good going.
This is inhospitable terrain, supporting only scrub, a few tough
animals, snakes and lizards, and infuriating myriads of flies.
Communicationsweredifficultfor the armies. Water was precious.
The sense ofemptiness and loneliness could unhinge a man's mind.
There were mirages, discomforts, disappointments.
In this cockpit, somehow isolated from the rest of the second
world war, a special esprit de guerre grew up. Ifthere can be old-
style chivalry in modem war, which some may doubt, then it was
here. Itwasquaintlyexpressed inJune 1940,whenthe rafdropped
awreath from the air afterthe Italian commander. Marshal Balbo,
had been shot down over Tobruk by his own anti-aircraft guns.
The heroic, piratical flavour was maintained by Rommel, dashing
around among his leading tanks, and by British units like the Long
Range Desert Group. Only later, as the desert filled up with larger
quantities of men and material, did the modem feeling of two
goliaths facing each other intrude. Even then the war produced a
hero-figure in Montgomery, as already it had tumed up its O'Con-
nors and Gotts and Auchinlecks - and, of course, its Rommel,
admired by his enemy like no general since, perhaps, Napoleon.
This book, based upon material collected for The Sunday Times
Magazine of London in the 25th anniversary year of the Alamein
victory, is only the latest in a very long and honourable line of
Desert War literature. It is a reporter's book, partly commemor-
ative and reminiscent in purpose, partly intended as a reassessment
ofcertain aspectsofthewar. It hasalsotried tobesomethingmore.
Itconcentrates, aquarterofacentury later, especiallyonthe back-
ground to the war, which gave it an extra dimension of interest.
For Italy, this war meant the end of a dream of empire. For
Britain, too, there were imperialistic overtones. This was in certain
respects the latest episode in her long love-hate involvement with
the Arabs. That is why sections ofthis book deal with desert slang
and its Arabic accretions; with Cairo; with Farouk and the
ordinary Egyptians; with the songs, poems, paintings, and news-
papers ofthe desert campaigns.
Despite all that has been written about this war, there are still
new facts, and new perspectives, to be discovered. Against the
accepted ideas of its chivalry must be set the fact that wells were
sometimes poisoned by retreating troops, which is scarcely
chivalrous. Nor is the mine a very chivalrous weapon. There
weren't, certainly, many civilians who got hurt. But there were
some. Arabs were driven from their land, and the desert-dwellers
of Egypt and Libya have suffered grievously in the last quarter-
century from the 20 million mines which the British, Germans and
Italians left behind in the ground. Since the war, around 30,000
Egyptians have been killed or maimed through stepping on them.
The former belligerents have seemed largely unconcerned.
It was a war curious in its revelations ofnational behaviour. For
in the end, men rather than weapons were decisive. The Italians
tried to transform this alien land in their image, instead oflearning
to live with it. They built marble monuments. They had the luxury
offine sheets, grandiose uniforms, good food and drink, ice cream,
even mobile brothels. It was preposterous; a recipe for defeat.
The Germans were more realistic. They were good desert
soldiers: excellent at fast movement, map-reading and navigation.
They had palatable food and fine equipment - from guns and tanks
topills, purifiers, powders and goggles. But they loathed thedesert,
and it was unkind to them.
On the eve of Alamein Rommel was away on sick leave in
Germany. His three senior staff officers - Westphal, Gause and
Bayerlein - were all ill. Even poor General Stumme, left in charge,
had a heart attack and died once Montgomery's assault hadbegun.
The British were by contrast, perky as fleas in the desert. The
Allied army was one of the Attest in history; bronzed and tough.
Maybe this was because the colonising British had had centuriesof
experience in tropical medicine.
There were British, Australians, New Zealanders, South
Africans, Indians, Poles, Czechs, Greeks and French on the Allied
side. The British, dressing informally, under an informal discipline,
usually wore just boots and shorts (or a weird conglomeration of
suede, shaggy sheepskin, corduroy and neckscarves) and lived on
tea, bully beefand hard tack. The others all had their talents - the
Aussiesinhard, bloody killingmatches; theKiwisinnightfighting;
the Indians in guerilla passages. They took to the desert. And, in
the end, they triumphed.
This book is not encyclopaedic. It deals only with some aspects
ofthewar. Neitherdoes itdelve verydeeply into politics. Therehas
been enough controversy and no little bitterness already. If there
was oncea tendency to blame manyofthe early generals overmuch
for their defeats - when indifferent and scanty equipment, too few
planes, political manipulations and other factors were often the
cause - then the latterday game of scorning the achievements of
Alexander and Montgomery has been ludicrously overplayed.
Montgomery had a good, experienced army awaiting him. He
had Alexander to back him up. He also had excellent equipment,
and a lot ofit. But he gave purpose, leadership, self-confldence and
logical direction to an army which largely welcomed it. And he
won. His fame is as secure as his style, of which he likes not a
comma, capital or special spelling changed.
Many ofthosewho havewrittenforthisbookoweagreatdebtto
literature already published about the war by generals, historians,
journalists. It could not have been produced without the assistance
ofhundredsofpeople, military and non-military, whoknewthewar
at flrst-hand and who have talked or given guidance. They were of
many nationalities, and they include the Egyptian authorities,
who gave excellent facilities for Field-Marshal Montgomery to
return to the Alamein battlefield in May 1967.
Its editor, who was not in the Desert War, had the great good
fortunetoaccompany Field-MarshalMontgomeryonthatjourney.
For the many lessons the Field-Marshal taught me, for his kind-
nesses, for the work ofall contributors to this book, I am grateful.
Derek Jewell