When Sir Archibald Wavell assumed command of the British forces in North Africa, he had no choice but to keep Egypt from falling to the Axis. A defeat would give Hitler access to the Red Sea, and with it access to the oil-rich Persian Gulf and even to India. Because of Wavell's limited resources, he decided attack was the best form of defense. Wavell's brilliant campaign was carried out by his field commander, General Richard O'Connor, who routed Marshal Rodolfo Graziani's Italian forces, took thousands of prisoners, and pushed the Italians back hundreds of miles. The exhilarating and essential victory was short-lived, lasting only a few months until Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps entered the conflict in early 1941. When Sir Archibald Wavell assumed command of the British forces in North Africa, he had no choice but to keep Egypt from falling to the Axis. A defeat would give Hitler access to the Red Sea, and with it access to the oil-rich Persian Gulf and even to India. Because of Wavell's limited resources, he decided attack was the best form of defense. Wavell's brilliant campaign was carried out by his field commander, General Richard O'Connor, who routed Marshal Rodolfo Graziani's Italian forces, took thousands of prisoners, and pushed the Italians back hundreds of miles. The exhilarating and essential victory was short-lived, lasting only a few months until Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps entered the conflict in early 1941.

In the second volume, Churchill replaces Sir Claude Auchinleck as commander-in-chief with Field Marshal Harold Alexander, and places Bernard Montgomery over the Eighth Army. Prior to the changes of command, Auchinleck stopped Rommel's Afrika Korps for the first time at the first battle of Alamein in July, 1942. Still, the Axis forces remained dangerous. The pair's new commands coincided with the arrival of matériel sufficient to give the Allies overwhelming superiority in the field. Montgomery duly planned for a second battle at Alamein six months after the first. The eventual encounter gained a decisive second desert victory, the first since O'Connor's against the Italians nearly two years before. The victory signaled the beginning of the end of the Axis in North Africa. 6 1/8 X 9 1/8. 26 B&W Illustrations

The third volume explains how the Allies fared in their early efforts to defend Egypt from the wiles of Field Marshal Rommel and the German Afrika Korps. The series of Allied victories in the North African desert that routed the Italian defenders came to an abrupt end with Rommel's arrival on the scene. In the early clashes with the Afrika Korps, Britain's Field Marshal Richard O'Connor was captured, and Field Marshal Archibald Wavell was replaced as commander-in-chief by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck. Auchinleck had been an excellent soldier, but his choice of commanders turned out to be a disaster, as they were out-thought and out-fought by Rommel. Ultimately, Auckinleck himself took command and ended Rommel's immediate threat. The third volume explains how the Allies fared in their early efforts to defend Egypt from the wiles of Field Marshal Rommel and the German Afrika Korps. The series of Allied victories in the North African desert that routed the Italian defenders came to an abrupt end with Rommel's arrival on the scene. In the early clashes with the Afrika Korps, Britain's Field Marshal Richard O'Connor was captured, and Field Marshal Archibald Wavell was replaced as commander-in-chief by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck. Auchinleck had been an excellent soldier, but his choice of commanders turned out to be a disaster, as they were out-thought and out-fought by Rommel. Ultimately, Auckinleck himself took command and ended Rommel's immediate threat.