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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.
Author
Barrie William Edward Pitt was educated at Portsmouth Southern Grammar School before becoming a bank clerk. After service in the Second World War Pitt worked as a surveyor, joined 21 SAS (TA), with whom he rose to the rank of sergeant, and started to write for the magazine Adventure. Pitt also worked for a time as an information officer at the Atomic Energy Authority establishment at Aldermaston, where he demonstrated a talent for turning scientific information into readable prose In 1958, Pitt wrote a novel, The Edge of Battle, and Zeebrugge, an admired account of the First World War raid on the Belgian U-boat base. This led to a long and prolific career as an author and editor of popular histories. Under the overall editorship of Sir Basil Liddell-Hart, he was responsible for the first major part-work, Purnell's History of the Second World War, a 96-instalment mass circulation series which was launched in 1966 at the Imperial War Museum. He also worked as a researcher for the 1960s BBC television series The Great War.
