DESERT ARMOUR TANK WARFARE IN NORTH AFRICA
FROM BEDA FOMM TO OPERATION CRUSADER 1940-41, THIS THOROUGH STUDY OF ARMOURED WARFARE IN THE WESTERN DESERT IS A WORTHY ADDITION TO ANY ENTHUSIAST’S SHELF
Author: Robert Forczyk Publisher: Osprey Publishing Price: £35 (Hardback)
We’ve read many books on World War II’S North African campaign and Operation Crusader, and we thought this book would be more of the same: a lot of text, a few photographs and some maps. So we were pleasantly surprised to find it was a totally different format. Most books on this period of military history start in June 1940 with the Italian declaration of war but author Robert Forczyk in his first chapter goes into detail about the drastically different pre-war doctrine on the use of armour adopted by the British, American, Italian and Germans. He examines the technological differences in each side’s armoured force and how they intended to deploy them. This is very refreshing as it gives the reader a good background into the strengths and weaknesses of all the forces before battle commenced.
As this is an Osprey book the author has been able to include many of the high-quality full-colour illustrations used in its New Vanguard book series on armoured fighting vehicles to depict the different vehicles that took part in the fighting in the North African desert. There are lots of colourful maps depicting the movement of opposing forces, and the author has included a selection of wartime black and white photographs of the conflict from his private collection and also from the archives of the Imperial War Museum.
He has used tables to make it easier to understand the difference between the four nations’ armour doctrines on an operational and tactical level, so comparisons are much easier. He has also used tables to help compare the production tank programmes of different countries that includes information such as the date of requirement, the developer’s name, the appearance of the first prototype, the date of production and the cost. By doing this the reader can see which country had the most effective manufacturing base to produce armoured vehicles. We like the way the author has included military unit organisational diagrams so readers can understand the structure of each opposing force.
Chapter three covers the confrontation between Italian forces and the British, the effects of artillery and the nearly impenetrable armour of the Matilda II tank. The fourth chapter follows the arrival of the German Afrika Korps tanks in Tripoli in late February 1941 and the subsequent attacks by Erwin Rommel’s forces along with his Italian allies. The effect of the welcome arrival of the first batch of American-built Lend-lease M3 Stuart light tanks in Egypt in July 1941 is also discussed. The US was not a belligerent at this stage of the war, but this delivery of tanks was followed by the unloading of ships containing more M3
Stuart light tanks and M3 Lee/grant medium tanks. The battles of Sidi Barrani, Beda Fomm, Marsa El Brega, Operation Brevity, Operation Battleaxe and Operation Crusader are covered in detail. We heartily recommend this book on the early part of the desert war as a terrific addition to your library.
“IT GIVES THE READER A GOOD BACKGROUND INTO THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF ALL THE FORCES BEFORE BATTLE COMMENCED”