Desert Armour: Tank Warfare In North Africa: Beda Fomm To Operation Crusader, 1940-41, by Robert Forczyk

In many ways, this book is an appetizer for at least two books that I would probably enjoy reading more than this one. One of those books would (if the author got around to it) be a book on the warfare in East Africa that began with Italy’s brief successes against small constabulary forces in Somaliland and then the victorious British response that eliminated Italian rule over Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. That would be a very interesting and worthwhile book, to be sure. The other, and more obvious book of interest, is the second half of this book, which would tell of the war in North Africa starting with Rommel’s successful counterattack that led to Germany feeling itself somewhat close to conquering Egypt while getting stuck at the end of their logistics chain before Monty’s great response as well as the American efforts in Operation Torch that eventually, by May 1943, ended up in a total Allied victory in North Africa and the surrender of a quarter of a million troops in Tunisia despite brave fighting in counterattacks by the Germans against the Americans at Kasserine Pass. These books, alas, would appear to be far more compelling than this one.

Among the more notable aspects of this book is that the author is a determined revisionist history. Often, I must admit, I tend to use that word as a slur but it is not always meant to be so. In some cases, for example, the author’s detailed fact-oriented defense of some of the more obscure and neglected officers of the British tank corps who were neglected for promotion or other assignments despite excellent service in the early battles in North Africa and in the author’s negative view of the lack of logistical and strategic understanding of Rommel despite his admitted tactical acumen, the author is clearly giving a worthwhile and considered judgment. That said, the author tends to have an axe to grind against Winston Churchill (in general he appears not to understand the importance of politics in war) as well as against various colonial officers who he regularly dismisses, even when they have at least decent performance in battle. It is clear that the author has agendas in mind when it comes to some of his conclusions, and so not everything this author says when it comes to his judgments can be taken at face value. Of course, it must be admitted that few books can be taken at face value, so let the reader beware.

In terms of its contents, this book is a bit more than 300 pages long and it is divided into four large chapters with a considerable amount of supplemental material. The book begins with acknowledgements, a brief preface, and an introduction that discusses the strategic setting of North Africa as well as terrain and weather factors for tank warfare there. This is followed by an initial chapter that discusses the pre-war doctrinal and technological influences on tank warfare from the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Italy, with all of the approaches compared and contrasted (1). This is followed by the author examining the opposing armored forces in North Africa in 1940-41 between the British Army and the Italian and later German forces (2). After this the author discusses early armored operations in 1940-41, starting with border skirmishes, then looking at the disaster in Egypt in late 1940 and then the road to Beda Fomm after that (3). This is followed by a discussion of the advance of the Afrika Korps and their Italian allies from a position of defeat to a siege of Tobruk and the effort of the British in Operation Battleaxe to spoil that siege (4). After this the author discusses the clash of armor of Operation Crusader, which ended up being a victory for the British that pushed Rommel and his allies back (5). This is followed by a glossary, a rank table, appendices on major tank deliveries to North Africa in 1940 and 1941 (i), tanks in North Africa during that time (ii), penetration of tank and anti-tank guns from 1940-1943 (iib), and orders of battle for armored units in North Africa from 1940-41 (iii), after which the book ends with a bibliography, notes, and an index.