El Alamein and the Struggle for North Africa

Description

A new set of studies of issues surrounding the pivotal battle on its 70th anniversary
This new collection of studies presents fresh insights into a war fought over unusually difficult terrain and with exceptional supply demands.
From the ongoing Italian geomorphic study of the Alamein arena to individual memories of non-combatant Alexandrians, from the Free French to the seasoned colonial forces of Australia, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, and from vital naval engagements and the siege of Malta to the study of Rommel's leadership and the Churchill-Montgomery duo, this book presents the reader with a detailed yet broad reassessment of the complexities of the war in North Africa between 1941 and 1943, its technology, philosophy, military doctrine, strategy, tactics, logistics, and the associated local and international politics.
Writing from the perspectives of some of the many nations whose armies were involved in the conflict, fifteen historians bring to their work the precision of their national historical archival sources in clear and spritely narratives.
Foreword William Roger Louis
Introduction Jill Edwards
1. The War in North Africa, 1940-43: An Overview of the Role of the Union of South Africa James Jacobs
2. Training the Troops: The Indian Army in Egypt, Eritrea, and Libya, 1940-42 Alan Jeffreys
3. "The Part We Played in This Show": Australians and El Alamein Peter Stanley
4. "No Model Campaign": the Second New Zealand Division and the Battle of El Alamein, October-December 1942 Glyn Harper
5. 1942, The Free French in the Battle for North Africa: Military Action and Its Political Presentation Rémy Porte
6. Between History and Geography: The El Alamein Project: Research, Findings, and Results Aldino Bondesan
7. Silent Service: The Royal Navy and the Desert Victory Nick Hewitt
8. Feeding the Fortress: Malta, Summer 1942 Thomas Scheben
9. "The Highest Rule": Rommel as Military Genius Antulio J. Echevarria II
10. High Command in the Desert Niall Barr
11. Alexandrians Tell Their Story: Oral Narratives of the War in North Africa 1940-43 Sahar Hamouda and Mohamed Awad
12. The Battle of El Alamein: Impressions of a Young Schoolboy in Alexandria Harry Tzalas

Sujets

• Histoire
• Military
• World War II
• History

Informations

• Publié par: The American University in Cairo Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781617973482
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2012 by
The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
www.aucpress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Dar el Kutub No. 11834/11
eISBN 978-1-6179-7348-2

Edwards, Jill
       El Alamein and the Struggle for North Africa: International Perspectives from the Twenty-first Century/ Jill Edwards. —Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2012
       p.    cm.
       ISBN 978 977 416 581 8
       1. World War      I. Title

1 2 3 4 5  16 15 14 13 12

Designed by Adam el Sehemy
In commemoration of all who fought in the Battles of El Alamein, 1942
Contents Contributors List of Illustrations Foreword William Roger Louis Acknowledgments Introduction Jill Edwards 1. The War in North Africa, 1940–43: An Overview of the Role of the Union of South Africa James Jacobs 2. Training the Troops: The Indian Army in Egypt, Eritrea, and Libya, 1940–42 Alan Jeffreys 3. “The Part We Played in This Show”: Australians and El Alamein Peter Stanley 4. “No Model Campaign”: The Second New Zealand Division and the Battle of El Alamein, October–December 1942 Glyn Harper 5. The Free French in the Battle for North Africa, 1942: Military Action and Its Political Presentation Rémy Porte 6. Between History and Geography: The El Alamein Project: Research, Findings, and Results Aldino Bondesan 7. Silent Service: The Royal Navy and the Desert Victory Nick Hewitt 8. Feeding the Fortress: Malta, Summer 1942 Thomas Scheben 9. “The Highest Rule”: Rommel as Military Genius Antulio J. Echevarria II 10. High Command in the Desert Niall Barr 11. Alexandrians Tell Their Story: Oral Narratives of the War in North Africa 1940–43 Mohamed Awad and Sahar Hamouda 12. The Battle of El Alamein: Impressions of a Young Schoolboy in Alexandria Harry Tzalas “Here Dead Lie We” A.E. Housman
Contributors
Mohamed Awad is director of the Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. A professional architect and historian of architecture, Awad lectures at Alexandria University. As an ardent conservationist, he is the founder of the Alexandria Preservation Trust, an NGO for the documentation and protection of Alexandria’s architectural heritage.
Niall Barr is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and reader in military history, King’s College, University of London. He is based at the Defence Studies Department, the Joint Services Command, and Staff College. Among Barr’s many publications are Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein (2004), and The Lion and the Poppy: British Veterans, Politics and Society 1921–1939 (2005).
Aldino Bondesan is professor of geomorphology at the University of Padua, Italy. Bondesan is director of the El Alamein Geomorphic Project on the Alamein Battlefields, and leads teams of scientists in the comprehensive excavation, investigation, and analysis of the Alamein sites using latest technology and incorporating archival research. www.qattara. it/30-00%20Prg_files/slide0222.htm
Antulio J. Echevarria II served in the U.S. Army for twenty-three years. Echevarria is currently director of research for the U.S. Army War College. His publications include Clausewitz and Contemporary War (2007), Imagining Future War (2007); and After Clausewitz (2001). He has published extensively in scholarly and professional journals on topics related to military history and theory and strategic thinking.
Jill Edwards is professor of international history at the American University in Cairo, and fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Edwards’ publications include Anglo-American Relations and the Franco Question, 1945–1955 (1999) and The British Government and the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939 (1979); she is editor of Historians in Cairo: Essays in Honor of George Scanlon (2002) and Al-Alamein Revisited (2000).
Sahar Hamouda is director of the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies and deputy director of the Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Hamouda is professor and chair of the department of English language and literature at Alexandria University. Among her many publications is the recent book Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem (2010).
Glyn Harper was until recently head of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University, New Zealand. Now Harper heads Massey’s major research project in partnership with New Zealand’s Defence Force for the Centenary History of New Zealand and the First World War . His recent publications are Massacre at Passchendaele: The New Zealand Story (2012) and Letters from Gallipoli: New Zealand Soldiers Write Home (2011).
Nick Hewitt is head of attractions and collections at the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, UK. He was previously a historian at the Imperial War Museum. He has appeared in the BBC’s Coast series, and productions for the History Channel. Among other publications is his book, Coastal Convoys, 1939–45: The Indestructible Highway (2008).
James Jacobs is resident military historian at the South African Army College. Jacobs lectures on the junior and senior command and staff programs at the South African National War College. He is a distinguished lecturer and writer on military history.
Alan Jeffreys is senior curator of social history at the Imperial War Museum. His publications include The British Army in the Far East (2005); he is coeditor of The Indian Army 1939–1947 (2012). He is currently working on Training the Indian Army, 1939–45 , and is coeditor of the academic history series India at War .
William Roger Louis is professor of history at the University of Texas, Austin, and fellow of St Antony’s, Oxford. A past president of the American Historical Association, and present director of the AHA’s National History Center, Louis was chair of the Department of State Historical Advisory Committee (resigned 2008), and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011. Author of many books, he is currently editor in chief of The Oxford History of the British Empire.
Rémy Porte is director of the research department of the Centre de Doctrine d’Emploi des Forces at the École Militaire, Paris. A lieutenant colonel in the French Army, Porte’s publications include La Mobilisation industrielle: ‘premier Front’ de la Grande Guerre? (2006). He was a principal speaker at the recent University of Cambridge Conference “Forgetful Allies: Truth, Myth and Memory in the Two World Wars and After,” September 2011.
Thomas Scheben graduated in Islamic Studies at Mainz University. Scheben entered politics, later becoming a newspaper correspondent. He was director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Cairo for five years, and is currently deputy director of the Press and Information Department of the city of Frankfurt am Main. As a researcher, he has published on Ottoman history and warfare in the Mediterranean.
Peter Stanley heads the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia. From 1980 to 2007 he worked at the Australian War Memorial, where he was principal historian. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, his many books include Digger Smith and Australia’s Great War (2011); Invading Australia: Japan and the Battle for Australia, 1942 (2008); with Mark Johnston Alamein: The Australian Story (2002, new ed. 2006); Quinn’s Post: Anzac, Gallipoli (2005).
Harry Tzalas is president of the Hellenic Institute for the Preservation of Nautical Tradition, an Athens-based scientific institution specializing in marine archaeology and nautical experimental archaeology. He has organized many international conferences on Greek ship construction in antiquity. Since 1998 Tzalas has led a team of underwater archaeologists diving at Alexandria, Egypt, for ancient and medieval shipwrecks. He is author of the short story collection “Farewell to Alexandria,” published in 2000 by The American University in Cairo Press.
Illustrations
Figure
0.1
Emir Mansur, son of King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, inspecting the crew of HMS Queen Elizabeth
0.2
“The Western Desert” from Fitzroy Maclean, Eastern Approaches , ninth impression. London: Jonathan Cape, 1950 (first impression: 1949)
1.1
Sir Claude J.E. Auchinleck, commander in chief Middle East, July 1941–August 1942
1.2
Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Jan Christian Smuts addressing officers and men in Egypt, 1942
1.3
Brigadier D.H. Pienaar, officer commanding the South African Forces in North Africa
1.4
South African engineers, Second Battalion, at El Alamein training for mine detection
2.1
Soldiers of the Fourth Indian Division decorate the side of their lorry, June 21, 1941
2.2
Indian patrols: Here a Sikh corporal, a member of an Indian patrol, is wearing his bandolier
3.1
Australian troops occupy front-line position at Tobruk
3.2
Australians and South Africans with distinctive headgear playing cards in gun post
3.3
Westland Lysander M