| The Bloody Road to Tunis - Destruction of the Axis Forces in North Africa, November 1942-May 1943
(2001)
|
| Front Cover |
Book Details |
|
| Genre |
Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
World War, 1939-1945 - Campaigns - Africa, North |
| Publication Date |
3/15/2001 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.4
x
6.4
mm)
|
| Publisher |
Greenhill Books |
| Language |
English |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
|
| Description |
| The battle for Tunisia was the culmination of the struggle for North Africa in World War II. It saw experienced German and Italian troops, in superb defensive positions, pitted against well-equipped Anglo-American units and, from first to last, was a battle of skill and determination. David Rolf now provides, for the first time, a complete history of the campaign and his vivid study charts the fighting from both the Axis and Allied perspective. |
| Personal Details |
| Acquire Date |
6/10/2010 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Very Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
|
|
| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
D766.82 .R56 2001 |
| Dewey |
940.5423 |
| ISBN |
9781853674457 |
| Cover Price |
$25.00 |
| No. of Pages |
304 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
Combat is perhaps the most passionate of human activities. Men in combat exhibit the extremes of human emotion: courage and fear, elation and demoralization. This book is the opposite of passionate. It is a fairly emotionless description of the movement of units across the map of northwest Africa over the six months between the Torch invasion and the capitulation of Axis troops in Tunisia.
The book is well researched and has a rich bibliography, including a few (excellent) books I've already read. It's rare that I read a well researched book and not want to dig a little deeper into the subject and seek out some of the source material. This was the case with this book.
The text is accompanied by a number of good and useful maps. I often felt, though, that there should have been more maps, or that the scale of the maps provided didn't match the text. I found it very difficult to track the action without referring to the maps, but the text often mentioned places that I couldn't find on any of the maps. I grant that the failure may have been mine; when I got too many pages away from the maps I tended to give up.
I will readily admit to preferring personal narratives over descriptions of strategy and movements of large units. But for a telling of events at this large scale, I'd recommend Rick Atkinson's An Army at Dawn over this one (even though Atkinson focuses on US forces rather than the Allies overall). |
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