DTO recommended reads?

[witchbottles]

A good friend just asked me this not long ago, I made my own recommendations accordingly, but it got me thinking - there are not a lot of top quality , well-known, popularly advertised books on the war in Africa in World War Two. So, without further adieu, what are your recommendations to this niche reading list on the war?

( Note naval and air war topics concerning the African war are equally suitable).

Academic-rigor books are especially desired.

KRL, Jon H

 

[Yuri0352]

Good thread, I hope the amateur historians will en lighten us.

My experience has been that the choices are limited, with Osprey seeming to have an extensive series of titles on DTO. The Osprey books though informative, are more of an overview. For further reading, I usually check the bibliographies and try to locate the more appealing titles listed. Now that I think of it, I don't think I've read anything written from the German or Italian perspective on North Africa.

My nostalgic favorite is Desert War in North Africa by Stephen Sears. I remember checking this book out of the library in 6th or 7th grade and starting my long fascination with the 8th Army and the Afrika Korps. Besides the photos, the book contained quite a bit of art works by veterans of the desert war.

Regarding 'academic ' level books on the subject, I have no personal knowledge of such though I would be very interested to know of any.

 

[witchbottles]

Good thread, I hope the amateur historians will en lighten us.

My experience has been that the choices are limited, with Osprey seeming to have an extensive series of titles on DTO. The Osprey books though informative, are more of an overview. For further reading, I usually check the bibliographies and try to locate the more appealing titles listed. Now that I think of it, I don't think I've read anything written from the German or Italian perspective on North Africa.

My nostalgic favorite is Desert War in North Africa by Stephen Sears. I remember checking this book out of the library in 6th or 7th grade and starting my long fascination with the 8th Army and the Afrika Korps. Besides the photos, the book contained quite a bit of art works by veterans of the desert war.

Regarding 'academic ' level books on the subject, I have no personal knowledge of such though I would be very interested to know of any.

Rick Atkinson has a new trilogy on the Italian armed Forces in WW2. Two of the books cover African fighting from their perspectives, but these are newer books ( 2016 release dates). I wonder if anyone has any information on their usefulness for reading as far as Italian armed forces in combat goes.

 

[Barking Monkey]

Also, Atkinson's book on the US Army's north african campaign "An Army at Dawn" is quite good - not sure if this fits the bill or if you're just interested in the 8th army stuff.

 

[Yuri0352]

Rick Atkinson has a new trilogy on the Italian armed Forces in WW2. Two of the books cover African fighting from their perspectives, but these are newer books ( 2016 release dates). I wonder if anyone has any information on their usefulness for reading as far as Italian armed forces in combat goes.

I checked Amazon and I web-searched Rick Atkinson. No sign of any books or trilogy by him regarding WWII Italian forces.

 

[witchbottles]

I checked Amazon and I web-searched Rick Atkinson. No sign of any books or trilogy by him regarding WWII Italian forces.

I've Read " An Army at Dawn" covering the Tunisian campaign and Torch. Pretty good - I just came across mention of a new series with 2016 publication dates.

Have you read Lyman's book on Tobruk yet? I just saw it via abebooks advert.

KRL, Jon H

 

[Yuri0352]

I've Read " An Army at Dawn" covering the Tunisian campaign and Torch. Pretty good - I just came across mention of a new series with 2016 publication dates.

Have you read Lyman's book on Tobruk yet? I just saw it via abebooks advert.

KRL, Jon H

I haven't seen the Lyman book, although I highly recommend 'Tobruk' by Peter Fitzsimons. My brother sent this to me from Australia a couple of years ago. This title covers the Australian's defence during 1941 and features many personal accounts of the fighting. Very interesting perspectives with respect to the high regard which the 'diggers' had for the British artillerymen who were so critical to the defense. As this is an Australian publication, I have no idea of its availability in the US.

 

[Paul M. Weir]

Sorry for being late to this but I had great difficulty in remembering the author's name, but Alan Moorehead's desert trilogy is what I read as a teenager and reinforced my growing interest in WW2. While as a history it might have it's flaws and limitations due to being written during WW2, they are still a very good read. A very good starting point.
https://www.amazon.com/Desert-War-Classic-Trilogy-Campaign/dp/1845133919

For the nerdish there is "Tank Combat in North Africa, The Opening Rounds" by Thomas L. Jentz. A book I cannot recommend highly enough. Lots and lots of detail for the ASL designer. The only complaint is that it covers only the early part of the German intervention in NA and he never did follow up books (died 2012). While I always recognised him as a worthwhile author, this was the book that convinced me to grab as many of his books as possible, I found it that good.
https://www.amazon.com/Tank-Combat-North-Africa-Sonnenblume/dp/0764302264/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476097587&sr=1-1&keywords=tank+battles+in+north+africa

 

[Thunderchief]

I haven't seen the Lyman book, although I highly recommend 'Tobruk' by Peter Fitzsimons. My brother sent this to me from Australia a couple of years ago. This title covers the Australian's defence during 1941 and features many personal accounts of the fighting. Very interesting perspectives with respect to the high regard which the 'diggers' had for the British artillerymen who were so critical to the defense. As this is an Australian publication, I have no idea of its availability in the US.

I believe that FitzSimons describes himself as a "storian" rather than a "historian". One of my university professors was not impressed by his writings.
I have not read Tobruk (have it though) so I can't comment for myself.

 

[ASL Maineiac]

Think you must be mistaken about Atkinson, Jon (@witchbottles). I haven't seen or heard anything about him working on a new trilogy about the Italian forces in WWII. Maybe you got it confused with the second book in his Liberation Trilogy, which focused on the war in Italy.

 

[matttal]

I believe that FitzSimons describes himself as a "storian" rather than a "historian". One of my university professors was not impressed by his writings.
I have not read Tobruk (have it though) so I can't comment for myself.

Fitzsimons was actually a rugby union player who late in the day began writing books relating to Australian history, certainly a collector of anecdotes rather than an academic. He also wrote a book (I think) on the New Guinea campaign in WWII.