In 1940, Alan Moorehead was sent to cover the North Africa campaign by the Daily Express, and he followed its dramatic course all the way to 1943. The three books he subsequently wrote about the Desert War – later collected as his ‘African Trilogy’ – were swiftly acclaimed as a classic account of the tussle between Montgomery’s Eighth Army and Rommel’s Afrika Corps, amidst the endless harsh wastes of the Western Desert.
Moorehead was responsible for the celebrated insight that tank battles in the desert are like battles at sea, the lumbering tanks like ships lost in a vast ocean of sand. The New Statesman could not have put it better when it described his achievement with this riveting book:
‘There is something of genius in the breadth and penetration of his vision, which encompasses the whole panorama of war and then narrows it down to the particular: the soldier stubbing out his cigarette before going into action, the expression on a tank commander’s face as he is hit… The story of the African campaigns will go down in history as one of the great epics of mankind, largely thanks to Mr Moorehead’s account.’
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'A classic'
(Observer )'One of the most remarkable books of this or any other modern war'
(New Statesman )About the Author
Alan Moorehead was born in Melbourne in 1910. Educated at Scotch College and Melbourne University, he was a reporter for the Melbourne Herald before sailing to London in 1936. He became foreign correspondent for the Daily Express, and ultimately one of the finest correspondents of World War II. After the war he turned from journalism to writing books, and in 1956 won the Duff Cooper Prize for Gallipoli. He was awarded the OBE in 1946 and the CBE in 1968. Alan Moorehead died in 1983. His 1944 book, The Desert War: The North Africa Campaign 1940-43 was republished by Aurum in 2009.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book: really three books, and really 'African trilogy' brought out under a new name. These are
'Mediterranean Front' about the 1940-41 campaign under Wavell, first published 1941;
'A year of battle' on the 1941-42 campaigns under Auchinleck; first published 1943;
and 'The end in Africa' on the 1942-43 campaign under Montgomery, Eisenhower and Alexander. First published 1943.
The second book also has the story of Moorehead's travels to India and the third one of his trip to the States, but most of the three concerns the North African campaigns, where the author was a war correspondent: for the first two books based in Egypt and along Eighth Army, in the third book on the Algerian/Tunisian front. This is certainly not an official history with full overview of all the battles: it is a personal account from Moorehead's almost-frontline experiences (and occasionally real frontline ones, too.
The author: Alan Moorehead was an Australian, who in 1937 became correspondent for the Daily Express, and went to North Africa in 1940 as war correspondent. After the war he wrote many books on subjects as varied as Kasmir, Darwin and the Beagle, and explorations in Africa. He died in 1983.
My opinion: very impressive - this was written during the actions which it describes, and that gives it a very fresh feel. Moorehead is also an excellent writer, who can couple local actions with wider strategy and global impacts. The battles are described from very close-up viewpoints, from talking to the troops, to commanding generals, and from being under fire himself. It is direct, clear, simple and sensible, and very readable. It gives you a real feeling of the feelings at the time when Cairo was almost taken by the Germans, of the frustrations of the Tunisian front; as well as a series of excellent litte cameos on, say, general Giraud (reasoned, objective, with Mooreheads feelings showing through clearly - and not very positive!); or twelve affectionate pages on the corvette 'Exe' on which he travelled from Scotland to near Gibraltar.
Very good!
'Mediterranean Front' about the 1940-41 campaign under Wavell, first published 1941;
'A year of battle' on the 1941-42 campaigns under Auchinleck; first published 1943;
and 'The end in Africa' on the 1942-43 campaign under Montgomery, Eisenhower and Alexander. First published 1943.
The second book also has the story of Moorehead's travels to India and the third one of his trip to the States, but most of the three concerns the North African campaigns, where the author was a war correspondent: for the first two books based in Egypt and along Eighth Army, in the third book on the Algerian/Tunisian front. This is certainly not an official history with full overview of all the battles: it is a personal account from Moorehead's almost-frontline experiences (and occasionally real frontline ones, too.
The author: Alan Moorehead was an Australian, who in 1937 became correspondent for the Daily Express, and went to North Africa in 1940 as war correspondent. After the war he wrote many books on subjects as varied as Kasmir, Darwin and the Beagle, and explorations in Africa. He died in 1983.
My opinion: very impressive - this was written during the actions which it describes, and that gives it a very fresh feel. Moorehead is also an excellent writer, who can couple local actions with wider strategy and global impacts. The battles are described from very close-up viewpoints, from talking to the troops, to commanding generals, and from being under fire himself. It is direct, clear, simple and sensible, and very readable. It gives you a real feeling of the feelings at the time when Cairo was almost taken by the Germans, of the frustrations of the Tunisian front; as well as a series of excellent litte cameos on, say, general Giraud (reasoned, objective, with Mooreheads feelings showing through clearly - and not very positive!); or twelve affectionate pages on the corvette 'Exe' on which he travelled from Scotland to near Gibraltar.
Very good!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Niel Black
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Alan Moorehead is now best known as the author of the classics 'White Nile', 'Blue Nile' and 'Galipoli'. But he made his name as one of the greatest Second World War correspondents, particularly covering the war in the western desert. This book covers his three years there, from the beginning of Wavell's fantastically successful campaigns against the Italians through Rommel's victories and British disarray - including graphic accounts of secret documents burning in Cairo - to America's entry, the Tunisian campaign and eventual victory. (A caveat - Moorehead was away for the crunch El Alamein battles, so don't buy it for them.)
This book is therefore both one of the great pieces of war writing and the best book, contemporary or modern, that I have read about the desert war. Moorehead covers many of the controversies that still rage today - Montgomery vs Auchinleck, relative fighting qualities of Germans, Italians, British and Americans - and relative importance of generals, equipment and tactics. Moorehead's judgements sound convincing to me - all the more so coming from someone who spent three years there. More importantly, the sense of detail and place - swimming in the Med after a long drive to the front lines, fly blown mess halls, a luxury liner gutted and turned into a troopship - that no modern book, even one quoting from sources, could ever match. He covers life as a war correspondent, how to report on Churchill, and reportage from a bomb run to some of the last classic naval warfare. His sidetrips from the Ethiopia campaign to a war time visit to New York - and the trips to get there - are snapshots of the war single issue books inevitably miss out. I can't recommend it enough.
This book is therefore both one of the great pieces of war writing and the best book, contemporary or modern, that I have read about the desert war. Moorehead covers many of the controversies that still rage today - Montgomery vs Auchinleck, relative fighting qualities of Germans, Italians, British and Americans - and relative importance of generals, equipment and tactics. Moorehead's judgements sound convincing to me - all the more so coming from someone who spent three years there. More importantly, the sense of detail and place - swimming in the Med after a long drive to the front lines, fly blown mess halls, a luxury liner gutted and turned into a troopship - that no modern book, even one quoting from sources, could ever match. He covers life as a war correspondent, how to report on Churchill, and reportage from a bomb run to some of the last classic naval warfare. His sidetrips from the Ethiopia campaign to a war time visit to New York - and the trips to get there - are snapshots of the war single issue books inevitably miss out. I can't recommend it enough.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Time
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A highly readable though dated account of the desert war from someone who witnessed it first hand. Highly recommended.
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