Today is another one of those event days – actually I guess there are more than 365 event days celebrated so every day is probably an event day these days. Wow that a lot of days in one sentence!
I am currently reading Desperate Venture by Norman Gelb. It is a book about the WW2 North African Invasion by allied forces in 1942. Invasion is a moot point given the Allies aimed to meet no material resistance from the Vichy French holding this colonial part of the French Empire.
Of course everyone knows what happened – or do they? The Normandy landings 18 months or so later tend to crowd out other WW2 stories: It’s not just the forgotten 14th army and everyone else fighting the Japanese in Asia who get less coverage.
Which is unfortunate because Operation Torch enabled the Normandy landings to be an outstanding success. Well that’s my untutored view. Norman Gelb is in the “Torch delayed the Normandy landings and that the war with Germany ran two years more than necessary” camp.
Yet his book is an excellent read – pacey but full of content – he makes every word count. Although I have yet to finish the book, I can recommend it. If you buy just one book from a war and politics perspective on the North African campaign then this is spot on.
I have written about other Operation Torch books in previous posts as well as books on the high street and other book event days. All grist to the mill as they say.
Yes I did buy desperate venture from a bookshop but not my local one and it was a charity shop so I guess they might not really count. But then again if you’re reading printed material that’s good: If you’re reading printed material bought in a bricks and mortar shop then thats great!
My current preoccupation with 20th century warfare has scooped up two random purchases that were “I might read that one day” plus a rebuy for the third time – this time I read it cover to cover!
How ironic to run a cover with a Valentine in Axis colours – is this a metaphor for “North Africa West – confusion”?Plain by but no means less interestingIt might have been so different
“The Murder of Admiral Darlan” does not leap into most peoples mind as a book worthy of a second look unless maybe it was a Napoleonic era study. Quite simply Admiral Darlan led on the wrong side for too long before switching sides only to be murdered. So no need to read the book then. Wait – it is written by an american and is not really about the murder at all. It details just how close the allies came to mess up Operation Torch before they landed! And there is still plenty of action. If you want ideas for gaming its worth a look.
The General de Gaulle memoirs were published by Collins in London in 1955 the year after Dien Bien Phu (1954) definitively signalled the end of French Indochina. The first part 1940-42 is all about defeat and survival. And de Gaulle emphasises the Empire as his sustaining source in a way english speakers might not appreciate, not least as the British Empire had its own story to wrestle with. The brief Northern France actions and the sheer chaos of an uncertain France as belief fell away offers yet more ideas for the wargamer. I still think a country defeated in 1815, conquered in 1870 and nearly overrun again in 1914 and finally part annexed by its neighbour in 1940 always has an interesting story to tell.
Charles Whiting has been a prolific author of war stories. Many are written under nom de plumes such was his rate of production.
His book about Operation Torch feels different to the other two books. He was not there but he went to war at 16 (illegally) and marched across northern europe in an armoured reconnaissance unit ending up in Germany. So I think you can say his writing is very observational with concern for the moment. Perhaps though you can match that in de Gaulle when he talks about french tank attacks in northern France and Tompkins relaying details of the “uprising which failed”.
As a trilogy these three books are complimentary and work. In my view you read de Gaulle and get suitably downhearted and deeply suspicious of everything Vichy as well as Britain and the USA! There is some action but mostly positioning. Then you read Peter Tompkins and the upbeat Americans just about holding together the idea they should be in Europe via North Africa and that Vichy could still be a good angle: More action and some spectacular moments not least in Algiers. Finally the action really kicks off with Whiting and ends with Von Arnim, Rommel followed by Montgomery and Kesselring all pitching up in Tunisia with an already frustrated Patton, Clark, Fredenhall and of course Eisenhower. Even Alexander gets a look in.
The 1942/43 battles involved German, Italian, Vichy, Free French, US and British Empire and Home forces on land, at sea and in the air. With lots of confusion, poor weather and both out of date and brand new technology these stories lack for nothing.
The three books cover the period well, in a way I don’t think any one book can.
De Gaulle starts us off in 1940 and provides the approach including some useful Africa maps to show context – North Africa was not simply below Spain and Italy.
Then Admiral Darlan fleshes out the North African situation and the US interest building to the uprising and invasion events in detail. The murder provides the context.
Finally kasserine provides in effect what follows and how armies of five major countries and their allies end up facing off in hills west of Tunis.
In each case the overlapping narratives compliment each taking different lines amongst the same information. That means repetition is not noticeable.
Oh I did not mention on Kasserine Pass – the first moment in WW2 the US troops went head to head with the Germans and came up short.
So if you want a diversion from the perrenial Normandy Landings, El Alamein, Stalingrad or indeed Blitzkrieg then read these three books and get caught up in a veritable confusion of events and participants!
The Wargaming Erratic 