Pendulum of War: Three Battles at El Alamein - Hardcover

Barr, Niall.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 022406195X ISBN 13: 9780224061957

Publisher: Overlook, 2004., 2004

Synopsis

Based on extensive original research, Pendulum of War looks at the arguments behind the change in fortunes of Britain’s desert army in 1942. Barr provides a vivid picture of the fighting at el Alamein from the early desperate days of July to the final costly victory in Novembe A compelling new history of a crucial turning point in the Second World War, and a detailed picture of the British Army at a critical stage in its fight against Hitler’s Germany.

In June 1942, following the fall of Tobruk, the defeated British Eighth Army was streaming back towards the tiny railway halt of El Alamein in the western desert of Egypt. The Eighth Army had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Rommel’s Panzerarmee Afrika. Yet just five months later, the famous bombardment opened the Eighth Army’s own offensive which destroyed the Axis threat to Egypt.

Explanations for the remarkable change of fortune have generally been sought in the personalities of the commanders Generals Auchinleck and Montgomery, and that of their legendary opponent, Field Marshall Rommel.

Pendulum of War is the story of how an army learnt from its mistakes. Niall Barr shows that the focus on personality has blurred the continuity of experience that saw the Eighth Army transform itself from a tactically inept collection of units into a battle-winning force that eventually mastered the veterans of Rommel’s Afrika Korps. The book provides a vivid and fresh perspective on the fighting at El Alamein from the early desperate days of July to the final costly victory in November.

About this title

About the Author

Niall Barr is a Senior Lecturer in Defence Studies at the Defence Studies Department, King's College, London. He has previously taught at St Andrews and the Royal Military Academy. His main research focus concerns twentieth century military history. He has published numerous military histories including Amiens to the Armistice; Flodden 1513; Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein; and The Lion and the Poppy. He lives in Oxfordshire with his family.

From Publishers Weekly

Historians traditionally depict World War II's decisive North African tank battles in and around El Alamein as strategic chess matches between German General Rommel and British Commander Montgomery. But this insightful analysis of the 1942 campaign, based on exhaustive research, shows that the resurgent Allied victory was a result of many factors beyond the mind of any single individual. The hard-fought, 12-day campaign was dramatic, first, because the battle swung back and forth like a pendulum for months and, second, because it illustrated how the Eighth Army, a force consisting of units from around the empire that was rapidly expanded with minimum training, underwent a "process of development." Barr's account of the events casts aside the notion of a neat, coordinated, top-down command system, preferring instead to illustrate the myriad challenges of desert warfare, including supply-line difficulties, lack of training, transport of heavy equipment, fuel shortages and lack of cover for maintenance and repair. Rather than attribute British victory to any unique stratagem resulting from Montgomery's August appointment, Barr finds that it was the combination of circumstances and positional realities, along with the Allied ability to modify its tactics-an ability the Germans apparently did not share-that led to the decisive victory on November 4th, after a battle that inflicted more than 18,000 casualties. Despite the author's reliance on technical language, Barr's original account brings to life the harsh reality and confusion of desert warfare.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Overlook, 2004.
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 022406195X
• ISBN 13: 9780224061957
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368